Three underrated social media strategies to help you stand out from the crowd

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest... With so many social media platforms out there, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make yourself heard over the cacophony of posts, reels, stories, videos, and tweets! So, how can you help your brand cut through the noise? It's simple—don't do what everyone else is doing.

Here are three underrated or underutilized strategies that you can use to carve out a niche and reach a qualified audience (as long as your product or service is relevant, of course). If you keep your ear to the ground, you'll be able to learn more about your customers, your brand, and even your competitors!

1) Promote your employer brand on LinkedIn

LinkedIn allows you to reach executives and educated professionals from a wide variety of industries. Since it's a professional networking platform, its users tend to post less frequently than those on other social media sites. That means there are fewer voices to compete with.

In general, you won't post as often on LinkedIn as you would on Facebook, and you'll want to stick to a more professional tone. But it's worth the effort, as LinkedIn is the platform par excellence for implementing strategies focused on corporate positioning, employer branding, innovation, or product development.

Recruiting and hiring is also a great way to get your company's name out there. Luckily, LinkedIn is the ideal social network for doing just that! It's not uncommon these days for companies to put a great deal of effort into creating a positive onboarding experience, showcasing their organization's culture, and highlighting their employees' skills. What's more,studies have shown that customer satisfaction is directly correlated with employee happiness. LinkedIn (and, in a different way, Glassdoor) allows you to accentuate your people-first approach, team spirit, excellent working conditions, or appreciation for your employees.

This is a great opportunity to promote your employer brand on social media! Imagine a LinkedIn post from the president of your company highlighting the hard work of a department or individuals within your organization. This kind of content demonstrates that your company is led by inspiring leaders, and it promotes a product or service at the same time.

However, be careful not to fall into the trap of presenting an overly polished image or constantly boasting about your achievements. Similarly, don't try to make it seem like your employees are 100% happy, 100% of the time. It's just not believable. Try your best to stay sincere and humble in your posts.

One last tip for getting the most out of LinkedIn: take part in discussions related to your field and comment on current events in your industry, whether by expressing your opinion or by demonstrating your company's involvement in the community. In doing so, you can highlight your expertise while promoting your team's skills. Remember that everything you post on LinkedIn should align with your overall corporate communications strategy to ensure a consistent message.

2) Inspire your customers on Pinterest

Pinterest is the perfect platform for reaching consumers in the "inspiration" phase of their buying journey. Consider people who are planning a trip or contemplating home improvement projects, or those who are into food or fashion. Many of them turn to Pinterest for inspiration before they start their project.

By creating targeted content for Pinterest, you can make sure that your products and services will appear in search results on the platform and, eventually, on users' Pinterest boards. Using Pinterest can help you better understand the tastes and interests of the people who love your brand. It can offer insight into what they enjoy, what they want, and what they're looking for so you can adapt your product or service offering accordingly.

As with any other social platform, however, it's important to remain relevant to your audience. Don't just post generic product photos. The goal is to inspire and inform your customers with content like tips and tricks, monitoring reports, reviews, and throwback posts. These are all board ideas that can reach potential customers and demonstrate your expertise in your field.

Finally, here's an interesting fact: posting on Pinterest will help improve your SEO on Google, especially when it comes to image searches. Many users also use Pinterest as a search engine. In addition, by monitoring where and how your photos are pinned on Pinterest, you'll have a better understanding of how your potential customers think.

3) Spend time in groups

Joining interest groups on Facebook and LinkedIn or following influencers on Instagram can be excellent strategies for getting to know specific customer segments. The idea here is not to post as a brand, but to act as a silent observer and monitor the activity in the group to see what people are talking about. You'll discover that the conversations tend to be unfiltered and authentic.

Here are some examples:

• A company that wants to develop and market a new hockey stick could join a group where senior hockey league members swap equipment tips, talk about their favourite teams, and decide what bar they'll meet at after their next game.
• A company that's just launched a new turntable could glean insights about its customers from a group where vinyl record enthusiasts share tips on how to improve sound quality or discuss the best places to get rare albums.
• A company that sells slow cookers and kitchen accessories could join a group where food lovers debate the best cooking appliances, compare recipes, and ask for advice on using ingredients.

If you pay close attention, you'll be able to spot many of your target personas in action! You'll also be able to distinguish the different personalities in these groups, learn about their experience with a product, assess their level of familiarity with a brand, and understand what motivates their purchases. As you probably know, this type of information can heavily influence your targeted advertising and promotion strategies.

People are talking: all you have to do is listen!

Want to know which strategy is right for your brand? Don't hesitate to contact us.