Capturing Company Culture in Your Digital Marketing

Picture this - you find a new brand and you love their products. You head to their social media to learn more about them. But you notice they post every other day, at the exact same time, and even worse—it’s all pushy sales content. So it probably doesn’t seem very trustworthy, let alone like a company you want to give your money to. 

If you’re one of our clients, you’ve probably heard us explain how we manage social media a million times. We will take care of planned content, but anything that happens with the company or in the office is on you. This is for a very simple reason - we can’t capture your company culture. We aren’t there when someone brings their dog to the office or you celebrate a birthday. That’s something that can only be displayed in real-time by people who are there. 

In addition, transparency is key. Consumers rank businesses as the #1 most important entity to be transparent in their operations (which is above politicians—let that sink in). According to MarTech, 81% of consumers deem businesses responsible to be transparent on social media. This means from the top down, your company should be oozing with the same message, branding, and overall vibes. This means especially when posting on social media. And what better way to be transparent AND on brand than by sharing company culture with your audience?

TL;DR: your culture is your brand. So let's share it accordingly. We've gathered some tips that we think will help you display your company culture and real-time happenings on your digital media platforms so you can be the cool, trustworthy business instead of the spammy sales-based company.

Stories

Starting off with something we are all likely familiar with - Instagram and Facebook stories. They may seem daunting, however, they are one of the most useful tactics when it comes to capturing moments in real-time. Head out for a mid-day cup of coffee? Grab a quick snap and post it on your story. Celebrating someone’s work anniversary? Feature them and make them feel special. There are several ways a story can be utilized that let your followers know that you are a real person and your company is full of real people. Social Media Today states that “If you're not including Stories in your digital marketing strategy, you're missing an opportunity.”

Transparency is valued on social media now more than ever. An easy way to achieve this is with Instagram and Facebook stories. Not to mention, stories are interactive. Engagement is easy to boost on a story when you include a question or a poll for your followers to answer. The more your followers engage with your posts, the longer you will stay top of mind, and the more likely they will be to use you again in the future. 

Real-Time Posts & Comments

Real-time, real-time, real-time. We can’t stress this enough. If someone comments on one of your posts, try to respond to them as soon as you can and as genuinely as you can. Followers want to know that they are talking to a real person and not a robot with canned responses. 

The same goes with posts. Activity on social media is valuable. Planned content is a great way to make sure you are posting consistently, however posts about your employees can take things a step further. Our monthly reporting has shown that some of the posts that perform the best month-to-month are actually posts clients take care of. You can’t beat a cute puppy making an appearance at the office after all.

Show Your Face

This comes back to knowing that there is a person behind the screen and not just an automated bot. Here at Kicks, we try to hop on our Instagram story once a week and talk about what we are up to. That way, our clients and customers can put a face to a name. Not to mention, it can be more engaging to watch a person talk than it can be to click through stock images. 

Especially during these COVID times when meetings can’t always take place in person, your clients may not realize that they are talking to a real person who cares about them or their business. The second they see your face and hear your voice, you suddenly become that much more real to them. 

Blog Posts

Lastly, consider blogging when you have a company outing or event. If something exciting is going on in the office, documenting it in a blog can be an engaging way to display what happened. Sharing exciting news, educational content, or just what you are up to (even like your day-to-day processes) can be easily written out into a blog, and then shared across social channels. Not to mention, you can generally get about five different uses out of a single blog, like including it in an email newsletter. Blogs are also helpful for SEO. But that's a topic for a whole other blog post.

Social media is constantly evolving and it’s important to stay on top of the new trends. Right now, consumers appreciate transparency and we believe these pointers can help you achieve that. Your company culture is just one of the many things that make your business unique, and sharing that can be powerful. Need help amplifying your voice on social? We'd love to help make that happen.