The dating secrets to improve your social media marketing

Social media marketing can sometimes seem somewhat impersonal. With a huge amount of brands battling for consumer attention, it’s time to humanise the corporate approach and treat social media marketing as if you’re looking for that special someone. For a moment, forget about whatever product or service you’re trying to push and remember that the benefit of social media is connection - the kind of direct connection that isn’t viable through traditional marketing formats. Social media allows brands to create strong, longterm relationships directly with their customers. 

In this article, we’re going to help you break free from traditional thinking by treating your social media presence like a dating experience. We’ll show you how to wow with a first impression, grow beyond fond acquaintances and build long-lasting mutually beneficial relationships. 

The first impression 

The first step is to wow potential matches with a dazzling first impression. Just like a profile pic on a dating app, you’ll want to lead with your best side, in the best light, to increase your chances of people checking out your profile. 

Your profile picture is generally the first piece of visual branding someone comes across. Does it look attractive and inviting? If this is your first impression, it better be a good one. Don’t waste this initial opportunity by losing interest upon first glance. 

Check out this example by @tinder. What does it tell you about the brand? Words that might come to mind could include: colourful, professional, clear, fun, clean and vibrant. 

Now look at your own profile picture. What impression does it give people who are seeing it for the first time? The same applies for banners on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. When someone clicks onto your profile, this is the next visual that can either grab or lose that initial interest. 

Remember that any piece of content you publish could pop up in someone’s feed or be shared by another user and therefore be someone’s first impression of your brand. Bear this in mind when coming up with ideas and aim to release content that is high quality and consistent with your values. 

Making the first move

Not everyone online is going to bumble upon your profile organically. Sometimes you have to be proactive and make the first move. Just like buying better luck on dating sites to get your profile seen more frequently or in a better position on the app, you can buy your way into prominent places on social media. 

Targeted advertising is an obvious way to get your profile in front of more people in less time, which increases your odds of finding ideal matches. Taking the time to try, test and trigger ads for your ideal audience or lookalike audiences (audiences similar to those that already care about your brand) can pair you with perfect partners without relying on the algorithm. With competition hot on the horizon, increasing your odds of enticing and nurturing the beginnings of new relationships is a worthwhile investment and with advertising, people don’t have to actively seek out their desires but can have them served up to them instead. 

Other ways to improve your chances of matching with the right people can include focusing on improving your content’s reach, boosting brand awareness and going viral. 

Getting to know each other

Once you’ve caught the eye of potential new partners, it’s time to get to know each other a little more. Turn your attention to your bio. This is your chance to show off a little bit about your business. Just like a dating profile, your bio should let the viewer know whether you could be a potential fit for each other. It could be informative, intriguing, funny or cheeky and it could share a bit of your brand’s character or personality. It doesn’t have to be long but it should be well thought out as this is the first piece of text to give a little more flavour to the imagery. 

Whatever you decide to include in your bio, it should give enough information to let the viewer know what you’re about, so they can decide whether they’d like to get to know your brand a little better. Remember that not everyone is going to be the right fit and that’s perfectly ok. There are plenty of fish in the sea.

Letting people in is only half the game - getting to know each other goes both ways. No-one enjoys spending time with someone who rattles on about themselves the entire time without taking a breath of air. Just like on a date, it’s just as important to listen to the other person as it is to share information about yourself. You can do this by reading and responding to comments alongside getting to know your current audience demographics. By knowing the kinds of people you’re trying to attract, you can create better content, better first impressions, better bios and better business decisions. Ultimately, knowing your audience should give you a 360 approach to improving your connections on social media.

Head to Minter.io to discover audience demographic data for your social media profiles. Remember that your audience may differ from platform to platform, so your approach on each platform may differ to reflect that. Understanding and adapting to your audience is all about a back and forth that suits both parties. What do you have to offer and who responds well to your efforts?

Continuing the conversation 

If the first impression has gone well, it’s time to turn things up a notch and make your new acquaintances infatuated with your brand. When you start fancying a person, you may be inclined to follow their profile, like their posts and check in on their account a little more often. This is exactly the kind of engagement to encourage with your social media marketing. This can only happen if you keep the communication flowing by churning out new, interesting content and stay consistent with the impression they enjoyed flirting with from the start.

If you’ve found the right people, the more they see from your brand the more they should fall deeper for it. This isn’t about forcing people to see your value, but providing value to those who are destined to love it. 

Don’t forget to call back

If someone shows interest in your brand, or goes one step further and makes a purchase, don’t ghost them. Get back in touch and keep the relationship alive. Just like after a good date, you wouldn’t bin the person off; social media marketing doesn’t end with a purchase and a wave goodbye. The cycle continues for a chance at more encounters, repeat purchases, people bragging about the good experiences and the potential creation of lifelong relationships.

There are various ways you could keep in touch and continue the communication long after you’ve got the initial response you longed for. A simple way to do this is to encourage people to like or follow your profile and turn on notifications so that your messages end up in their feeds and notification boxes for the long run.

A more complex but incredibly useful way to get back in touch is through advertising. By using the advanced targeting features within Facebook Ads Manager, you can connect with people who have already shown an interest in your business or product. This is a huge way to get back in the feeds of people who want you in their lives. 

Making a longterm relationship 

Good relationships only last as long as there is continued communication and respect. You wouldn’t expect to maintain a personal relationship if you ignored, ghosted or were mean to your other half. The exact logic carries over to social media marketing.

It might sounds ludicrous, but I’ve seen brands who have actively and negatively called out individuals for asking genuine (and reasonable) questions on social media. Not only does this affect the relationship of the brand with that individual, but it leaves a sour taste in the mouths of those who witness it. With social media, news spreads like wildfire - good and bad alike. Don’t be unhinged. Instead, maintain the first impression that drew in new followers and continue regular, positive and respectful communication long after the honeymoon phase is over.

Avoiding a breakup 

What are the reasons someone might break up with you? You might lie, start to smell, flirt with other people, stop communicating, turn your back on your core values or change too much. These are very similar reasons that might turn off a customer from your brand. Maintaining integrity, high standards, quality content and consistent uploads are just some of the ways you can maintain a fanbase and avoid losing your core followers along the way.

Create more meaningful relationships with your audience members and grow your following online using Minter.io - the social media analytics tool for businesses online. With key analytics which uncover a deeper understanding of your social media presence, you can turn infatuation into lasting, treasured, mutually beneficial relationships with Minter.io - try it today!