Today, social media influence is at an all-time high. In fact, it's estimated that more than 80% of Americans have at least one social media account—an increase of several percent from 2016's findings. The number of Americans using social media has steadily been on the rise since 2008 with no signs of slowing down any time soon.
With this in mind, supplement businesses across the globe have been seeing success in incorporating social media into brand marketing strategies. And for supplement companies looking to make a name for themselves in a competitive industry, having a solid social media marketing strategy is a must.
Understanding the Power of Social Media
There are countless ways in which using social media wisely can benefit your supplement brand, but let's review just a few of the most compelling reasons to start using social media while marketing supplements.
Increase Your Brand Recognition
Today's consumers are very loyal to the brands they love, and using social media can help to boost your brand recognition, increase your number of followers, and thus create customer loyalty to your brand. At the end of the day the end optimal brand recognition would be for a customer to notice your logo or bottle and make the association that your product is good.
Boost Conversion Rates
Studies have found that "social media marketing results in higher conversion rates in a few distinct ways." One of the most distinct ways is the fact that social media use helps to "humanize" brands, making them more appealing to consumers in today's market.
Save on Marketing Costs
Almost all social media sites are free to use, though you may pay extra on some sites (like Facebook) for targeted ads and other features. Still, leveraging social media wisely can significantly reduce your brand's marketing costs because social media marketing is very organic.
Optimize Your Search Engine Rankings
Finally, you can kill two birds with one stone when you use social media for marketing supplements, as increased social media presence will also boost your SEO.
How to Use Social Media to Your Brand's Advantage
Now that you have a better idea of the benefits of social media in the nutraceutical market, what should you keep in mind as you navigate the complex world of social media networks?
Post and Respond Daily
One of the best pieces of advice to keep in mind as your brand dives head-first into social media is thatit's not something you can just do halfway. In order to establish and maintain a following, you'll need to be using social media daily.
This means scheduling posts and taking the time to respond to comments and messages from your followers. This may mean employing a part- or even full-time social media specialist to stay on top of things.
There's nothing worse for your company's social media marketing than a dormant account. especially when you have potential customers asking questions about your supplement products on your social media pages.
Get Your Followers Involved
Social media is all about interaction and involvement; people follow celebrities on social media because it allows them to feel closer to them and also humanizes the celebrities themselves. This concept also applies to brands. By engaging with your followers by responding to them, asking for their opinions, and keeping them in-the-loop, you allow them to feel involved and cherished. This, in turn, can help with brand loyalty. Consider, for example, asking your followers to help you name a new line of nutraceutical products or ask invite feedback on your current supplements!
Seek Out Influencer Involvement
Influencer marketing is perhaps one of the best effective means of helping your brand's social media accounts really take off and gain new followers. In the supplement industry, this may mean reaching out to celebrities, athletes, or other well known and respected names who use your products or take your supplements. Many brands have seen success in getting these influencers to take over their social media accounts for the day, host a Q&A session on a platform like Twitter, and even post live videos on Facebook. If you know of any potential influencers with large followings that you can get on-board, this can be an excellent way to drastically increase your number of followers while putting your brand on the map as well.
Have Fun With It!
People use social media because it's fun, and the last thing most users want is to feel like they're being marketed to. This is why it's important to keep your marketing as natural and organic as possible. Often times, the best way to keep it light and fun while still getting your marketing message across is to hold special contests, promotions, and other events on you social media pages. This could be something a simple and "trivial" as asking your social media followers for help in naming your next product line or even choosing what type of vending machine should go in the employee break room. And of course, if you can find a way to hold a contest that gets your supplement products directly into consumers' hands, this is even better. The key is to keep it fun so that it doesn't feel like direct advertising to your target audience.
If you want to have a fighting chance in today's competitive nutraceutical market, you need to incorporate social media into your marketing strategy. And by keeping these tips in mind along the way, you'll be in a much better position to leverage any social media account to your brand's advantage.
Sources:
