Why is Social Media Vital for Branding?

Social media is the biggest connective of people all over the world – collectively in 2016 there were over 2.34 billion active social media users worldwide.

Facebook alone is responsible for 1.79 billion of these active users who log onto their website daily. In addition to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest are among the key social channels that have connected the world and become a pivotal source of communication.

Apart from just being a source of communication, another key feature of social media is branding. Social media marketing is now an essential part of almost every brand’s advertising strategy. Having a strong social media presence is the perfect way to reach your target audience and build your brand.

So what can social media achieve for your brand?

Valuable Customer Insight

Popular social channels offer businesses valuable and current data about their customers.

With over 500 million tweets, 80 million photos and videos uploaded to Instagram and 4.5 billion likes on Facebook per day, it is clear to see the abundance of data that can be uncovered from social media.

This information is extremely valuable as brands can find out who their customers are, what they like and how they feel about their brand. Through daily active engagement with social media, businesses can find out the conversations happening around their brand and use this information to tailor their business decisions.

Improved Brand Awareness and Customer Loyalty

Social media channels allow a brand to express its voice and content. By doing so, the brand can increase its online visibility. Having an active online presence makes a brand more accessible for new customers and more familiar for existing customers who look to find and connect with a brand online.

In addition, it is becoming increasingly popular for users to turn to social media for customer service. Being able to respond to your customers quickly and efficiently will gain their trust and support.

Increased Traffic

 Social media acts as a direct channel to your website and the more social shares you receive, the higher your search ranking will be. By creating innovative, engaging content and conveying consistent branding across your social channels you could significantly improve the amount of traffic to your site.

Generate Higher Conversion Rates

Social media allows business to create a human element to their brand, which, in turn, instills trust and loyalty into your customers. The more engagement a business has with their customers, the more shares, comments and mentions they will likely receive.

In addition, if you have active social channels there is a high chance customers will leave positive comments and mentions which you can then use on your website to prove that you are a well loved, trustworthy brand.

Who has done it well?

There are multiple instances where campaigns have gained huge growth through the use of social media.

Here are five of my favourite campaigns from 2016 that have used social media to boost their brand visibility:

• Buzzfeed – Tasty

  Beginning on Facebook, Buzzfeed have dominated the social channels with a series of videos aimed at cooking enthusiasts. The videos feature quick and easy recipes that instantly grab the audience’s attention.

  Since the launch of the campaign, Tasty has accrued over 80 million likes on Facebook and 7.8 million followers on Instagram.

  With such highly shareable, relevant and incredibly engaging content it is easy to see why Buzzfeed’s Tasty videos have dominated Facebook over the last year and have created great visibility for the Buzzfeed brand.

  

• L’Oreal Paris – #WorthSaying

   During the Golden Globes ceremony in January, L’Oreal launched its #WorthSaying campaign. Rooted in the brand’s tag line “Because You’re Worth It”, the campaign was designed to get women to talk about things they believed are important that stretch beyond beauty.

  The brands’ celebrity ambassadors Julianne Moore, Frieda Pinto and Eva Longoria promoted the campaign across their social media channels and helped gain wide spread social media support.

  

• #ShareYourEars – Make-A-Wish Foundation & Disney

  In celebration of Disneyland Resort’s 60^th Anniversary and the 100,000^th Disney wish granted globally, fans were invited to share images across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram wearing Mickey Mouse Ears with the hash tag #ShareYourEars.

  Every image that was shared unlocked a $5 donation from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The campaign became a trending topic on social media and resulted in over 220k photos on Instagram alone. Disney doubled their original cap of $1million and ended up donating $2 million due to the huge success of the campaign.

• TOMS #OneDayWithoutShoes

  TOMS brand is built on its ‘One for One’ mission – with every product purchase, TOMS will help a person in need.

  For the last few years, TOMS have launched an annual campaign, built on their company values, where they have asked their followers to post a picture of their bare feet on Instagram with the hashtag “WithoutShoes. For every post, the brand donated a pair of shoes to a child in need.

  As a result of the 2016 campaign, TOMS donated 27,435 shoes to children worldwide. The campaign engaged more than 3.5 million people across social media, with the hastag “WithoutShoes” generating 17 million impressions across TOMS social media platforms.

  The campaign also created a large amount of user-generated content, which really helped to cement TOMS brand identity.

  

• The John Lewis 2016 Christmas Advert

  The John Lewis Christmas advert has swiftly become a highly anticipated part of November and always generates a lot of excitement in the run up to Christmas.

  On the day the advert was released on YouTube (November 11^th) there were over 61,000 mentions of the ad on Twitter with the hashtag #BusterTheBoxer generating 48,234 mentions. John Lewis also partnered up with the social media platform Snapchat to allow its users to look through a bespoke Buster lens. Thanks to its reach, influence and huge popularity, Snapchat allowed John Lewis to target a whole new audience.

   

  Since the advert was released it has received over 1.76 million shares across social media creating a huge level of brand awareness for John Lewis.

  

  Overview

  The evolution and growth of social media has revolutionised marketing for brands. With over 2.34 billion active social media users it is clear to see why the various platforms are so valuable for business to promote their brand, understand their customers and gain a trustworthy reputation.

  Do you have any standout campaigns from 2016? Let us know below!