Real-time marketing used to be the traditional way to create brand awareness but with growing and changing client needs – the innovation of such strategies has become a growing necessity. Right-time marketing on the other hand, can be understood as a development of traditional marketing to suit the rise of multi-channels and a wider user-range.
Using real-time marketing as a foundation, right-time marketing ensures that the data generated from real-time marketing is applied to analytical tools to increase engagement between brands and consumers. With consumer insights in mind, real-time and right-time marketing can be combined to optimise reach and support a longer interaction process between users and brands.
With the ever-changing nature of social media and marketing trends that seem to change by the minute, so to speak, we’ve figured out some ways to help you stay on top of your brand awareness strategy.
- Keep up with trends on social media
Here’s where you can use the strategies for real-time marketing, which is instantaneous, taking effect within minutes of anything significant that could be applied to a brand’s product or service. You can create immediate interaction with an audience on a social media platform – taking note of triggers like ongoing trends, world events, viral news or videos and dissatisfied consumers of a competitor. Creating hashtags that rely on fresh information and the latest updates through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook can also serve as avenues to boost credibility and awareness of your brand.
- Going viral with videos
Videos, with their easy in-built features on various social media platforms, are much more accessible now. While it’s not a new idea, you can still develop new ideas on how to effectively use it. YouTube is one of the most-viewed social media platforms, coming in a close second to Facebook. Instagram is another platform to merge content with videos and that is cost-effective. All you need is a smartphone, good lighting and basic video-taking skills.
Because videos are a much easier way to share information among consumers, update your ideas on how to utilize videos to your marketing advantage. A video can catch your consumer’s attention better than a bland series of text. It makes your brand more valuable because of how videos create the perception of accessibility – you’re much closer to your consumers than you think!
- Sponsored Ads
Make use of other social media platforms to get your brand noticed and drive content. For example, HuffPost and Buzzfeed enjoy high traction with relatable content that get to their audience. Invest in native ads rather than banner ads – they’re viewed about 50% more. Expand your brand on portals like these and the popularity of their posts will carry your brands with them.
- Personalise your content
This is where right-time marketing rears its head, turning the data gained from real-time marketing into progression. Use the similar tactic of real-time marketing that optimises omni-channel strategies while adding your own personalisation to it. Combine the first party data, rich with consumer information and integrate firmographics, real-time data, digital data along with in-market purchase signals to filter your audience to better identify content. This way, you can match offline and online consumer identities and then disseminate specific information at relevant times, based on analytics.
In today’s tech accessibility age, you have to be customer-centric. It’s not about just letting your content speak for you – customers can also do the same for a brand. Turning them into advocates will lift their purpose from just paying consumers to ambassadors for your brand. Word of mouth is just as important but with the added advantage of how widespread social media is – it is sure to increase your brand’s ROI.
Posted by Sarah Begum, CorpMedia
Corporate Media Services 