Are your ads and posts not giving you the desired results? We give you 6 tricks that will help you connect with your audience and build a community of loyal followers.

My colleagues keep complaining about useless and even bothersome ads on social media. They are not what they want to see or are interested in and they greatly impede their use of Facebook or Instagram.

When I listen to these stories, I find myself surprised by how some companies still manage to completely miss their target population. We all know that technology has much improved in terms of target marketing, but these companies are wondering in the dark. There must be a better way for brands reach the customers through social media.

62% of social media users

follow at least one brand!

Allow me to touch on some statistics. Almost 2/3 of social media users are annoyed by marketing content on social media and 26% are actively ignoring them. But the good news is that as many as 62% follow at least one brand on social media.

According to GlobalWebIndex, 42% social media users use social media to keep in touch with friends, and more than a third are also interested in seeking events and entertainment. Even though 27% of users look for or explore products on social media, most of them are focused on building relationships. So it is understandable that many users are annoyed by advertisements they find intrusive, irrelevant or boring.

This might be the case for the general social media community, but it gives us some insight into users’ attitudes and their contact with brands. The Slovenian public still doesn’t seem to understand brands holistically and their long-term value, rather, it recklessly favours fast and impulse purchases.

The hyper competitive spirit of today is not limited to brands and ads. Consumers want to know about the latest trends in fashion and technology, they want to be the best at everything. That’s why they swear by the best brands and through contact with those brands, they express their feelings.

This allows consumers to connect with brands more directly and express their dissatisfaction when something goes wrong. As many as 46% of users messaged a brand on social media and 4 out of 5 believe that this had a positive effect on the brand’s sense of responsibility. The good news is that 45% of users will share a good response from the brand online and over a third will share it with their friends.

Too many Slovenian companies underestimates the power of social media, but the reality is that all of that creates a certain image of a brand, increases sales or lays off employees. Here are some tips on how to use social media to your advantage and how to benefit from this revolutionary modern era:

Your brand should reflect your personality, your company and its values. Consumers relate to a brand that stands for values and goals they strive for. Make the content on social media interesting, encouraging and useful to their lifestyle.

The content should be useful for them, not you!

Statistics shows that social media users are most interested in connections and entertainment. Brands that share news about the new trends or offer content they create themselves, are an added value to a user and it reflects on the number and the engagement of followers.

Context is key. Interactions on social media are not the same. Users may view some of your posts for fun or for news, and others for knowledge and inspiration. To meet all these needs, you need a careful plan of what to post. But with merely 2 hours a day, you will not be able to carry it out well enough for your followers or for yourself.

Your starting point should be your own values. Before creating content, ask yourself why you’re doing this and not only what purpose it serves. Avoid posting bare marketing content and don’t advertise discounts or last days of sale. Build on your brands specific value and its importance for an aspect of your follower’s life.

You need to build an audience of loyal and active followers, who will help spread your values and message. In addition to posting content that aligns with their interests and beliefs, brands can also achieve this by being more accessible for communication.

Responding immediately can be a powerful tool for answering queries, responding to complaints and building more intimate bonds with followers. With an immediate and personal response, brands can encourage users to initiate the bonding process.

ersistency is the most important factor of a brands success on social media. This means responding to feedback from costumers and actively working on improving their social media experience. As many as 60% of users require an active introduction of a brand, 2-4 times, before forming an authentic bond and trusting its added value, which results in purchase or conversion. This can be achieved by good content and consistent posting, as this is the only way to keep in touch with the user and encourage communication.

Brands are often bad at testing and evaluating their own marketing and content. We see excuses like ‘there’s no time’ or ‘we don’t have to do this, we understand our customers’.

This is a mistake. You can never be sure of your success if you don’t independently confirm that your ads are achieving your goals (behaviour).

Based on the above, as well as research, we can be certain that managing social media is very different from conventional marketing. The power lies more and more in the hands of users themselves. Interacting and adding value to users’ lives are the most important aspects of your brand, which can only be realised through persistent and relevant content and advertising.

Brands that are interested in what users have to say and respond with honesty to their needs and interests, will be able to benefit from new business opportunities. Sprout research found that more than 75% of users made a purchase after interacting with marketing content.