A lot has changed in the social media market lately. Social media habits are fueled by the people, and the people change all the time. But the past few years have been substantially different, bringing about a new set of habits that have caused marketers to throw the old rule book out. Users are hunting down brands, finding their people and buying entirely on social media.
But they’re not beyond approach. Whether you’re selling beauty products or you’re looking to invest in Bitcoin with no commission, you can sell your concealer and coins with this guide.
Logo and name
Your logo and your business name have basically the same two functions, although they need slightly different approaches. They serve to identify you and tell your viewers in a glance what your business is all about. The glance part is important because it means your logo and name have to be loaded with symbolism.
However, your logo needs to also be adaptable, and this is easiest when it is a simple image. It needs to be clear whether it’s applied to a Times Square billboard or the corner of a mobile app. If you were to take a glance over the various apps in your phone, you will see that most of them are very simple graphic symbols. The flame for Tinder, the F for Facebook, the play button for YouTube.
Using Tinder as an example, you can mind map your way to a name and a logo. Put your business at the centre, in this case, a dating app, with the first round of branches laying out the implications of that concept, like “love”, “passion”, “flirting”, etc. and from there sprout another set of branches that offer images for these concepts. Tinder went with a flame. Simple.
Find your niche
The idea of a “niche” is no longer the death sentence for marketing. Niches are all the rage right now. Thanks to either consciously hunting for them like on Facebook or an algorithm showing them more of what they want to see like on TikTok, people are finding their people.
Their people can be of a certain race, sexuality, gender identity, class, industry, lifestyle, social issue, nationality, etc. People are finding their kin online, where you can tap into to sell your products.
It would be helpful to find your own niche, or at least a demographic of which to appeal to. Your audience will endear to your content if it consistently applies to them, and to go off topic might cause them to lose interest.
Micro influencers
There is an additional reason that these communities with their own niches would be helpful: the micro influencer.
The micro influencer is the rising stars of these smaller communities. Either due to a healthy dose of engagement or natural virality, leaders emerge from their communities with influence over the general audience. These micro influencers are ripe for affiliate marketing. You can partner up with a micro influencer who will have a voice in a very dedicated audience. The audience members will be more likely to listen to the micro influencer because “they’re like me”. The audience you’re appealing to will be smaller, but far more targeted and loyal to this influencer.
After years of general disingenuity and scandals that pertain to everything from crimes to marketing scams, users on social media don’t tend to trust them anymore. Tapping into a micro influencer’s audience will mean a more dedicated and targeted audience.
Brand research
Another anomaly of the changing user habits online is the research into brands by the user. It’s another area where the niches come in handy. Potential customers are using social media to look into the brands they intend to buy from. Most of the time they are making sure that the brand’s principles align with their own or looking for what the brand stands for.
That doesn’t have to be as controversial as politics and social issues. If your product stands for being the affordable version of what’s already available, then tell your customers that. Plus, there are other topics that are universally either accepted or ignored, like sustainable products, cruelty free products, unisex products, small businesses, minority-owned business etc.
So, tell your audience what you’re all about. Being a small business or offering cruelty free products might endear you to your audience and going further might induce some loyalty.
Retail platforms
And that’s all without mentioning what the platforms themselves are doing on their end. Instagram, in particular, has seen that influencers have had a big, ahem, influence, on the platform, and when their job is to sell things, it only took a few natural steps before Instagram became the social media store. Users are already finding what they want to buy on Instagram, they might as well buy it on Instagram.
So, a lot of features have made an appearance due to this, like the idea of the Shop on the profile, and tagging items to be found with a link to their sites. There is also the affiliate marketing feature which matches influencers with affiliate marketers. Using these features will make things a lot easier when marketing your products online.
