Viral videos, pop culture, holidays, worldwide events…there is truly an endless list of ideas that companies have quickly tapped into to enhance brand awareness, get their name out there and strengthen their customer following. A few weeks ago, we talked about the first way to amplify your company’s site – by creating an engaging, highly differentiated company blog. This leads us to the second top way to amplify your company’s site…
Leverage Current Trends and News in Your Marketing Strategies
Without question, your company needs to stay up-to-date with what your customers are interested in and tailor your website around their changing interests. There are a few ways to do this:
Social Trends
Recently, Fonality, a cloud-based communications solutions provider, ramped up its website to do the Harlem Shake while the trend was exploding worldwide. As a quick refresher for those who missed it, the Harlem Shake is an Internet video in which a group of individuals partake in a 30 second dance to a popular song called “The Harlem Shake” (Click here to see Pepsi’s video, which garnered almost 7 million views on YouTube). Since the movements of the dance are set to the music, which crescendos, one section of its site would vibrate and then halfway through the song, the entire website would shake and move about. For a company that is very technologically-focused, lightening the atmosphere with a fun and vibrant approach is definitely the way to go.
Hot Topic Issues
Social trends are not the only things you can capitalize on—hot-button issues are fuel the content marketing engine. LUSH Cosmetics drives customers’ love of its brand by taking risks that pay off. For example, the company recently tweeted its stance on the topic of gay marriage. As evidenced by some of the responses to the tweets, LUSH’s target market was happy the brand was expressing its opinion on such a timely issue.
LUSH could now take this warmly received action a step further by dedicating a portion of its site to the issue. While this may not appeal to every customer, LUSH is proudly showcasing its brand and what the company stands for – and it’s clearly working.
Holidays
The main holiday shopping season can represent up to 40 percent of annual sales, as reported by the National Retail Foundation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t optimize for other holidays of the year. Earth Day, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are only a few holidays that have recently passed and are quickly approaching. And there’s much more where that came from as we enter the summer season.
Take, for instance, Save the Tiger, a Facebook community that is committed to promoting tiger awareness and protecting the tiger population. The organization – founded in 2008 – boasts over 2,680,000 Facebook fans who like the page. On Mother’s Day, the page posted the below picture of a tigress cuddling up with her cub and the phrase, “Life doesn’t come with a manual…it comes with a mother…” The image gained over 35,700 likes and more than 9,300 shares.
Now that you have some ideas for amplifying your site, leverage social media to get the message out there (because you ALL have social media accounts…right?). With 91 percent of online adults using social media regularly and 90 percent of consumers trusting peer recommendations over traditional advertisements, word of mouth via social platforms is key to getting your site and brand recognized.
Bringing this full circle, strengthening your social media presence by using these tactics will only further augment website traffic. Don’t be afraid to creatively embrace social trends, show your true colors or celebrate a holiday and the next time you promote a product or sale; you’ll be surprised by how many customers visit your site.
Edited by
Carrie Schmelkin
