Neworld, Great relationships build great brands

The collaborative and participatory nature of Web 2.0 created the foundations for the rise of social media platforms. Brands rushed into this new opportunity to reach their audience with flashy tools and impressive technologies. In many cases, they forgot two essential things:

1. Social media was designed for people, not brands.
2. Social media marketing must be fully integrated with your overall brand strategy.

So, how do we avoid crashing the Web 2.0 party and effectively use social media to foster conversations with our followers and strengthen our brand? Neworld’s social media blog can help answer these questions for you!

Authenticity on Social Media

At Neworld, our No. 1 piece of advice to brands marketing on social media is to be honest and authentic. Remember that social media users are people and that the use of social media for overtly commercial gain is seen as inauthentic. Instead, your social media presence should be seen as your brand personified. Users should always feel as though they are engaging with just one person when they interact with your brand, even if there’s a whole team of social media experts on the other end. That one “person” should share the same qualities, personality and tone of voice as your brand.

To help us stay authentic, we should remember that the Web 2.0 ideology champions participatory culture and the creation and exchange of content. Embracing User Generated Content (UGC) is therefore an important part of behaving authentically as a brand. UGC is a form of collaboration which highlights the relationship between brand and follower and is, of course, an effective and cost efficient way to strengthen your brand. Some companies might be slow to embrace UGC and allow the public to play around with their brand as this involves relinquishing control over their most valuable asset. However, UGC is a cornerstone of social media and will continue to lend your brand significant credibility and authenticity.

Integration with Your Brand Strategy

In addition to authenticity, integration is another concept which we need to keep front of mind when marketing on social media. Brands are very familiar with integrating messaging across web, TV, print and radio but can drop the ball when it comes to social media. It’s quite common for companies to assign their social media activities to a recent recruit or even intern, but unless this person is fully equipped with the right brand assets, this can be a mistake. Recent research shows that 52% of Irish consumers believe they can find more information on a brand on their social media account than on their website. Your brand strategy therefore needs to be fully integrated into all social media activities. You need to utilise your brand mark correctly and use the correct type face, colour palette and tone of voice if you want your social activity to align with your overall brand strategy.

Staying authentic while remaining fully integrated with your brand strategy is no small task but we hope that our Neworld blog series will help you navigate these challenges successfully. If you want to take a look at some recent social media statistics relating to Irish consumers you can check out our stats blog here »

Sources: Mintel. (2020). Social Networking: Inc Impact of Covid-19- Ireland- May 2020.