1. Create a regular series to craft familiarity.

Social media marketing isn’t just about output. Unlike more obvious advertising such as a billboard or commercial, your branded social media posts will show up sandwiched between photos of friends, family and pets. From this perspective, it can be beneficial to highlight your community with a recognizable, consistent social series. For example, our client Huber Engineered Woods features a different builder, architect or other industry professional from their highly engaged trade community on Instagram in their weekly “Sunday Shout Out.” Using a custom-designed template, the series features a new person with a quote about their building philosophy or advice for others in the industry and posts every Sunday evening. With its use of familiar faces and prominent quote overlay, it has garnered some of the highest engagement on the platform for the brand.

2. Include eye-catching movement.

By 2022, an estimated 82% of all consumer internet traffic will come from online videos. However, that doesn’t mean you need to scrap your image library and invest solely in video for 2020. Instead, consider adding movement to existing assets, such as editing steam into photos with water or creating GIFs to illustrate a product in use.

Ready for more video now? Be sure to consider the different preferred lengths for each platform. For example, Facebook now likes longer videos. While Instagram still supports short-form videos, IGTV offers brands an opportunity to establish themselves as leaders on an emerging platform. (Learn why IGTV is the GOAT for your brand.)

3. Show progress to capture attention.

People like to know how things end — it’s human nature. That’s why a lot of us binge-watch eight hours of a new show during a single weekend, or why we’re drawn to makeover sequences and remodeling shows. With that principle in mind, our VELUX team makes good use of before and after images from designers, influencers and homeowners who install skylights in their home. The audience likely wants to see the radical change, but the images also act as a perfect showcase for what the products can do to enhance a home.

4. Put your best photo or video forward — and then give it a boost — to break through ever-changing algorithms.

Social platforms, particularly Instagram and Facebook, are constantly adapting and changing to ensure their audiences are seeing what’s important to them in realtime. In fact, Facebook’s organic reach with a page’s current following can be as low as 2%. While social media managers keep a finger on the pulse of the latest updates to engagement algorithms, best times to post and image specifications, it’s also important to include paid follower targeting. To make sure more eyes — especially those of potential new followers — see your photos and videos, consider supporting your posts with paid campaigns starting as low as $10 (your actual budget depends on your goals and the audience you want to reach).

In terms of that best photo or video? Align your choice of photo or video to the platform; what works best for Instagram may not work for Pinterest. Photos should provide context for your audience and be aesthetically pleasing, while video length should be specific to the platform to which it’s posted.

5. Partner with influencers for new voices.

Influencers can play a pivotal role in helping to educate consumers — and your potential customers — on trends, How To’s and Why’s. Furthermore, the assets curated from influencer marketing programs can be a content generator for your social media program. While both focused on interior design and decor, the influencers behind the colorful, maximalist account @thejungalow and the more pared-down, Scandinavian-inspired account @em_henderson reach different people through their contrasting aesthetics. Both, however, show the ways a skylight can complement a space and provide unique content for social media.

Influencers aren’t only important for consumer marketing, though. For your B2B marketing programs, consider which platform is most effective for your audience and create influencer marketing programs for that platform. For example, when Instagram became a place for builders to show off their work and ask questions about different building methods, it turned builders like Jake Bruton into industry influencers. Because of Bruton’s demonstrated expertise, his decision to use Huber Engineered Woods products has encouraged other builders interested in his sustainable, high-quality building methods to try new products such as Advantech subflooring and ZIP System sheathing and tape.

6. Highlight customer testimony.

While influencers have a lot to offer brands, consumer success stories through testimonials or positive reviews/ratings give products a valuable, real-world third-party verification. This is not to discount influencer partnerships, but to add another rich layer for connecting with audiences. Testimonial content can be executed on a grand scale, with full videos to tell the story, or in simple ways such as a brand graphic sharing recent positive product reviews. Ratings and reviews offer an easy, smart, relatable and authentic way to inspire consumers.

7. Share your blog on social.

Ideally, no strategy should exist in a vacuum. With so much content on the internet today, creating great blogs and videos does little for the brand if you’re not driving people to them. Editorial-style content can help customers make decisions about how they’ll redecorate their home or learn about new industry skills. Grabbing different perspectives from those blogs for social content offers interesting depth to your feed and potentially boosts website traffic.

What are you doing to keep your home improvement brand from fading into social feeds? Let us know.