How Small Businesses can Use Big Brand Social Media Tactics to Engage Followers
Are you wondering how big brands like Coca-Cola and Nike spark conversation and encourage engagement with their millions of social media followers? Yes, it might be because they have bigger budgets than most companies, but if you think beyond of the obvious you’ll realize that they consistently post engaging content, such as trending hashtags, contests and customer experiences. When followers know what to expect from you, they are more likely to come back to see what’s next, ultimately leading to fan loyalty and increased discussion.
Small businesses can adopt similar tactics that fit their audiences and increase awareness of their efforts. In this post we will look at the different ways nationally known companies keep their followers coming back for more and how small businesses can too.
1: Host a Video Contest
For the last seven years, Doritos has run its “Crash the Super Bowl” contest asking customers to create commercials for its crunchy treats. The incentive that really caught attention? The winner gets his or her commercial aired during the Super Bowl. The response is huge. Hundreds of commercials are submitted. The result is a viral campaign driven by finalists sharing their entry with friends and encouraging them to vote, as well as customers and fans who want to see the best videos (which are usually the funniest). In 2013, Doritos brought the video contest to Facebook (they had previously used a microsite) and went beyond the success of all previous years.
Use this idea: Create a video contest with a public voting aspect to draw people to your page. You can cull the entries down, and then ask the public to vote for the final winner. While you may not be able to pay to showcase a video during the biggest sporting event of the year, do make the prize as appealing as possible. Creating a video is a lot of work. If you ask customers to put in the time, they’ll need a reason to do so. You don’t have to go overboard, but the bigger the incentive, the more participants you’ll have.
2: Share Customer Stories
Dunkin’ Donuts asked its Twitter audience to tell a story about how the company’s popular coffee fit into their everyday lives. The catch, of course, was that the story had to fit into 131 characters (entries had to include #mydunkin and that took up nine characters). After combing through tens of thousands of stories, the company selected several winners and asked the tweeters to star in their own Dunkin’ commercial. The company shot the commercials, uploaded them to YouTube, shared them on Twitter and then asked for more stories.
Use this idea: Learn how customers use your product by asking them to share their story on Twitter (using a hashtag so you can easily track the entries). It’s a challenge to tell a story in 140 characters, but the results are fun and usually witty. Since people love entertaining content, you’re likely to reach even more people who want to join in or comment. Incentives always increase engagement, but the prize doesn’t have to be huge in this case. Offer a prize related to your business or something a little quirky to catch attention.
3: Provide Recurring Content
Remember when your favorite journalist had a weekly column? Estée Lauder adapted that idea as a social media tactic. Every Tuesday, the company’s creative makeup director, Tom Pecheux, offers a makeup tip on Facebook. The #TomsTuesdayTip campaign offers advice features a picture of a related beauty product and links to a purchase page or blog article about recent trends.
Use this idea: Come up with a weekly feature using a consistent hashtag. You can create your own or ride the wave of an existing hashtag to get things started. #TBT (Throwback Thursday) is a popular one. Just post a picture of the early days of your company, product or a related topic. Funny pictures tend to have the most comments and shares.
4: Add an Element of Fun
You don’t always have to offer a prize in exchange for comments. Coca-Cola hosts a trivia question of the day to boost interaction. There are no prizes, but the tactic works. General trivia questions work fine, but Coke uses out-of-the-box questions like, “Which of the following is worth the most Scrabble points?” The company takes advantage of their fans’ curiosity by posting two updates: one with the trivia question and one with the answer.
Use this idea: Use trivia questions to share a little about your product or service. For instance, ask customers to guess what year your business started or what your top-selling product is. Be sure to give the answer in a separate update to bring them back!
Try one option and see how it goes over with followers, but keep in mind that most new features aren’t a success in just one or two weeks, so give it time to take off. To make these changes easier, tools like HootSuite’s scheduling option can be used to post updates automatically. Whichever option you choose, be consistent and offer worthwhile content on a consistent basis.
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