CREATING EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

Transcription

1 CREATING EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS Introduction This guide will explain the usage of social media as a marketing strategy. Content Overview Part 1: DEFINE YOUR GOALS & OBJECTIVES Part 2: CHOOSE YOUR NETWORK i. General Tips ii. Advantages iii. Disadvantages Part 3: BE PROMINENT Part 4: CREATE YOUR CONTENT i. Define Your Brand Identity ii. Quality: Text iii. Quality: Image iv. Quality: Timing v. Quality: Frequency vi. Interact with your Audience vii. Be Relevant viii. Create Hype ix. Coordinate your Channels x. Basic Content Ideas Part 5: EVALUATE i. Track your Success ii. Prioritize your Platforms iii. Timing and Frequency iv. Improve your Content

2 GETTING STARTED Social media is a powerful marketing tool that provides the opportunity to show your brand personality and build a lasting relationship between your brand and your customers. Social media is a great sales generator that allows you to create value, engage your audience and expand your reach through sharing text, images and videos. If done right, social media marketing can contribute significantly to your success. Ways social media marketing can improve your business: Increase brand recognition Improve brand loyalty Increase sales/conversion rates Increase traffic to your website Provide opportunity to improve customer service Reduce marketing costs Before we get started, here are some basic pointers: When in doubt, keep it simple Be transparent and honest Don t be afraid to go out of the box Have patience! Social media marketing success doesn t come overnight. It s likely you need to commit in the long run to achieve results PART 1: DEFINE YOUR GOALS & OBJECTIVES Before starting on building your social media presence, it is crucial to set an end goal. Set clear and specific objectives for your social media marketing efforts and decide on your long term goal for your company. Objectives: Increase brand recognition in social media channels Develop a positive online following Increase interaction with your audience Establish your brand image Goals: Increase visits to your website Drive new visitors to site Increase sales/conversion rate Increase brand awareness Boost brand image

3 PART 2: CHOOSE YOUR NETWORK i. General Tips: If you re new to social media marketing, a good starting point is to select one or two relevant channels to invest in. The most popular social networks for the fashion and retail industry that will be discussed here include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. Other platforms you may like to consider are Tumblr, Vine and Google+ It is important for you to choose the platform(s) that will provide your company with the biggest return for your investment. Each social media channel has distinct qualities and there are many factors to take into consideration. When choosing your social media platforms, consider the following: 1. Time Plan how much time you have to devote to a network. To product quality content at a regular place, plan on spending at least an hour per day per network at the start. 2. Resources How much do you plan to spend on social media marketing? Who is your social media marketing team? While it may be less costly than traditional marketing, visual social networks require images which may be financially draining. 3. Your Audience Who is your target audience? Where do they socialize online? Which social media channels are your competitor brands active in? ii. Advantages Wide, diverse audience Helps build long-term relationships with your customers Great for sharing text, photos, videos and links iii. Disadvantages Requires large resources to provide wide range of content May not have maximum reach to compete with bigger brands Appeals to mobile users High engagement rate Enables storytelling through enhanced imagery Limited to ios and Android mobile user Need for resources to produce quality images Links in posts are non-actionable: No direct links to website Appeals to the younger generation Limited to 140 characters Frequent and direct communication Requires immediate responses Ideal for sharing breaking news, updates and answering questions

4 Large female audience (80% are female) Images can be linked to specific landing pages Users can repin content which expands reach 2804 words May not appeal to male audience Need for resources to produce quality images Lower number of users and engagement rate Large potential for visual and narrative content Great opportunity to showcase brand personality High competition and requires large resources Need for filmmaking, writing and communication skills High risk of criticism/backlash damaging brand image PART 3: BE PROMINENT Display your social media links clearly on your website to enable easy access and optimize traffic. Similarly, on your social media channels, provide a clear link to your boutique on Zalora Marketplace to direct your followers to make a purchase. You can provide a link to your own website. However, it is beneficial to provide a Zalora Marketplace link additionally, as Zalora has a unique selling point: free shipping, COD and being a one-stop fashion destination for multiple brands. Another way to garner a following is to follow your competitors and popular channels similar to your brand. Chances are, your target audience follows these channels. You can direct these followers to your channels by engaging with them through liking their posts, commenting or following them. Feature links clearly

