In today’s digital landscape, where algorithms and automation dominate, it’s essential to remember the power of human connection. At the core of any successful social media strategy lies the influence of real people—whether they are influencers, customers, or creators. Incorporating human elements into your strategy will significantly boost brand sales, drive engagement, and build long-lasting relationships with your audience.
In this post, I’ll talk through four key tactics that you can use to weave that essential, human connection through your social media strategy.
1. Influencers for ROI: Building Credibility and Trust
Leverage ready-made, engaged audiences to form deeper connections, reach further and influence purchasing decisions.
First and foremost, if you’ve not harnessed the power of Influencer Marketing yet, then where have you been!? Over the last 10 years, Influencer Marketing has become a cornerstone of modern social strategies. Influencers not only enhance brand awareness and drive sales but also lend credibility and trust that would otherwise take years for a brand to build themselves. They are seen as trusted voices in their respective niches and their endorsements come across as more genuine recommendations than traditional advertisements. When influencers vouch for your brand, their followers are more likely to trust and try your products, leading to increased return-on-investment. This credibility is invaluable, as it can significantly shorten the customer decision-making process and accelerate sales.
2. Creator-Generated Content: Amplifying Authenticity
Brief in real, everyday people to create authentic content that you can use across your brand socials & within ad assets.
Seeing real people happily using and endorsing your products reinforces the perception that your brand is reliable and worth trying. CGC showcases your products in real-life scenarios, providing potential customers with authentic insights into how your products perform. CGC creators act as a true mirror to your target audience. This real-world endorsement helps build trust and relatability, making it more likely for new customers to purchase. CGC is a cost-effective creative asset that captivates your audience through the creators’ authenticity and reliability. Not to mention, it often outperforms traditional advertising content when it comes to engagement and conversion rates.
3. Creator Content, Agile Ads & Amplification: Maximising Efficiency
Take your Influencer or CGC assets and optimise them even further. Use creator content in your paid ad content to authentically reach far and wide.
Leaving your Influencer posts or CGC assets at the fate of organic performance can lead to expensive, brilliant content simply flopping or not reaching your target audience. But not all hope is lost, by negotiating paid usage of that content, you have the power to amplify it and target more of the people you want to reach.
In the fast-paced world of social media, adaptability is key. Adaptive ads mean making regular iterations based on data, both in flighting and the creative assets. Constantly monitor your ads to avoid ad fatigue, maximise your budget, and drive higher performance. This approach ensures that your ads remain relevant and engaging, and by regularly updating your creative assets based on learnings, you will drive higher performance.
4. Affiliate Marketing: Driving Sales Through Incentives
Utilise the human connections you’ve created for direct sales, as well as awareness. Through incentivising influencers, they can become sales-extensions for your product.
Affiliate marketing programs offer a mutually beneficial way to drive sales through influencer partnerships. By incentivising influencers with commissions, you can encourage more active promotion and accurately measure the impact of their efforts. This motivates influencers to promote your products more vigorously and aligns their success with yours. Affiliate marketing provides a clear and measurable way to track the effectiveness of influencer-driven sales. By analysing the performance of referral links, you can gain valuable insights into which influencers and strategies are driving the most conversions.
By placing humans at the heart, you can build a robust and effective social strategy that drives brand sales and fosters genuine connections with your audience. My recommendation? Start with one of these 4 tactics, or better yet, combine several: The power of influencers, creator-generated content, agile ads, and/or affiliate marketing.
If you’re keen to humanise your brand’s social presence but uncertain which direction is best for your brand right now, get in touch today and we can discuss the best course of action.
