Building Brands On Social Media

Peppermint Design & Marketing, like many marketing agencies in the UK, and just about everywhere, is increasingly being asked to provide a social media strategy for existing and new client brands. It isn’t enough any more to simply launch a press campaign, or circulate flyers in Marbella, or the length of the Costa del Sol; brands need to be on social media as well. Plus, with the advancement in the advertising tools provided by the top social media channels—in particular Facebook – there is a strong case for creating a social media advertising budget.

Back in 2007, Mark Zuckerberg predicted that “the next 100 years are going to be different for advertisers starting today.” The “difference’ he anticipated is that clients and brands would start to have a conversation with customers rather than just push information out to them. And that is what has happened; brands now have their own ‘circle of friends’ who ‘Like’ them, ‘tweet or retweet’ them, ‘pin’ them and generally behave with brands in the same way they do with their mates.

Facebook didn’t start out with a ‘brand’ culture, but 2007 was when Zuckerberg welcomed them into the Facebook universe. He was quite right when he predicted that “ a recommendation from a trusted friend” would have more impact on brand popularity than traditional advertising. After all, if your best friend recommends a product, you’re more inclined to give it a try than if an unknown actor tells you to buy it. Of course, well-known actors like George Clooney have the opposite effect; he sends many people straight to Nespresso. But, if you were in any doubt, the combination of a friend’s recommendation and George might just turn you into a Nespresso convert.

So, new agencies and job roles sprung up offering clients to have that ‘conversation’ with a brand’s followers, fans and their social circle on social media. It created a new way of thinking about how to engage with consumers. Of course, it hasn’t been quite as straightforward as Zuckerberg thought it would be: partly because brands aren’t as interesting as real people. And, that’s partly why the organic reach brands initially enjoyed, has dwindled to almost nothing now. The other part of the equation is that Facebook limited access to brand pages in order to create a need for paid advertising.

Leading research company Forrester, says that companies are “fools” if they feel they are having a “social relationship” with their customers. They are correct in saying that Facebook is just another advertising medium now. And we must approach this social media channel from a marketing, rather than a social, perspective.

This doesn’t mean that Facebook is some kind of social media ‘baddy’, it is only leading the way where the others are all following; watch the ‘Twitter’ space to see what happens there this year.

What this means for brands is that you need social media and marketing experts more than ever to maximise your presence on social media. We’re back to targeting audiences and selecting demographics. You even need search engine optimisation as well because the search engines are including social media in its page ranking algorithms.

If you’re wondering why your Facebook page or other social media account isn’t performing as well as you expected, contact Peppermint’s Managing Director Jade Thompson for an audit of your social media presence and a discussion about your social media strategy. Tel: +34 951 316 553 or email: info@peppermintcreate.com