The Social Media Market is dominant, demanding and extremely fast-growing, and we at Ruckus are fully aware of that. Anyone who has anything to do with product or service marketing, like an advertising agency, creative studio, graphic design unit or sales specific company would agree that social media is that one tool that has completely changed the face of marketing forever. What once seemed like only a dream is now a fully-functional reality.

Who knew that we could one day reach out to millions of people with just the click of a button?

Instagram and Facebook have evolved into a huge platform for business and reach billions every day. A wide reach can give you considerable strength over other brands in your niche. Which is why the Ruckus digital team always advises clients to pay attention to these mediums.

Many brands all over the world have embraced digital marketing as a very important part of their marketing strategy. Now that every good, recognized company is on the same bandwagon, no one wants to be left out. Several advertising agencies in Bangalore also make sure that they include a solid digital plan in every pitch. Right from domain names to ad campaigns, everything has a virtual presence and is available to people all over the world, borders being a non-existent issue.

As a marketing professional, it’s very interesting to see how quickly the world was cocooned in the concept of social media. Today, advertising agencies in Bangalore, and many other commercial businesses and even the government has jumped in on the opportunity that social media presented and used it to get their message out.

Hence, social media has now become a community on its own, with people being active members on a second-to-second basis.

So, as a company/brand that is looking to expand and sell more products, is social media a good place to invest time and effort?

Absolutely!

Let’s focus on the good and see how a company can sell more products through social media:

1. Sponsored Ads

Sponsored ads are not just your basic creative or poster doing a few rounds on people’s news feeds; it has a lot to do with visibility and recurrence. Branding agencies in Bangalore often suggest sponsored ads to their clients. These ads need to be catchy, to the point and appealing, which is the only reason why someone would click on them in the first place. You can decide how often you want to “boost” an ad, your SEOs, SMOs, keywords and you can also track the traffic and visibility of these ads. Sponsored ads also act as gateways to your selling portal, if you have an online store or your website which can then give a user more information about your brand and products.

Statistics have shown that ads that appeared a good number of times on platforms like Facebook and Instagram has actually generated curiosity and received a certain number of clicks and hits. While not all of these hits translate into actual purchases, they do definitely market your product on a much larger scale.

2. Influencer Marketing

“X” is a fashion blogger who has a blog of his/her own and also an active Instagram page. They make posts on a daily basis and come up with fresh, new content, which is what keeps the followers glued. Although X is not a celebrity or a very famous personality, he/she has a decent reach and also has the power to influence people to buy products or try out new services.

How?

By using the product and putting up reviews either live or through pictures and videos. Here, the whole personal factor is what comes into play; people associate with a non-celebrity, who is definitely more like them and more approachable, hence they consider their endorsement more authentic and real than a celebrity who’s being paid a huge sum to do so. Several event management companies in Bangalore have made use of this strategy to promote events.

Branding agencies in Bangalore are also very much in favor of Influencer Marketing. Consumers believe in doing their research before actually spending money on something, and getting a review from a person they admire is a great way to convince them to buy something new.

Established brands like Adidas, MAC Cosmetics, Jimmy Choo and many more have willingly taken to this trend and seen some pretty commendable results too.

3. Giveaways and Contests

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Whether it’s a seasonal sale or promo codes for discounts, consumers are always waiting for the opportunity to win something.

It’s the age of giveaways, but there’s a way that brands can capitalize on it and gain some much-needed promotion through it as well.

How does this work?

Most brands and event management companies in Bangalore, like Ruckus, too use giveaways and announce contests when they’re launching a new range of products or are trying to boost an already existing range. By creating traffic around their brand, through posts, images, captions, hashtags, shout-outs and much more generated by users themselves, brands can actively engage them in the promotion of their product. In return, lucky winners get free merchandise, prizes in kind or any other form of reward that the brand decides to give out.

It’s a win-win for the digital marketing company and its customers.

4. Connect on a personal level

Companies stack up on a sizeable database, and later on utilize it for a more personal marketing technique.

“Hi Steve! The holiday season is here and our whole range is on 30-40% off! Click on this link to shop now…”

Just a simple example of what a personalized message looks like. This way, even if they’ve scrolled past a post or ad on social media, they’re still getting personal alerts which would catch their attention. If they’ve “liked” your page, they would also get alerts through Messenger or have your post pop-up on their news feed more often. In fact, text messages are a great way to get the consumer to click on an in-app link and visit your page or store.

The most recent development in this segment is the WhatsApp Messenger allowing companies to have their own accounts on the app. This works especially well for them because WhatsApp’s current user database is over 1.3 Billion active users and counting.

5. Encourage feedback

As scary as it might be for a brand to listen to or read negative comments, encouraging feedback can go a long way for any brand, in terms of growth, learning and also improvising and on service and product quality. Advertisement design concepts can also be greatly improved with valuable feedback. A digital marketing company like Ruckus knows its true significance.

There are different ways you can use social media to encourage feedback, the most common type being the comment section under posts. Next would be creating a separate feedback page, allowing consumers to email the brand, an online live chat for short queries or a separate form that they can fill and send over to you. Allowing feedback makes consumers feel like their opinions matter, and it also creates a personal connection between the consumer and the brand.

Negative backlash is the downside to this strategy because any comments against a brand’s reputation could reach a lot of people at once. Hence, even in such a scenario, it’s best to deal with it in a composed and decent manner. Remember, if they can see the bad comments, they can also see the way a brand handles grievances!

The online race is one that isn’t going to stop anytime soon, so social media is that ship that is going to keep sailing forward. Ride along or get left behind, the choice is yours!