Promoting Your Brand Through Social Media

January 25, 2012

Marketing Mag spoke about it this morning; ‘Bashtag’ is the term. Yes we’re referring to McDonald’s using #McDStories as a promoted tweet, which invited tonnes of negative feedback via the social media microblogging site, Twitter. Users tried to one-up each other by tweeting grotesque experiences with the brand.

Not an outcome McDonald’s was seeking, we’re sure.

Yes McDonald’s should be on Twitter. Yes they should be on Facebook, but they also should have had their ear to the ground before they invited the public to engage in their brand promotion social media campaign.

A question they should have asked themselves is “What could our worst enemy do with this?”… Sounds a bit dramatic, but the answer might have prevented people from sharing horror stories of McDonald’s toilets. Ick!

If you’re going to use social media, here’s how to successfully and positively promote your brand:

  1. Before any communication, ask yourself the aforementioned question: “What’s the worst our enemy could do with this?” Then make necessary, cautious adjustments.
  2. Be aware of current community sentiment of your brand before asking for referrals/stories (e.g. QANTAS debacle).
  3. Provide interesting, topical, and positive content, and do so in your brand’s voice.
  4. Don’t be brand-absorbed – share good news yes, but also ask people what’s going on in their lives, still keeping it semi-related to your brand. Eg. If you’re a hair salon, and it’s raining, ask: “How’s everyone’s hair looking? Are you keeping the frizz under control?” Then respond to replies, and give advice if requested. It’s all about engagement.
  5. Have a sense of humour, but make sure it’s a conservative one, just to be on the safe side.

Using social media to promote your brand will ensure top of mind awareness amongst your current fans, and, if you’re providing interesting content; will gain you more brand advocates, as friends of those fans who are engaging with you, will ‘stop by’ to see what all the fuss is about.

Need some advice on promoting your brand through social media? Give us a call, or send us an email. Or more appropriately; Tweet or Facebook us!