5 PART 4: CREATE YOUR CONTENT i. Define your Brand Identity Your brand identity is a group of elements that shapes a distinct brand image. These elements consist of a mix of unique brand personality traits and brand values. A unique brand personality makes your brand more relatable while your brand values will help shape the foundation for success. To find your brand personality: Imagine your brand as a person and list out words that describes his/her personality, values and lifestyle. E.g. Outgoing, glamorous, animal lover etc. Pick a celebrity, car or an animal that best represents your brand and list down the reasons why. E.g. Swarovski: Swan. Often associated with royalty, swans convey a sense of sophistication, elegance and class. Determine your brand values: Your work ethics and work culture Your goals in terms of giving to the customers and contributing to society All content should be aligned and standardized according to your brand identity. Personality & Relationship to your customers Speech : Language & Tone of Voice Lifestyle : Food & Leisure Visuals : Styling & Design

6 ii. Quality: Text Firstly, be authentic, don t be 100% marketing! People don't willingly follow accounts that are blatantly marketing and promoting their products/services all the time Focus less on conversions and more on creating valuable content that people genuinely want to follow! When creating content, think of how it benefits your audience. E.g. Sale posts allow follower be the first to know about a sale, outfit posts give style inspiration, inspirational quotes provide motivation, food posts give recommendations on where to eat, competitions entertain and let users win prizes, etc. Occasionally post content that does not directly relate to your products e.g. for fashion, post content on travel, pets, etc. General Tips: Double check for spelling or grammatical errors! (Even tiny mistakes can make a bad impression) Provide product links when featuring a product Invest time in creating regularly searched keywords that your followers can find easily: title, description, tags and hashtags Instigate a call-to-action: Encourage followers to subscribe, favourite/like, comment, visit your website, etc. For Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: Invest time in creating a simple and catchy hashtag that contains your brand name Use no more than 3 hashtags per post to create a bigger impact Mention celebrities or fashion bloggers, they may share it with their followers For visual posts, keep the word count to a minimum For Pinterest: Include links and price tags: Get more likes and inspire a purchase Use Pinterest group boards: Reach more viewers and get more repins, followers and traffic. Free tool PinGroupie allows you to find popular group boards. For YouTube: Once a video is uploaded, post links in other social media outposts to attract more traffic iii. Quality: Image Make sure your images are of high quality and resolution. Learn how to take captivating pictures. Use filters, angles, lighting and other photography tricks to enhance your photos. Try using Photoshop, Diptic, or Photoshake to edit your pictures.

7 The following are some basic general photography tips to stand out: 1. Angles Angles can contribute to the mood and perspective of an image. Take photos from unusual angles, e.g. shooting from ground, above eye view, bird s eye view, tilted, with the foreground blurred out etc. Explore different angles when shooting the same scene to find how to best portray the image subject. 2. Depth Create depth in your images using lines, repetition and space Create a visual line through roads, pathways, tunnels etc Highlight contrast between foreground and background by using blur tools or shadows 3. Lighting Take pictures in lighting that reveals the details and texture of your product clearly. Try experimenting with creating shadows that can be further enhanced with filters. Images taken during the golden hour (after sunrise and before sunset) has soft, natural lighting. 4. Composition A great beginner s guide to picture composition is the rule of thirds, where the main subject is aligned with the lines or the intersection of the lines on a grid that separates the photo by 9 equal parts. The intersection of the lines are where the eye is drawn to instinctively. This creates a balanced and unified image.

8 5. Background/Location Getting the right location is important to convey a narrative or a story. Match the mood and style of your products to the environment. For example, a rural environment like a field or beach complements spring/summer fashion, while edgy, sporty or darker fashion works well in an urban setting like a graffiti wall or concrete architecture. 6. Filter Small changes in contrast, temperature and saturation can make subtle but significant changes to your images. However, be careful not to over edit photographs! Filters are for enhancement rather than transformation. For greater customization, some great filter apps to try out are VSCOcam, Snapseed, Afterlight and Camera+. iv. Quality: Timing The chart below summarizes the best timings to post on social media according to research by sumall.com. In general, content posted late in the day gets more likes and shares.

9 v. Quality: Frequency Create a balance: Posting infrequently causes followers to lose attention, while posting too often may be invasive. Consistency is key: Decided on an approximate schedule for frequency of posts and stick to it. Below is an approximate guide on the average frequency of posts made by various fashion companies per week 2 3 per week 1 10 per day 5 10 per day 1 2 per week vi. Interact with your audience Boost brand loyalty by building a relationship with your customers, let them know their opinion matters! Be social: Demonstrate good conversation skills and use an authentic human voice. Be reliable: Reply comments, answer questions immediately. Address complaints quickly and publicly, and thank customers who tag your brand or product in their posts. Reciprocate: Share user-generated content Show customers posts where they are showing off your products to encourage other followers to make a purchase Observe how your consumers style your products and highlight them in your social media outposts

10 Create entertaining content to boost participation and engagement: A game contest or competition An open ended question for feedback or discussion e.g. fill-in-the-blank, caption this, truth of fiction For example: Prabal Gurung s Guess the model campaign. Followers guess who the model is and three winners win a piece from Gurung s fall collection vii. Be Relevant Look out for upcoming events and be on top of the latest news Take part in festivities and special occasions or events like Chinese New Year, Christmas and Halloween Show that your brand is social and active in the community while promoting your products/brands Show your brand s values Look out for causes that your brand supports e.g. preventing AIDS, environmental conservation Give your consumers a wider benefit of participating in your campaign e.g. Zalora s followers who #thepinkfight get to feel like they have contributes to spreading breast cancer awareness Zalora consistently plans relevant campaigns that you benefit from in increasing and improving your social media marketing. Simply reach out to your Account Manager for information on how to be a part of these campaigns.

