by By Connor Nolan, Jillian Fraccola, Lizz Wells, Caitlin Wahlers, and Ben Feng
In class on Monday of week seven, we had guest speaker Lauren Teague talk about effectively communicating your brand through the various social media platforms we use today. Typically this is referred to as #socialselling, yet the term ‘selling’ doesn’t truly reflect how this type of communication works.
Selling via social media has taken a completely different turn over the past decade. People are bombarded with more and more content each and every day. As more brands and engaging with social media platforms, they are all competing to grabbing the attention of our eyes, hoping they are able to make an impression before the next advertisement rolls around.
With the growing adoption of mobile phones, this increased exposure to more and more brands isn’t going to slow down. Accessibility has made it that,
The constant scrolling effect we have with our phones makes #Thumbstopping that much harder for brands. This calls for communication to be as engaging and jargon-less as possible, which Lauren boils down to four key components.
These elements focus on the need to tell stories to your audience. Grabbing one’s attention requires you to make an emotional connection with the viewer. Being able to align your values with theirs builds the trust needed to make the ‘sell’. This is where the #socialselling term differs from its original meaning; it’s not about a sale but rather it’s about creating a relationship.
Social media and communicating through it is no longer just about writing a compelling blog. The notion of “if you write it, they will come” no longer applies. We’re over-stimulated by the mass amount of content feed to us.
We seek asylum from the noise by being part of niche communities that share special interests of ours. A person’s widespread exposure to different content creators requires content to be curated to these special interests communities.
The means in which a brand communicates these niche communities, change based on the platform the communities are on. Regardless, brands must build trust with us by understanding who we are, what we want, and why we want it. The ability for brands to make their message feel personal to us will start the relationship that becomes #socialselling.
Fantastic recap of Monday’s session — thank you for sharing your notes and reflections from our discussion! It was my pleasure to join your class and share my experiences. It’s true that social media is best used to build relationships, even when those relationships are designed to help an audience member convert to a customer or advocate. Great take!