How to Organically Reach Your Audience on Social Media in 2023
The year of trading hyper-edited, professionally polished posts for authenticity
Maintaining a social media presence is a must for any business hoping to stay connected with customers in today’s digital world. As Calgary social media marketers, we know firsthand how this now familiar landscape allows customers to connect with your business as a personality rather than an entity. In turn, leading to increased sales, organic word-of-mouth marketing and brand awareness.
Recently, everyone is talking about how much people are trading digitally altered imagery for “authenticity” – just take a look at the recently dubbed “de-influencing” trend, centred around influencers encouraging their followers to spend their money wisely. In turn, their recommendations hold significantly more impact.
Clearly, communicating an air of “realness” is resonating. But how can brands actually do this effectively?
Zero In on Your Audience
(Nope – break it down even more)
Envision your customer as a real person. Who are you speaking to? In order to provide people with content that will truly resonate with them, we need to connect as human beings. One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is trying to appeal to all – identifying your target audience ensures your connecting with those who will actually buy your product or service and touch on things that will stand out to them.
For example, if your target audience is 25 to 35-year-old Calgarians who are into fitness, you may benefit from communicating an awareness of local recreation activities – like hiking in the Rocky Mountains.
Identifying your target audience starts with asking a few questions. Think about who they are, what they like, what they dislike, and who they trust. The closer you can get to identifying your ideal customer, the more you’ll know what to say to them. At our Calgary web design agency, we utilize analytics tools alongside our marketing expertise to find your target audience and plan a strategic content strategy.
View this post on Instagram
Stop Selling, Start Sharing
Prioritize sharing content that doesn’t tell customers what to do (ie: buy your product) but instead communicates a feeling or a message that sparks something in them. This could be educative, like @Cassandrabankson for @blume – using her dermatologic expertise to discuss the benefits of their clean skincare products. Or it could be that it resonates, like Dove’s much-loved Self-Esteem Project – which continues to work as the base for smaller projects, including the #NoDigitalDistortion campaign.
By focusing on providing value, sharing relatable content, and giving your customers a sense of being seen and heard, you can create a community around your brand and establish a long-term relationship with your audience.
Content can also be formatted to support connection, as certain platforms allow you to have longer conversations with your audience. For instance, long-form carousels have been making a comeback on Instagram’s algorithm, as customers scroll from statement to statement.
View this post on Instagram
Brands as Aspirational Personas
Once we’ve established our target audience, one of the best ways to connect is ‘face-to-face’. Influencer marketing has become a key component of any comprehensive social media marketing strategy, as it allows brands to connect a face to their product or service seamlessly. Communicate your brand authenticity through content that highlights its value and practical application and give them confirmation of your brand being a wise purchase from a real person.
An effective example of well-thought-out influencer marketing would be @bala workout bands. They frequently use an array of authentic, but known-to-be-fit, social media influencers to demonstrate and introduce their product. Additionally, they avoid heavily filtered or photoshopped imagery, allowing customers to feel seen, accepted, and like they’re welcome and encouraged to be a part of the Bala brand. These influencers can tote their industry product knowledge to recommend your product over another, ie: “this is the most durable resistance band ever!”
View this post on Instagram
UGC as Powerful Social Proof
UGC, or user-generated content, is brand-related content created by real customers. Utilizing UGC is an extremely effective way to show appreciation for customers who have already bought and posted your product while simultaneously communicating your brand’s trustworthiness to new customers. UGC is posted without a prompt from your brand and is picked up to be reposted afterwards.
Similar to collaborating with influencers, using UGC should be another piece in your toolkit to connect with customers ‘face-to-face’. Whereas influencers use their curated persona to communicate a certain lifestyle, UGC offers a similar option as social media users provide un-prompted, organic content. Posts from “real” users allow your customers to see your product in a setting accessible to them.
Nothing is more valuable than seeing a product used in action by friends and people you follow – and not much can beat testimonials from people with seemingly no incentive but to give you a recommendation. In fact, Emplifi touted UGC as one of the main factors that will sum up this year’s authentic social theme, stating that “2023 is the year of “brands turning to “customer influencers.”
View this post on Instagram
Make Them Feel SEEN
Calling on someone’s features and celebrating them for it is impactful, no matter the context. The early 2000s were riddled with marketing that communicated a feeling of exclusivity, telling anyone outside of a certain box that they just weren’t it. For a digital generation who grew up aware of these marketing tactics, messaging that promotes acceptance and celebrates individuality, is it.
Some of the most impactful ways brands have been leveraging emotional advertising techniques have been to take something usually glossed over or hidden and highlight it. Take the probiotic snack brand @belliwelli for example, whose slogan is: “Hot girls have IBS.” Or, @tower28 whose sensitive-skin-focused beauty line uses the word sensitive as a positive indicator instead of a problem – with slogans like “don’t honk, I’m sensitive,” or, “it’s ok to be sensitive.”
View this post on Instagram
Develop a Voice
By developing a unique brand voice, you can create a lasting impression in the minds of your followers and build a community of loyal customers. We already touched on the fact that users engage with social media not to be exposed to ad after ad, but to find a human connection. The impact formed using influencers and UGC is such for the exact same reason – users have been able to put a face, a person, to your product or service. Take this a step further and develop a sort of “character” around your brand, so that users can identify with your product or service from within themselves. Utilizing influencers to develop a personal connection is impactful, but long-term engagement requires a connection without external faces.
Try and think, which celebrity would hypothetically be an ideal voice of your brand? Morgan Freeman, or Kim Kardashian? Brands develop a voice by using purposeful, brand-reflective language and visuals – then sticking to it. A great, and extremely recognizable example of this is MailChimps’s social media. They have fully committed to visuals and copy that communicate a personality – in fact, they even made a social post summing up their 2023 social media ins and outs.
Brands that can effectively grab onto a voice and utilize it have a far better chance of creating long-term customer relationships, as they create a memorable persona and experience.
View this post on Instagram
Respond, Comment, and Engage
Nowadays, brands can maintain multiple lines of communication between themselves and consumers using various mediums. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook give you the chance to connect with customers where they’re at and communicate your brand messaging directly. Once again, utilizing that ‘face-to-face’ connection.
One of the main themes of authenticity on social media comes down to being personable – developing a voice, finding influencers and UGC and connecting emotionally are all pillars of creating a brand that people want to spend time engaging with. Therefore, a crucial part of any social media strategy is to keep lines of communication open. This means not only actively responding to comments and dm’s but doing so in a way that is individualized and thoughtful.
By taking the time to listen and respond to your audience, you can build a genuine connection with them and create a community around your brand. Additionally, this two-way communication can provide valuable feedback that can help you refine your social media strategy and better meet the needs of your audience.
View this post on Instagram
Social media is always evolving, and we love it for it. At our Calgary social media marketing agency, we know how to navigate its ever-changing landscape and create effective social strategies that will help you reach your audience and achieve your goals. Contact us today to book a free consultation and learn more about how your business or service could benefit from effective digital marketing.