As a one-time ad agency art director, I always take a special interest in creating a message, whether it’s a television commercial or radio spot – I may be dating myself here – or a direct mail piece, brochure, or social post.
These days, of course, the medium of choice is social and, as we know, crafting social media messaging that is both creatively compelling and strategically sound is essential. This is true not only because the messaging speaks to your brand – its quality, for one – but also that social messaging needs to break through in a medium that is extremely cluttered. By adhering to best practices, some of which I’ve covered here, you can enhance engagement, convey your message more effectively, and achieve your marketing objectives.
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Start with SMART goals and clear objectives
Like taking a road trip, creating creative messaging requires a good roadmap. After all, with multiple individuals more than likely involved in the process, you’ll want to make certain that all agree – right up front – the route you’ll take, the cost associated with the trip, and the estimated arrival time. This roadmap, in the marketing “biz,” is called a creative brief. This is where your SMART goals – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound – will be outlined. And it's a great way – the only way, really – for everyone to stay aligned for the duration of the “trip.” Don’t start creating without it!
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Understand Your Audience
Who are you trying to engage? This info should be put forth in the creative brief as, after all, marketing is a conversation and it’s hard to carry on a conversation with an invisible individual. Detailed personas are a good place to start. I found this blog helpful in that it explains the persona building process in a pretty simple, straightforward way. In a nutshell, you want to create an imaginary target individual who is representative of your message’s target audience.
Begin by developing detailed audience personas to grasp the demographics, preferences, and pain points of your target market. This understanding enables the creation of tailored content that resonates with your audience's needs and interests. There are myriad tactics you can use here, from surveys and focus groups to analytical tools. PS: This is what our Social+ platform can do.
Once you’ve created your persona, based on age, interests, buying habits, location, income – and lots more, believe me! – you can begin to have a meaningful conversation with this person. And, maybe even sell them something, which is the goal, right?
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Craft content that engages
This is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Of course, you want to create content that’s compelling, and moves people to act. Some say that people no longer read. Personally, my belief is this: People read what interests them.
Don’t just throw words on a page. Give serious consideration to every word. Are you answering the consumer’s question, “what’s in it for me?” By that I mean, are you spending more time telling them about YOU than asking them how you can solve their problem and meet their needs? This is a mistake that marketers commonly make. Remember, it's not about you. It's about that individual who needs a solution. You just happen to be the one who can provide it! As for the visual component of your social messaging, well, make it attention grabbing. ‘Nough said there.
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For pete’s sake, be consistent
Reinforce. Reinforce. Reinforce. Consistency in both posting schedules and brand look and voice build trust and recognition. Give the individuals in your audience the opportunity to experience you in a clear, consistent way. Use the same voice in everything you write, and stick to colors and fonts that make your brand easily recognizable … especially since you have about 3 seconds to grab someone’s attention.
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Create that conversation
As we said already, marketing – at least good marketing – creates conversations. Foster interaction with the members of your audience by prompting discussions, asking questions, and responding to comments, to name a few. Engagement not only builds community but also increases the visibility of your content. Encourage and share content created by your audience. They’ll love you for it.
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Utilize Data and Analytics
Maximize your efforts, and marketing spend, by collecting, analyzing, and responding to social media metrics. You can achieve this by regularly analyzing performance metrics to assess the effectiveness of your messaging. The insights gained from data help in refining your strategies and making informed decisions for future content. Ideally, you want to be able to view all your performance metrics, for every network, in one user-friendly dashboard. Our Social+ will do that, showing you how you’re doing on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.
In conclusion…
Is this an exhaustive list of tips that will make your social messaging sing? Not by a long shot. But, hopefully, it gets you thinking… about the incredible value of social to a marketing strategy and how critically important it is to “get it right.”
Bank Marketing Center
We’re bankmarketingcenter.com, the leading, subscription-based provider of automated marketing services to community banks. Our goal is to help bank marketers with that topical, compelling communication with customers that builds trust, relationships, and revenue. And we do this through automating critical bank marketing functions, such as content creation, social media management and digital asset management, as well as regulatory and brand compliance.
We also want to share what we know – and learn along the way – with all our community banking friends. Whether it’s the latest on AI technology, suggestions on how to attract and retain top talent, or the importance of data protection, we’re here to make bank marketing the best that it can be.
Want to learn more about what we can do for your community bank and your marketing efforts? You can start by visiting bankmarketingcenter.com. Then, feel free to contact me directly by phone at 678-528-6688 or via email at nreynolds@bankmarketingcenter.com. As always, I welcome your thoughts.