Successful brand marketing is all about driving engagement with your audience. As an ambassador you need to give them a good reason why they should take time out of their busy days to connect with your brand again and again. Consumers today are constantly bombarded with an endless stream of messages on a daily basis than ever before. More important than that, they have greater control over what they wish to read, see or hear. They can move from one source of content to another at the tap of a button, faster than it takes the time for you to deliver it.

So what makes you think you stand out from the crowd? What added value does your brand deliver on interaction and experience? How can you jump start engagement with your audience? Here are 7 tips that can help motivate potential customers to your brand, resulting it occupying a meaningful time and place in their minds.

1 – Plan your Strategy

The first step in developing a marketing strategy is to define your business. Think about what your customers needs are and what they come to you for. Identify your unique list of skills on offer and understand how they can not only fulfill the demands of the company, but set you apart from others. Defining your business’ purpose can be viewed in two parallel ways – a functional concept that is evaluated by immediate success such as making money, and an intentional concept that focuses on doing good in the wider world.

While it’s very easy to start producing content straightaway, it also needs to be thought out carefully rather than being rushed into. Your brand is based on key positioning. How you look, behave, sound and communicate are all essential aspects for your marketing strategy which will inspire loyalty and emotional engagement. Enhance your brand by delivering a clear and precise roadmap that gives value and will produce marketing success.

2 – Act human and engage in conversation

A common mistake that’s made in the social media world is being too professional. Don’t be too corporate and talk about the CEO and the boardroom meetings – people are just going to skim past your updates and move on to more interesting subjects. Be human, show them the real people that make up your business. Take photos, show them behind the scenes in your company and your life. Social media engagement is a two-way operation, you need to connect with your followers on an harmonious level. Reply to posted comments and have real conversations. Get human, it’s as simple as that!

3 – Make valuable content that’s relevant and readable

Good quality content is one of the top 3 motivators for consumers to follow a business on social media. Written content should be accurate, stylistic, and genuinely inform & interest your readers. Understand what types of content performs well in your industry, it will help you create material that’ll give you the competitive edge online. A few examples are creating blog or vlog posts, slideshow presentations, email newsletters, or speaking at relevant corporate events. Just don’t forget to get it proofread before you publish – even the most experienced writers may miss small errors in writing!

4 – Hold an Event then spread the word

A great way of engaging with your audience is to host an event in your company. Maybe there’s a product launch, an anniversary, or even a charity event coming up that you’re eager to showcase? Whatever the reason may be, invite your followers or listeners and engage in conversation with them either over your social networks or simply hold an old fashioned face-to-face chat.

5 – Paint a picture of your world

Everyone loves to see exactly what you’re up to, so take some pictures to show them what you’re doing. 94% more total views on average are attracted by content containing compelling images rather than content without. Visual marketing provides an opportunity to reach even more people, driving measurable traffic to your website. Image-based social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram have also grown at a fast pace over the last few months, so a picture really does say a 1,000 words.

6 – Utilise Infographics

Infographics are a great way of presenting information or data quickly and clearly in an attractive way. They’ve been around for many years, but with the success of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, their popularity has increased widely. Often boring subject matter can now be transformed into visually attractive artwork, improving your social marketing reach.

7 – Produce compeling Video content

Creating a video for your marketing strategy needs to be unique, shareable, and designed for your target audience. It needs to be able to answer the question ‘why will people share this video?’ This means understanding what they’re already sharing over the networks. The video should also follow the pattern of storytelling – it needs a beginning, a middle and an end. If the story is powerful enough to evoke an emotion from your viewers it’s more likely to be shared with a wider audience.