Over the past few months I’ve found myself spending more and more time on social media. The reason? Well, while I do love reading one of Kanye West’s infamous Twitter rants, it’s actually down to the growing number of startup brands who are winning me over with their brilliant social media marketing.
It seems I’m not alone, either. With an 8.7-percent global increase in digital, social and mobile usage in just over eight recent months (as cited here by We are Social), it has never been so essential for brands to up their game. So, who’s smashing it on social media?
Here are three startups I think are knocking their corporate competitors out of the social media marketing park, and the reasons why.
MARINA London keeps it simple
As a business owner, you will no doubt be spinning many plates — so when it comes to social media marketing, keep it simple. Ask yourself: who is your brand and what is right for your audience? Do it now, and write it down. If you have the time, draw up a mood board to help you keep “on brand” from day-to-day, too.
Find your brand’s voice and stick to it.
Silk specialist MARINA London is brilliant at this. The company clearly understands its unique voice and gets a gold star for maintaining style consistency with the color palette and text captions, which is in keeping with the quality of the brand.
Owner and creative director Marina Guergova is also clearly featured as part of the company’s Instagram profile — which I love. Not only is it a great way for Marina to cleverly establish a media profile, but it also projects transparency. This makes the consumer feel closer to the brand and part of her journey.
Doisy & Dam let their followers do the talking, too
It doesn’t take an expert to recognize that Doisy & Dam is playful with its communications — but what I admire most about the company’s social media marketing strategy is that it actively has a two-way dialogue with consumers.
Many brands make the mistake of talking “at” their followers, rather than “with” them. If you look at the Doisy & Dam Twitter account, however, you can clearly see the company encourages conversation with its consumers.
Talk with your followers, not at them.
Interestingly, the firm also uses emojis in its communications — a tactic worth considering if your brand targets Millennials.
Another arena in which Daisy & Dam excel is contests. A tried-and-tested tool for brands to attract new social media fans, Doisy & Dam runs a regular weekly selfie competition where it asks people to share photos of themselves posing with a bar of its chocolate. The aim is simple: inspire customers to act as “influencers” and spread the word about their love of the brand (for free) in exchange for the opportunity to win a load of chocolate. Win-win all ‘round.
Canva gives their followers superpowers through social media marketing
According to a recent HubSpot article, researchers have found coloured visuals increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80 percent. That’s a staggering stat. But if like me, you can’t get your head around photo-editing software like Photoshop, Canva offers a great alternative.
An intuitive and easy-to-use tool, Canva (genuinely) help brands create eye-catching visuals within minutes which can then be incorporated within social messaging to drive click rates and an increase in sales.
But the specific reason why I wanted to spotlight Canva is because they publish useful tips and tricks that are simple for brands to digest and implement. These are invaluable. Real gold dust for small companies or busy marketers looking to add value to their social communications. Its users agree, too, with reviews like: “Canva is my secret superpower.” And who doesn’t want a superpower?
