social media

Why you should use Social Media to promote your brand

Do you know why you should use social media to promote your brand? Love it or loathe it, social media is playing an ever-increasing role in the successful marketing of businesses. While its value is rooted in brand awareness, platforms like Facebook , Twitter, Instagram and TikTok – are significantly boosting brands’ SEO. Savvy marketers know that digital marketing can reach hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of potential customers at the click of a mouse – for very low cost or free. There’s lots of compelling reasons why you should use social media to promote your brand.

By pinpointing which platform your target market is most likely to use, you can utilise the power of social media to effectively engage with your audience. If you use links to your website and relevant hashtags in your content, you can easily and cost-effectively promote your products and services. At the same time, you can grow brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Social Media – the figures

There has been a 6 per cent growth in use of social media in the UK since 2014. At least 89 per cent of the population is using the internet. Around 38 million of those have active social media accounts. Up to 80 per cent of the time spent on social media is via a mobile phone.

Facebook is still the most widely used social media platform with 31 million users in the UK. Of those 49 per cent are male and 51 per cent female. Around 2.5 million are aged 13 to 17, and 26 per cent of users are aged 25 to 34. Older social media users are more commonly using Facebook.

Twitter has more than 15 million active users in the UK – 65 per cent of them under the age of 34. Around 400 million tweets are sent daily. Research indicates that around 81 per cent of Millennials check Twitter at least once a day.*

Why content really is king

In the same way that content is king on websites, social media demands original, relevant posts with great images and video to be effective. Investing in unique content and steering clear of syndicated images will give you leverage over competitors. Unique content is vital if you want to to give your audience confidence in what you are saying. No-one likes a copy-cat brand unless you can outshine the original poster. If you want to use social media to promote your brand everything you say or do on social needs to align with your brand identity.

Audience demographics

You can save time and money by investing in the right platform for your products and services. Find out which social media platform your target audience is most likely to use by studying up-to-date demographics data, widely available online via resources such as Quantcast. You will save lots of time and effort by posting where your audience already hangs out. Just make sure your content is interesting and appealing to them.

How to use Social Media to promote your brand

Here’s how you can get started in using social media to promote your brand:

  1. Identify your target audience – age, location, interests etc
  2. Identify which social media platforms your audience uses
  3. Work out the key messages that will appeal to your audience that align with your brand
  4. Use our template to write your social media strategy
  5. Create engaging content – copy, images, video, events, polls and competitions
  6. Use hashtags relevant to your brand that are used by your audience
  7. Schedule your posts to be delivered at the optimum time to be seen by your audience
  8. Engage with comments and likes so that you truly engage with your audience
  9. Don’t forget to measure engagement on your social channels to evaluate what is working and what is not

* Sources: Pew Internet and Social Coop