11 viii. Create Hype If you have a large following, create buzz for an upcoming launch or new collection Post collection previews and teasers to create suspense and generate excitement Interact with your audience by asking them to suggest content, voting, or giving feedback ix. Coordinate your channels Your social media channels should work together to help achieve your goals Streamline your social media outlets e.g. integrate promotions across all channels or use common themes or hashtags Link your platforms to each other to direct viewers from popular platforms to others e.g. if you have an exclusive sale campaign on Instagram, announce the news on Facebook and Twitter Be original: avoid posting the exact same content across all your channels. If it s a significant piece of news, word it differently and use different images e.g. campaign for launch of Dorothy Perkins in Zalora Singapore has a common theme and style but different text and images

12 x. Basic Content Ideas Announce promotions and sales To increase traffic to your social media channels, provide exclusive discounts to followers and feature the promotion on other channels. E.g. Follow Zalora on Instagram and get 20% off all shoes! Exclusively for Zalora Instagram followers! Feature a star product Have an exciting or favourite product? Feature it as the focal point of a post along with a meaningful caption, quote or styling ideas. Showcase trends Are your products in line with a certain trend? Feature your products in a trend post with a catchy slogan or hashtag.

13 Create a stylized flatlay Not using a model? Create a flatlay! Maintain harmony between colors Proportion: Balance larger and smaller items Use complementary props or decorative elements Provide styling options and inspiration Style your products to create full looks that your viewers can purchase or gain inspiration from. E.g. Get the look : feature your products to create a celebrity-inspired look. Host a competition or contest Host competitions like styling contests or games and feature the winner s post on your account.

14 Share your online and offline advertising campaigns Reach a wider audience by using social media to share your online and offline advertising campaigns. Humanize your brand Post content that has no direct relation to your product but conveys the feeling behind your brand. Consumers care about a company s people, culture and values. Share photos of your staff, office and extracurricular activities. Lifestyle images make your brand more relatable: food, pets, books, hobbies, travel and inspirational quotes PART 5: EVALUATE i. Track your success It is important to track the level of success to find out your audience s preferences. This is particularly important if your company has limited resources as it helps future content is constantly improving, reaching and resonating with your target audience. Identify the platforms that give you the highest conversion rates and engagement rates. Basic: Take note of the level of engagement: share rate, comments, hashtags, retweets, pins, followers/subscribers For Facebook, use Page Insights which provides tracking on your progress on likes, reach, visits, posts and people Advanced: Track interaction with your content for: Pinterest, Twitter, and all channels Track conversion rates with Google Analytics

15 ii. Prioritize your platforms Now that you have collected and analysed your feedback, choose the platforms most effective for your company. If you are a small business, it s more valuable to focus your resources and efforts on one or two. You ll have higher conversions at a lower cost. Categorize primary and secondary platforms and allocate your resources accordingly Visual networks tend to be the most powerful social media platforms iii. Timing and frequency The more you post, the more you ll discover the timing and frequency that is right for you. Trial and error: Test sharing rates and click-through-rates of content and different times of the day and days of the week Social media optimization tools: Hootsuite or Adobe Social Consistency is key: Set an approximate schedule for frequency of posts that you can commit to in the long term and stick to it. iv. Improve your content Marketing is a learning process, so set your standards and avoid repeating mistakes. To find out what your audience likes, take note and compare the qualities of successful and unsuccessful posts. Sieve out the key trends among both categories to figure out what to do and not to do. Less successful Lacks focal point Details are not shown clearly Unclear styling direction More successful Balance between larger and smaller objects Details are shown clearly Harmonious colors Dull background color Cluttered background Blurry and over saturated Complementary background color and texture Flattering bird eye s view Innovative styling: props, positioning and color Harsh flash lighting Natural, soft lighting Poor composition Good composition

16 REMEMBER... When in doubt, keep it simple Be transparent and honest Don t be afraid to go out of the box Have patience. Social media marketing success doesn t come overnight. It s likely you need to commit in the long run to achieve results