In the ever changing landscape of social networking, you might be wondering if you are getting the most out of your business’s social media graphics and designs. Here we define social media designs as the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites.
More to learn: Visualization: 8 Extraordinary Examples of Data Graphics
Social media has come a long way since then as have the strategies, tactics, methods, and power associated with social media.
In reality, a successful social media marketing campaign is multi-dimensional. Actually, it’s kind of complicated. Ask any social media marketer “How do you do social media marketing?” and you’re likely to get the “Um, where do I start?” look.
There are a lot of elements to address and minute details to cover. Often, the most difficult stage is the initial one, when you’re trying to gain traction and pick up momentum.
Social media design usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. Company messages, stories, and helpful information spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it provides relevant, interesting and/or useful information. Hence, this form of marketing is driven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media.
Before we continue, let me ask you a question.
What works best for social media design in your business? We would love to hear what it was. Would you do us a favor and post it in the comments section below? Be the one who starts a conversation.
We think of social media as just another marketing channel when we need to instead think of it as the influencer of all channels.
The more success you have with customer engagement via your social media design, either on-line or off, the better your understanding of their needs and priorities. Having the best customer insights makes it much easier for you to define your next moves and improve your odds of success.
Social Media Graphics … marketing designs
To improve your social media design, you must improve social networking and customer engagement. We have found 9 ways to accomplish these improvements that we use with our clients:
Know as much or more than your audience … valuable content is essential
Social media design … it is all about quality … quality is much more valuable than quantity
Social media graphics.
It is about building relationships … meaning conversation is required. Don’t add to the noise
A picture or image … is worth 1000 words. Visual marketing is growing rapidly
Keep your messages … short, simple, and relevant
Social media graphics design.
Define … specific objectives for your campaigns
Social media designs … measure your accomplishments … against your objectives. Learn and apply learning
There are NO shortcuts … it requires time and energy
Social media designs require persistence and patience … don’t give up
We are finding more and more businesses are defining meaningful ways to use social media, even if it isn’t always to sell directly.
“Web merchants view social media more as a medium to build up brand awareness and customer loyalty than as a way to drive immediate sales,” says Internet Retailer reporting on its latest survey of 175 companies that sell online.
Survey participants included 85 web-only merchants, 40 consumer brand manufacturers, 34 retail chains and 16 catalog companies.
Here’s a rundown of the findings by the numbers:
96 percent say social media campaigns are important to the future of their Internet business; 53 percent label it very important.
90 percent have a Facebook page, 75 percent are active on Twitter and 54 percent use Pinterest
51 percent post videos on YouTube, 9 percent use Google+ and 15 percent leverage Instagram.
The more success you have with customer engagement via your social media campaign, either on-line or off, the better your understanding of their needs and priorities. Having the best customer insights makes it much easier for you to define your next moves and improve your odds of success.
Facebook has a monthly audience of nearly a billion visitors. That’s a B as in billion. Other top sites, like Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, attract hundreds of millions. By now, nobody doubts the power of social platforms, although few marketers have been able to exploit them as fully as they desire.
As Harvard’s Mikołaj Piskorski makes clear in his book, A Social Strategy, businesses have a long way to go before they truly begin to unlock the potential of the social web. Most marketers, in fact, use social media much as they would ordinary media—to broadcast messages. We are still not working as hard as we can on engagement and building relationships.
And the real potential lies in building relationships and utilizing social platforms to create solutions for customers’ social problems. While consumers are understandably skittish about corporations interjecting themselves their personal conversations, they appreciate the opportunity to meet and build relationships with others. And that, it turns out, this is an enormous opportunity.
That’s why it’s important to make the distinction between a digital strategy that involves social platforms and a true social strategy. For a social strategy to succeed, simply joining the conversation is not enough. You must lead it.
Being social with a great positive engagement isn’t a new way of marketing; it’s a way of doing business. Follow these simple tips and you will be leading the way.
Please share a social media campaign experience with this community.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy innovating your social media strategyg?
Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
More reading on social media design from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Because here’s the reality. If you’re not creating visual content marketing inspiration that captures audience attention, your competition is.
Related post: Social Media Platforms … The Magic Every Content Marketer Needs
Visual marketing.
Graphics can tell your company story, boost awareness, and drive additional traffic to your product or service. So how can you create content that helps you better connect with your fans and followers?
Join me in this look at 15 brands. I find them worthy of repeat visits for visual marketing inspiration.
Nike understands marketing on Instagram as well as the mentality of their target audience, and they use this knowledge to showcase their brand effectively.
