No brand is boring
If you’re like most small business owners I know, you spend a lot of time thinking about how best to put your limited time and marketing budget to the best use. You’ve probably read lots of advice about how every brand needs to be on social media – after all, all the marketing experts insist that social media is one of the best ways to connect with potential customers.
It’s easy to market your brand on social media if your company is cool. Cars, iPhones, and video games are all easy to market online – people are eager to hear what brands in these industries have to say.
But what do you do when you’re representing a “boring” brand? It might be harder to attract an audience, but social media is still an effective way for you to market yourself. Here are three tips to get you started.
1. Share your expertise
And so does social media marketing.
No matter what kind of industry you’re in, you have a lot of knowledge about it that the general public lacks. Create content that gives an insider’s view, or provide followers with tips and tricks for dealing with difficult situations in your industry.
Personally, I can’t think of anything more dull than talking about plumbing. But do you know when I don’t find plumbing boring? When my toilet backs up and I can’t unclog it, or my water heater stops working and all of a sudden I can’t take a shower before work. At those times, plumbing is my number one interest and I go straight to the internet to find out how to solve my problems.
When I google, “how do I unclog my toilet,” if you’re a plumber and I find an informative and helpful post you’ve written, I’m going to remember you. If it turns out I can’t fix it myself, you’re going to be the first plumber I think of calling.
And this doesn’t only apply to plumbing. Whatever your industry is, create content that solves the types of problems your potential customers could be having. You’ll boost the amount of organic search traffic you receive and, most importantly, the public will start trusting you and your brand.
2. Be entertaining
When the product you sell or the service you offer is uninteresting, sometimes the best thing to do is not to focus on your product at all. Some of the greatest advertising and marketing content of the last few years is for brands that aren’t traditionally thought of as sexy or exciting.
Take the Dollar Shave Club.
This video, at the time I’m writing, has been viewed nearly 30 million times, and that’s not because people are interested in razors. Dollar Shave Club is a barebones operation without a lot of overhead, so when it came time to promote their business, they decided on a low budget, comedic approach. The video they made went viral the day it was released, and they got so many new orders that the traffic crashed their servers.
Another example of this is Old Spice. Old Spice was an established brand, but one with a reputation as being a boring product for old men. A series of funny ads went viral and transformed Old Spice into a brand for young people.
3. Share Other People’s Great Content
If you’re busy running a business, it’s unlikely that you’ll have time to be a content marketer as well. But you don’t need to create a huge amount of content in order to be seen as a great source of information. Instead, share other information that your audience (or the audience you want to have) will find useful.
Find a few different regularly updating blogs or YouTube channels that are relevant to your industry and make a point to share interesting articles on social media at least a few times each week. This will help you establish yourself as an expert in your field, and as long as you keep posting on a regular basis, you'll keep gaining followers.
Don't give up
The truth is, there are very few companies that are inherently interesting. Almost every marketing success story starts with a brand that nobody cares about and most people think is boring. Keep at it, and you'll develop the social media following you're looking for.
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Good stuff, thanks
Colorpro Carpetology