5 Commandments of Social Media Marketing That Every Brand Should Already be Doing

5 Commandments of Social Media Marketing That Every Brand Should Already be Doing

The internet has drastically changed nearly every aspect of modern day life, from how people date, to how people are entertained, to how people work, and of course, how people make decisions regarding the brands the want to interact with. Sure, marketing firms still have their work cut out for them, but digital marketing and social media marketing are more important than ever due to near constant use of the internet in modern day life.

Thanks to social media marketing, consumers can interact with brands in intimate, direct, and even personal ways that were once never thought possible. Consumers now have near direct access to the brands they love, hate, or are undecided on. When done right, social media marketing has the power to lead to solid conversions, strong brand loyalty and recognition, while serving as a powerful platform or open dialogue and discussion.

Thanks to social media marketing, consumers are able to finally have their voices heard in real time and in ways that are meaningful to them. Take for example, the outrage over the commercial for a Chinese laundry detergent that many took offense to because of its racist undertone. Outraged — and understandably so — consumers quickly took to social media in order to express their frustration and disappointment with the commercial. Immediately, the company responded and expressed their regret while taking actions to remove the commercial from circulation entirely. Pretty powerful stuff, huh?

But for as much good as digital marketing can do for a business, there’s also plenty that can go wrong, especially if you don’t really know what you’re doing. Here are five commandments of social media marketing every brand should know.

Thou shall listen

Just like a health marriage, success in social media and content marketing means you have talk less and listen more. Become familiar with the content that your target audience engages in and join in on discussions to learn more about what’s meaningful to them and what resonates with their beliefs. Once you have a better understanding of these things, you can then move forward in creating content and sparking conversations that actually add more value to their life rather than serving as just another distraction.

Thou shall have focus

Although everyone knows it’s not really good to be a jack of all trades but a master of none, many brands still make the mistake of having a confusing social media and content marketing strategy that’s anything but clear and cohesive. And if a brand is confused that means its target audience will be as well. Instead, get clear on what your strengths are as a brand and create a highly focused social media and content marketing strategy around that. Being authentic will always yield better results than imitation.

Thou shall not create lame content

Simply put, quality always — always — wins over quantity. Period. End of story. Sorry not sorry. While it may not seem like it at first, it’s much better to have 500 online connections to target audience members who actually read, share, like, and subscribe to your content than twice the amount who bounce after engaging with your brand the first time.

Thou shall have patience

It’s always been said that patience is a virtue and this sentiment rings especially true when it comes to social media and content marketing. These days, a lot of people are so used instant gratification thanks to the internet. Ironically, though social media and content marketing clearly relies on the internet, instant gratification isn’t in terms of your campaign instantly popping off isn’t something you should assume will happen. Instead, you’ll have to commit to the long road ahead in order to achieve your desired results.

Thou shall practice compounding

Content is king, and if your brand is consistently cranking out quality content then that quality will speak for itself in terms of being shared by your online audience via their social networks on other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or their own personal blogs. Essentially, your target audience is doing a lot of the work for you while you work hard to create the content they want.