The brand loves to post inspirational hashtags and photos showing everyday moments related to sports. The focus is on speaking to everyone who has a dream and encouraging them to ”Just do it!”
Volkswagen claims that all people and all things have a story to tell, and you see this evidenced in each of their Facebook posts.
Across their Page are visual stories about VW automobiles and their customers. Whether you want to learn about VW history, understand the heritage of the Beetle or find your next car, Facebook is the place to do it.
Each image is designed to further the culture and experience around the Volkswagen brand. Watch (and learn) as they highlight important milestones within the company by weaving a powerful story into each post.
Starbucks
Starbucks has a presence on multiple social media platforms, each one successfully expressing what the brand is all about.
Their use of visual marketing is bursting with personality and originality, and although Starbucks often uses posts to advertise products, it’s done creatively and subtly.
This is a lesson many companies have yet to learn: Sometimes less is more… especially when it comes to visual content.
Target uses several boards on Pinterest to market their store and products. Although each board exemplifies a different marketing strategy, all of them use engaging and informative graphics.
Target doesn’t just post photos of their products like many other brands do. They combine images with text to create fun and shareable images.
Visual marketing concepts.
Grammarly Cards
Grammarly is an online proofreading and correction service with an excellent visual marketing strategy.
Their Pinterest page is filled with funny and engaging content that people enjoy and frequently share.
The humor and wit are coupled with attractive pictures the Grammarly Cards audience cannot ignore.
Oreo
Oreo knows how to keep an audience happy and actively engaged.
The visuals the brand posts have it all — including wit, culture, and parodies. They take any popular event or entertainment update and work their cookie right into it.
This makes Oreo posts fun and shareable.
The time it takes Oreo to react to an unforeseen event is phenomenal. The brand’s fast response to the Superbowl (“You can still dunk in the dark”) won widespread recognition.
Home Depot
Home Depot knows their audience, and the brand effectively markets to them.
Their posts are made for homeowners and those who love creating something practical and good looking.
Their Instagram page is full practical, original and creativeideas.
The Disney brand knows better than most how to make their content appealing.
They have a talent for turning their creations into great visuals that are both attractive and fun.
The content they post on their web page and other social channels are proof that design is just as important a factor as written copy.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola’s content marketing strategy is built on visual marketing. They provide their audience with fun, colorful and quirky visuals that are easy to like and share.
The company concentrates its efforts on interactive content to keep their audience engaged.
Coca-Cola also has uniquely designed animated gifs and plenty of brand memorabilia that reminds the audience whose page they’re on.
Visual marketing examples.
Aeropostale
Aeropostale knows its fashion-savvy audience and effectively caters to their tastes.
The brand posts simple, yet lovely, images featuring an ensemble of clothes and accessories that go together to create one distinct look.
Through this strategy, Aeropostale advertises its clothes (which are at the center of the composition) gives its audience ideas about what goes well with what and creates a definite brand look.
Whole Foods
Besides offering their customers healthy, organic foods, Whole Foods also provides followers with exceptional and informative visual graphics.
This is a brand that knows how to tell a story visually and make it appealing to all.
Although they have some product advertisements, most of their posts include great images combined with valuable advice.
Taco Bell
Taco Bell knows how to grab their audience’s attention and keep it.
The vibrant colors and artistic look of their graphics get their posts noticed.
Although some of the graphics they post on Instagram are advertising their products, most simply show off the product artistically and attractively.
GoPro
The very nature of the GoPro makes it the perfect brand for visual content marketing.
After all, no words are necessary to market their GoPro cameras – their photos say it all.
The quality of the photos and their extreme setting help these graphics get shared like wildfire.
This cereal company has long figured out the secret of visual content marketing through social media.
All of their posts on Facebook are visual, and humor is their best weapon. Honey Bunches of Oats creates funny and memorable visuals that are easy to share.
Most of their graphics have the brand’s logo attached to it, so it continues to remind the users who are for the great photos and the witty humor (even if the graphic is taken out of context).
The bottom line
To be effective in this new era, we as marketers need to see our jobs differently. No more just focusing on metrics like clicks, video views or social media shares. We must successfully integrate our function with other business functions to create entire brand experiences that serve the customer all the way through their experiences throughout the business.
We can do better. Much better. But first, we need to stop seeing ourselves as crafters of clever brand messages and become creators of positive brand experiences.
There can never be enough focus on continuous improvement on brand marketing, independent of how well the business is doing. It seems these exciting brands are looking to take their success to a new level.
This is an excellent time to make a statement with their brand marketing. Changing before you have to is always a good idea.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
More reading on social media lessons from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
