The rise of social media can be both good and challenging for businesses. It’s good in the sense that there are hundreds of branding, marketing and customer engagement strategies that businesses can utilize to reach their full potential. However, the downside is that as more people grow up with a constant barrage of social media content, it could become easier for them to ignore marketing messages.
Standing out online in a sea of businesses can be challenging, especially if customers are already used to seeing great content constantly. So, what are the best strategies for catching and keeping customers’ attention on social media? We asked members of Forbes Business Development Council to weigh in with their own time-tested strategies.
1. Deliver Valuable Content
Today, a lot of brands create content that just talks about their offerings as opposed to talking about solutions, industry trends, challenges, and so on by tying them to their offerings. Brands need to provide valuable content at scale that covers the above-mentioned areas. This strategy helps with catching and retaining customers' attention and can be highly effective. - Mehul Agarwal
2. Leverage Company Thought Leaders
People prefer to interact with people, not brands. The more thought leaders you have associated with the company, the better. This can be accomplished by training executives to become thought leaders or hiring existing thought leaders as advisors or consultants. These company thought leaders can speak at events, publish books or articles and interact with customers on social media. - Robin Farmanfarmaian, Actavalon
3. Be Personal And Authentic
There is a ton of noise in the marketplace and in social media. Trying to differentiate yourself feels impossible. Don't be a personal brand. Be a personal service brand and simply provide value in your authentic service. Don't focus on your vlog or your own attention, but instead focus on what you can give. That gets noticed above the noise. - Don Markland, MoneySolver
4. Encourage Person-To-Person Interactions
Have your employees be your biggest advocates on social media. We’ve implemented this strategy and have seen over a 200% increase in our social media presence because of our employee advocacy program. These programs work because people trust other people more than they trust corporations. Besides, your employees can reach an entirely different audience than yours through a single share. - Christian Valiulis, Automatic Payroll System
5. Move Away From The Norm
Standing out on social media means doing something unique from others in your specific space. For my social marketing, I use marketing companies' self-promotional posts and material as inspiration. After all, they are pros at catching attention. Then I make sure my newly inspired material looks nothing like my competitors' content so I know my social media content will stand out in comparison. - Ashley Cheeks, MBA, Written Success
6. Understand Your Audience
Those interested in engaging audiences on social media must first take a step back and understand the audience they aspire to engage. It's not only important to understand who those people are but also what they hope to get out of their experience with the particular social media platform they are using. Don't mistake a captivating post on Instagram with an effective tweet. - Adam Mendler, The Veloz Group
