Tips for Today: Be a Resource

Businesses can use social media in a variety of ways: to promote new products or services, tell their customers about special events and share community news. However, there’s another great way that some of the best brands use social media marketing: to educate their customers.

By sharing helpful tips, tricks and valuable information with your customers, you’re making your customer more knowledgable. Even if your customers don’t end up buying your brand, sharing this type of information with them is adding value to your customers’ experience with your brand. This makes your customers better (for the industry in general) and reinforces the idea that you are the leader in your industry.

Here are a few examples of brands using social media to teach their customers a thing or two.

Lowe’s Home Improvement

Lowe’s uses Vine (the 6-second video sharing app) to share #FixInSix videos – quick DIY home improvement tutorials. The lessons range from fixing scratches on your floor with walnuts, making a no-sew pillow case, and cleaning your grill grates with coffee (below). Even better – the videos don’t really highlight any products you can buy at Lowe’s. They’re just helpful tips from the brand to their loyal customers.

Food & Wine Magazine

Food & Wine Magazine shares recipes, restaurant reviews and other food news on Facebook. But they also share fun food trivia from time to time – educating their consumers on seasonal topics. The article below was nothing more than the fun origin story of Salt Water Taffy, a favorite summer treat for many. Quick trivia-like articles are great ways to educate your customers without a lot of fuss!

Lucky Magazine

This is a great way for retail shops to give mini-lessons in fashion styling to their customers. Lucky Magazine did a Vine for how to layer a denim shirt with a sweater and some funky jewelry. What a great opportunity to highlight new merchandise, educate customers and intrigue them to come in to shop!

You see, a good leader puts “betterment of the customer” ahead of profits. In the Lowe’s example above, they are giving their customers valuable information without asking them to buy a single thing. We think that if you do right by the customer, your profits will follow.

We hope these three examples will inspire you to “be the leader” as you approach your social media in the coming months!