Social media marketing is the fad today. For years, companies and organisations have looked for ways to connect to their customers effectively, and social media marketing is just that. It is a way of bridging the gap between a company and its customers, building trust and reliability and cementing the product’s legacy. In other words, social media marketing is one of the best ways of branding your product or business, if used effectively.
Many naysayers are of the view that social media marketing is ineffective, especially when it comes to reaching potential customers. Believe it or not, whoever considers social media marketing ‘useless’ has not used its potential the right way. Social media marketing is the most genuine way of interacting with your customers, which indeed makes it easier for them to trust and rely on your business. So, the question remains, how do you exactly use social media marketing effectively to brand your service or product? Quite a tricky question but the answer is simple. You do not have to do much when it comes to social media, just follow the basics and you will be right there.
Here are a few tips to follow in case you are wondering where to start from:

Consistency is Your Base:

With social media marketing, you cannot afford to be lazy. Remember, the more you tweet or put up Facebook updates, the more your customers and potential customers will get to know about your business. This is probably the major mistake most entrepreneurs make. If you are not regularly updating your Facebook page or your Twitter profile, you are losing on a lot. The more visible you are, the better it will be for your business.
Be Interactive: Videos, pictures and updates of your events and offerings should always be there on social media presence. This way, your followers will get to know your brand better. For instance, an apparel outlet should always have pictures of its outlets, products and other similar things on the social media page. Do not keep your page boring and dull, make it creative and fun to follow.
Create Connections: Whether you are using Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook, making the effort of connecting to people is always the best way to ensure you have enough followers. Users would not really mind joining your page or profile so it is your duty to ensure the word is being spread effectively. A general calculation is that one connection can bring in ten, especially on Facebook, so make sure you have at least a thousand if you want ten thousand followers.
Create a Brand Image: What is your brand? What does it offer? Why is it different from others? Why should users even read your updates? What makes your brand worthy of being followed? All these questions are to be answered by you. Lousy updates can indeed tick your followers off. Pictures, videos and others means of making your updates more exciting and colourful is the best way to ensure followers are being attracted. And, do not forget offering discounts and special deals through your social media pages!
Honesty is the Best Policy: Always be genuine with your social media presence. Do not fake or lie to your followers. They are there because they like your brand so do not turn them off.
Remember, branding is the process of making customers believe you are better than others. Social media marketing is a great way of doing that only if you know how to by it. There is no rocket science involved here, just the basics. It is a process of selling your brand online so make sure you have your ‘sales bible’ handy.