Everyone and their grandma knows about influencers and how they use their social media presence to promote brands for money – but how can you tread the fine line between authentic engagement and promotion via the right people for your brand and uh, just being annoying?
With new rules cracking down on transparency in regards to branded content, influencers and anyone sponsored by brands are required to add a hashtag ad or hashtag sponsored (although the more inconspicuous option: #sp is more widely used).
So, what does that mean for brands who want to utilise the abundance of Instagram influencers? Are people more likely to be put off with the brand as a whole if they know for a fact that their favourite online personalities are actually being paid off? Could genuineness be the only way for brands to be received well?
Not really.
The old-fashioned way of marketing seems to have fallen out of favour. Bombarding your audience with in the face, over the top, or even just outright annoying ads can cause people to tune out your promo, block your profile or even associate your brand with negative connotations. Instead, if you attach an influencer onto your name, audiences are more generally going to try the product you’re trying to sell as they perceive it as a recommendation from their favourite celebrities rather than just an outright hard sell. However – pick your influencer wisely. Yes, you may want Kim K’s millions of followers to see and want your product – but are they the correct audience? Start local, think global.
We’re all familiar with Facebook’s sponsored posts. But just because people see your posts does not mean they’re actively engaging with your brand. There’s a huge disparity between viewing, liking, and commenting on a Facebook ad and actually buying or actively engaging with the brand in question.
Unless you already have an engaged following on this platform, it’s hard to branch out organically to other people unless you’re willing to put in serious money and also follow the rules of Facebook ad posting: less words, more photos. However, any post with the word ‘Sponsored’ on the top that appears on your feed five times a day would undoubtedly turn some people off – so work on creating natural inertia through maintaining a great brand personality on Facebook with posts that add value to increase shareability of posts that aren’t tarred with the ‘sponsored’ brush.
Again, the effectiveness of ‘Sponsored’ post comes into question. Unlike the other two platforms, the 240 character limit also severely limit what a brand can spread in terms of their messages. On the other hand: quick, concise, and catchy tweets can work wonders!
Often, companies and brands have taken a much more unique approach when it comes to branding themselves on Twitter: instead of focusing too much on pushing the newest product or announcing their latest campaign, they’ve adopted personalities. Akin to human interaction, these social-savvy companies opted out of marketing in the most traditional sense and seek to build rapport and relationship with their audiences.
Creativity is never a bad thing when it comes to standing out from your opponents. Simply paying Twitter to have your post pushed to the priority section on everyone’s’ newsfeed is no longer a viable way of ensuring your popularity as a brand. It never hurts to crack a few jokes here and there. Don’t be shy about being more casual and more fun. Most importantly, be authentic.