The importance of social media marketing is undeniable. The sheer volume of user-generated content in social networks makes it a crucial part of any marketing strategy, and neglecting to take advantage of it is a big mistake. (Unexpected Uses For Social Media Marketing)
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Unexpected Uses For Social Media Marketing
Yet the primary purpose of social media continues to be to help people find, stay in touch, and build relationships with other people. It is important to remember that when planning your strategy. The marketer with a community-driven strategy is more likely to build awareness, recognition, and trust on social media than emphasizing self-promotion.
With that in mind, here are 5 unexpected uses for social media marketing that adds value to the audience.
Public health campaigns
Facebook launched its organ donor status option on Timeline in May 2012 to raise awareness for the thousands of people waiting to receive a kidney, liver, or heart. It is no longer just a platform for sharing photos of food and announcing special events such as birthdays and reunions.
The platform performs a life-saving service by allowing people to declare their organ donor status and enable them to register as organ donors on the appropriate registry.
On the first day it was available, organ donation registration increased by a whopping 2,200%. It is currently available in 17 countries, and medical professionals hope to continue expanding its reach to help even more people.
Successful public health campaigns to raise awareness using social media are not new. One example is the Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised awareness for ALS and went viral in 2014. Sponsor a campaign for public health challenges on your social pages, and you benefit in two ways: help others and raise awareness for your brand.
Disaster management
Social networks are peculiarly useful in emergencies. When natural disasters strike, such as an earthquake or tornado, social networks can help people get relief, find lost loved ones and recover property.
This was aptly demonstrated after the earthquake in Japan in 2011 and more recently in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, when tweets and posts became life-saving instruments as it enabled first responders to identify areas needing immediate rescue, relief and assistance. (Unexpected Uses For Social Media Marketing)
Natural disasters are a fact, and you should be ready for it. When they strike in your area, do your part by using your social networks to help people cope with the consequences.
Criminal watch
It may sound the height of foolishness, but many criminals use social media to brag about their criminal activities, or people that know about it discuss it openly on their networks. This has prompted law enforcement to take a closer look at social networks to catch criminals using social media monitoring tools.
Law enforcement agencies have to follow very strict rules on using such tools, however, so they may not be as effective as they could be in collecting evidence against drunk drivers or gang members.
You can do your part as a concerned citizen by launching your own criminal watch campaign for your social networks. You can share information on how your audience can help catch criminals by posting a most-wanted list and contact information where they can report a tip or sighting. You might even want to commission a professional service such as Essays Scholaradvisor an in-depth research of the benefits and process of reporting a crime.
Pet adoption
Social networks do a great job at raising awareness for a lot of things, but organizations such as PetFinder has been doing it for homeless and abandoned pets long before Facebook was a gleam in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye.
However, it is undeniable that social media has made it much easier for socially responsible services to reach more people in a short time and with such effectiveness. (Unexpected Uses For Social Media Marketing)
Sales conversion
You don’t have to go the same route as PetFinder, but you can use the same principles by creating a social media group for your pet intended cause. Starting a social media group in Facebook is an excellent way to drive traffic to your sales funnel because you develop a community of like-minded individuals who get regular updates on your new posts.
This fosters a feeling of kinship and loyalty, so group members are more likely to patronize your service or product, and refer you to their own networks. Just make sure you have a conversion-friendly landing page on your site to accommodate sales.
ClickFunnels can help you so that the technical stuff like programming and coding are taken care of with simple and easy to use interface. This way, you can focus on your core competency – Sales.
Crowdsourcing
Kickstarter does not own the corner on crowdsourcing. Social networks can generate a lot of attention for a worthy idea or project that needs support.
A good example of using social media for crowdsourcing is the Wetsuit video of the group The Vaccines, which used more than 2,000 photos submitted by Instagram users for that purpose. The video currently has more than 3 million views on YouTube.
This simple strategy strikes at the core of the social media user: the need to belong. You can also tap into this need by launching a marketing campaign calling for user-generated contributions.
It may be name suggestions for a new product, or shout-outs for a testimonial video. Get them to participate actively in your campaign, and it will take off. (Unexpected Uses For Social Media Marketing)
Conclusion
Social media present many opportunities for marketing, and some are less conventional than others are. You have to be careful when using these techniques, however, as they can backfire badly. Keep in mind that people use social media to add value to their lives.
Make sure you keep it that way even as you use it to create awareness for your brand and improve conversion for your business.
- 5 Unexpected Uses For Social Media Marketing - December 15, 2017