13 Jan How to Go Beyond Facebook in the New Year
Is your brand Facebook obsessed? It’s hard to avoid the behemoth social network. Many brands make it their top 
priority for all of the right reasons. Particularly brands with limited resources who aren’t quite sure they are able to spread them across managing multiple channels. However, there is the age-old argument for not putting all of your eggs in one basket. In 2016, push your brand to look beyond Facebook. Below are some easy ways that can happen.
Syndicate Your Video Content
If your company has made Facebook their top priority but hasn’t begun developing video content for the channel, you’re doing it wrong. If you are creating regular video content for Facebook, it’s incredibly easy to upload that same content to YouTube, short snippets on Instagram and Vine/Twitter, and even Pinterest. Each offers a unique opportunity to reach your audience: YouTube content serves as an SEO play, Instagram offers a level of brand discovery, Twitter content can be published multiple times without offending your followers, and Pinterest adds an additional opportunity for engagement with the brand through click-throughs. While we typically advocate for using each channel in a unique way, this can be an easy way to syndicate content that is already produced, making it an efficient use of time and energy.
Invest in Influencer Networks
Are you not sure you have the resources, or means, to maintain another network? Utilize an Influencer network or campaign to get earned coverage on other platforms. This can take multiple forms and is an extremely scalable opportunity for a brand. For example, very few brands are ready to invest in a Snapchat branded presence, but the prevalence of brand sponsorship in Influencer-produced content is high. NOTE: Even though Influencers’ appetite for paid placement has grown in the past few years, the best way to gain the trust of an Influencer’s network is to let the Influencer drive the message and the placement. It will feel natural to their readers and authenticity is key in gaining impressions and engagements that matter.
Pinterest and Instagram Ad Units
Reallocate some of your social media paid spend to dabble in other networks. Pinterest and Instagram ad units are growing in capabilities and availability to brands (both now have self-serve options), and we have found them to be very efficient units that drive meaningful results. When considering your brand’s paid media allocation for 2016, consider allocating some of that media to these other networks so that you may test these social ad units. If you’re a brand focused on driving product click-throughs, for instance, you may find that Pinterest is much more efficient around key seasons, whereas on Facebook you may struggle to spend allotted budgets during high-demand periods.
Promote Your Company Values and Insider Info on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is often a channel run mostly by the HR or Corporate Communications teams, but it’s also the perfect place to showcase behind the scenes of the brand. Don’t underestimate the power and influence of showcasing company values, employee perks and work-ethic, and brand sustainability work to potential consumers. Millennials, especially, have routinely said these things matter to them. Simply capturing content that showcases the faces behind the brand and publishing it through a channel that is likely already being managed by your brand in some way can be an easy way to extend the reach of brand messages in social.
