We have already talked about how social media is an essential part of brand marketing. However, how do brands decide what content to post in order to build brand authenticity? What type of content should they be posting regularly, and should they be using self-promoting posts? There are a couple different things to keep in mind when answering these questions.
Does Self-Promotion Hurt Brand Authenticity?
Many brands might be hesitant to post too much self-promoting content on their social media because they think it will appear inauthentic. And in all honesty, they are usually right. Brand authenticity is a big part of a brand’s image, and if it seems inauthentic, customers are less likely to support it. Consumers generally use social media for three main reasons- to be connected with friends, to be informed, and to be entertained. So if they follow businesses on social media, they are likely interested in their brand and products, but probably are not looking to see only product offerings. A better approach for a brand could be to develop interesting and engaging content related to their brand image. This helps by providing regular content, but offering interesting opportunities to interact instead of simply pushing a product or service.
What can you post instead of self-promotion?
There are plenty of options for social media content besides simple self-promotion tactics. HubSpot, a leader in the field of social media marketing, offers various courses for social media platforms and marketing concepts. In their social media certification course, they suggest using an 80-20 mix for your content. This means you should be posting 80% content related to your brand, and 20% content that actually promotes your offerings. A good way to meet this goal is to use content curation. If you can’t create enough related content on a regular basis, content curation lets you re-share content from similar brands or social media pages, which can position you as a thought-leader in your field. Just keep in mind that you should always give credit to the original content creator whose post you shared.
Although self-promotion is somewhat expected and necessary on social media, it shouldn’t be the only thing you post. This can strongly impact your brand authenticity, but luckily there are still ways to promote yourself indirectly. By sharing related content, you can still position yourself as a thought-leader or source of information in your field. This allows you to regularly post interesting and relevant content, but without coming across as too self-centered. By doing this, you can keep your followers interested, and still work toward your social media marketing goal.