Every brand has a story to tell and they often need help telling it. This is where Lauren Moreno comes in.
Moreno, MS ’16, is the co-founder of Team 624 Communications, a Philly-based firm that develops and executes social media and content strategies for small- and medium-sized businesses in the fashion and lifestyle space.
“I’ve always loved working with small businesses,” says Moreno. “And I always knew I’d go into business for myself.”
Soon after completing her MS in Digital Innovation in Marketing at the Fox School, Moreno and longtime friend Kaitlin Cleary launched 624. Their many clients include Printfresh Studio, a textile design studio that runs a stationery brand and a fashion line, and Whimsy Greenville, a wedding-focused gifts and stationery company. We recently caught up with Moreno and asked her to share some of the big marketing mistakes brands make with their social and digital content strategies (and lack thereof). Here’s what she said.
5. Not Having a Unique Voice
“You can’t be everything to everyone. A lot of brands don’t intentionally try to do that, but they end up doing it by not paying attention to how they’re talking to their customers and to what message they’re sending. We develop brand voice to stand out from the competition and to have a consistency that builds trust. We work with clients to develop personas, and that makes it easier to speak to particular audiences and to what they care about. This makes it more tangible—to say, ‘A customer who cares about how her clothes are made is going to be more interested in the details of the clothing we’re promoting, in hearing the story behind the clothes, than how other people are wearing the clothes.’ One recent client saw that their main competition’s social strategy included a lot of social speak, like ‘omg’ and ‘lol.’ But the client was telling a very different story: They were more serious, more thoughtful. We developed their voice to capitalize on these brand traits and show how different they were from the competition.”
4. Not Engaging Followers and Building Community
“Social media is a great customer service tool and it’s important to answer questions promptly and respond to people’s comments. Beyond that, social media is also about being part of the conversation. When brands come to us and want to increase their Instagram following, posting pretty pictures and having a consistent voice isn’t enough: They need to interact with followers and other influencers. Otherwise, they won’t see the results they want. You have to be aware of the conversations your customers care about, then find a way to drive that conversation and be a part of it.”
3. Obsessing Over Going Viral
“Some clients are obsessed with the idea of things going viral, but things don’t just go viral. There’s a lot of planning and strategy, and most often a lot of money put behind it; it doesn’t just happen on its own. Distribution strategy is just as important as the content itself, and you need to look to paid social to get that content to the people who care about it.”
2. Posting Identical Content Across Platforms
“There’s no reason for your customers to follow you on Instagram if you’re posting the exact same content on Facebook. We work with clients to tailor content that fits into the ecosystem of each specific social platform and on strategically choosing which platforms brands use in the first place. We’d rather them do one platform really well than do two or three poorly, and just use the same content across them all.”
1. Not Having a Goal-Based Strategy
“We have a lot of brands that are active on all these channels, and they’re creating great content, but they’re not clear on how the work they’re doing is aligned with their business goals because they’re not taking time to develop a good strategy. There should be a good business reason, for instance, for creating an Instagram profile. And it’s important to plan the content and what you’re actually sharing so you can be consistent with your brand voice and image. What you’re putting into the world needs to have an impact on your business, otherwise you’re wasting your time. Small businesses have limited resources, so they need to make the most of what they have while ultimately providing value to their customers.”