How Authenticity Plays An Important Role In Current Social Media Landscape

In 2020, brands are keen on creating authenticity for them among the customers. People have become more conscious about what they buy, and they want to ensure whether going with a product or service will benefit them. So in the present day scenario, authenticity acts as the key in taking the business of a brand to the next level. According to a poll, nine out of ten Millennials choose a product only if they find it trustworthy and not by extravagant advertisements. Today, social platforms have evolved into the major medium for business due to its consistently rising user base. A survey that was conducted in January 2020 noted that there are around 3.80 billion social media users globally. Hence, the social application has turned into a commercial medium where brands pump-in enormous money to reach out to people. Have a glimpse at some of the tactics that work best to build authenticity on your brand on social platforms.          

Know The Potential Of Influencer Marketing:

Do you know how influencers marketing have become crucial among all social media marketing techniques? Influencers have gained the trust of people effortlessly. It took several years for many brands to build a name for them and gain people’s reputation. But the influencers have earned the trust of people in a short period, within years. Brands and businesses realize the potential of influencers and leverage them to persuade people. 

Influencers have risen to fame through their intriguing content that could connect with people easily. Many have also garnered attention by exhibiting their unique skills. Since there are many influencers across all the social platforms, you should be wiser in choosing them. Trollishly is a well-known service provider that offers real followers to the influencers. Here, I enlist the factors you should make a note of while choosing the influencer.  

• Go With The One Who ‘Fits-In’ With You:

Choose the influencer who perfectly co-relates with your brand personality. This will help you ideate campaigns for the influencer easily so that people will also get convinced easily. For instance, let us take that you are looking out to promote your muscle growth powder. Going with bodybuilders will benefit you mostly rather than choosing someone with another niche. You should also check whether the influencer you pick has at least a meager of your target audience. 

• Invest On Video Influencers:

Choose the influencers who are focused on videos since Millennials and Generation Z are fond of video content over all the other forms of content. Moreover, all the leading social platforms have become video-centric. Instagram, which was actually introduced as an image-centric platform, is gradually evolving into a substitute for YouTube with the advent of IGTV. So, collaborate with the influencers who gained massive reach through videos.  

• Don’t Underestimate Micro-influencers:

We can see marketers neglecting micro-influencers due to their meager follower base. Micro-influencers are the people who have followers ranging from 10K-50K. One of the widely recognized characteristics of micro-influencers is that they have a strong user base in a particular region. If you aim to increase your brands’ reach in Tennessee, collaborating with the micro-influencers in that region will be a wiser move. 

Build Credibility Through Interaction:

Social platforms enable multiple ways to get-in-touch with customers. These social applications are spots where you could easily have a better understanding of your target audience. People don’t hesitate to post their opinion about the product they purchased recently, movies they watched, or about current happenings on the social platforms. Even if you look at the comment section of any global brands’ Facebook or Instagram page, you can find a wide range of opinions shared by people. So, respond to people in a lighter tone who share their views on your page. Many people also share their grievances. Making a timely reply with a solution will earn a good name for you since any number of people can see the interaction. 68% of people check the social platforms of a brand or a product before making a purchase with it. There is also an rising trend of customers approaching the brands through social platforms for queries. So, responding to them with a solution on time will make people feel that you will be available anytime to assist them. Thereby, this will establish trust in your brand among people. 

• Take Advantage Of Social Messaging Platforms:

Today, brands believe that they can gain a place in the customer’s heart by interacting with them. They believe that conversation will act as a pathway for them to build their brand image and gain reliability. A stranger you met on your first day of college turns into your best friend and the trustworthy person only through the exchange of words. The same way is followed in the business these days for which social platforms act as robust tools. Social messaging platforms notably Facebook Messenger and WeChat can also be utilized to develop a conversation with people. Facebook Messenger currently has a userbase of 1.2 billion. So you can send customized ads, details on your newly launched products on these messaging platforms, and receive feedback. 

• Go Live:

Going live is a better way to interact with a large number of people at a time. Live videos have almost 4x higher engagement rate than the usual videos in all the major social platforms. So, if you are about to launch a new product for your brand, you can create awareness about it among it through Live. Go live on your company social media page a few days prior to the product launch and demonstrate its specifications. People will also share their queries for which you can reply in real-time.       

• Leverage User-generated Content:

User-generated content is none other than the digital format of word-of-mouth marketing. People will be less hesitant to buy a product suggested by their neighborhood or their colleagues. The same psychology works in the user-generated content. For instance, consider that you are looking to buy sports shoes. If you come across a post by your Facebook friend about his newly bought sports shoes’ comfort, you are nearly half-convinced to go with the same brand. User-generated content works similarly. Encourage your customers to post regarding the product they brought from you on their personal social media handles. Such moves will build credibility for your brand among the people who viewed the post. If they share the posts to their stories section, it will enhance the posts’ reach since the stories section has a higher engagement rate than the regular posts. Social applications can be used as a perfect platform for user-generated content since the content can reach many people in a short time.  

Create Videos That Shows ‘Behind The Scenes’:

People are always keen to know how the products used by them are manufactured. For instance, ‘Factory Made’ TV show broadcasted on Discovery is one of the successful longest-running TV shows. The program takes people to the manufacturing unit of any product that is in use and shows the step-by-step process involved in getting the end product. You can try the same measure by letting people know how your products are manufactured with high-quality raw materials and in a safer environment. Create a video that showcases your office environment and how employees are taken care of. Since the social platforms have become video dominant, create ‘behind the scenes’ videos and post it on your social media page. Subsequently, it will get viewed by a large number of polls.  

Know The Knack Of Story-Telling:

Today story-telling has gained massive importance in both B2B and B2C marketing. Brands craft stories that are more lively, comprising their brand personality. Through the art of story-telling, the video stories convince people to choose a product and how it would add value to their life. Since people are easily getting connected to these videos, we can see an increasing trend for stories. The advent of ephemeral content has amplified the importance of story-telling. Ephemeral content is the short duration videos that are available only for a specific period. Facebook and Instagram Stories are perfect examples of ephemeral content. However, the challenge in front of you is that you should convey a story in the given short-duration. Take advantage of the stories section and come up with new videos frequently that convey stories about your product. Such a measure will elevate your brand awareness and help to maximize your conversion rate.  

Final Thoughts:

Social platforms are expected to gain importance as the major selling point for e-commerce products in the coming years. With the profuse use of the internet, people get overflowed with much information about the product they decide to buy. So, it has become pivotal for brands to gain the trust of people for which social platforms can be utilized as an effective tool.