How to Spotlight Lifestyle Brands on Social Media
Lifestyle brands are naturally social. Defining certain attitudes, perspectives, aspirations, and more, lifestyle brands tend to rely on emotional connections with their customers.
That can make social media an ideal stage for showcasing lifestyle brands and reaching all-new audiences no matter who you’re trying to engage and get in front of online.
With some insider tips on how it all works, you can put your lifestyle brand front and center on social media, growing while outshining the competition — even if they’re bigger names in the industry and you’re just getting started.
7 Social Media Tips & Strategies for Lifestyle Brands
Setting up social media profiles and putting up some posts for a lifestyle brand aren’t enough to really get any traction or engagement these days. That’s because users and the competition tend to be more sophisticated.
The audience expects more and won’t spend more than a few seconds looking for what they need. Plus, businesses, maybe even your competition, are getting better at creating viral moments.
Here’s how you can join in and really differentiate your lifestyle brand on social media.
1. Define your brand voice and your target customer.
You can’t connect with customers online if you don’t know how to speak to them, what they need, and why they would want what your brand has to offer.
So, start with key definitions, creating detailed descriptions of…
Your brand’s voice: Is it conversational, friendly, and inviting? Is it formal, professional, and matter-of-fact? Or is the brand voice something altogether different? The voice will help with language choices, along with the following tips.
Your target customer: Is your lifestyle brand for Millennials, Gen X-ers, Gen Z-ers, or Boomers? Are you marketing to a specific age, gender, or income bracket? The more dialed in that you can get here, the better. This is how you can start to step inside your customer’s mind and really refine your social media messaging, tone, and styling.
Stunning images
Food, beverage, and event photos can instantly capture eyeballs. So can pictures of chic style, gorgeous interior and exterior spaces, and more.
Thoughtful, concise videos are also crucial. So, tell a fascinating story within 30 to 60 seconds with a gorgeous video that communicates more than words ever could.
With images, music, and pacing, nice videos can get anyone more curious about a lifestyle brand.
3. Get on schedule.
Regular posts need to happen to grow an audience. That means it’s best to:
Make a schedule.
Time your posts to go up on the days and times your audience is on social media.
Be consistent from week to week, so you don’t lose any audience you have built.
Keep in mind that several scheduling tools and social media dashboards offer ways to load several posts at once and set them up to go live at any point later. This can help with regular posting, especially when you’re trying to see which posts perform better and which days and/or times are best for trying to engage on different social platforms.
4. Engage.
Use popular, relevant hashtag tags to get social media posts in wider conversations. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other brands, using their brand names as hashtags.
You can also engage via social media, amplifying your lifestyle brand, by:
Replying to reviews, comments, and brand mentions ASAP.
Hosting events on social media to connect with your audience even more.
Asking questions, running polls, or doing surveys.
Reaching out for collaborations with brands that share a similar vibe (not competitors but “like-minded” brands)
Running contests, ideally that tie entry to following an account or sharing a post (to further promote engagement).
5. Don’t settle.
Social media is constantly evolving, just like the most successful lifestyle brands. That means it’s crucial to:
Watch the numbers and stay flexible.
Adjust your social media strategies as you see what’s landing with your audience (and what isn’t).
Also, when it comes to not settling and reaching for excellence:
Switch up your styles: Try different “forms” of content, including educational posts, user-generated content, Q&A-style posts, and more.
Look at everything twice: Never post anything that hasn’t been checked by a second pair of eyes. Mistakes and oversights could harpoon your progress, and a simple edit could easily prevent that from taking place.
6. Ask “Why?” constantly.
Don’t post for the sake of filling some quota.
If you don't know why you’re putting up a post or what you expect an audience to do after they read it, they won’t either — and your post will be a waste of time.
So, start with the “why” and build out from there.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Similarly, ask “why” when you notice exceptional or poor performance; when you can answer the why behind those home runs and strikeouts, you can really start getting the formula for social success with your audience.
7. Partner with a pro.
Whether you’re just getting started or it’s time to get some next-level engagement, working with pros can supercharge your lifestyle marketing on social media. The truth is that social media experts have done all of the leg work, so they know what works, what falls flat, and what your competition is already doing.
They also have the skills, tools, and resources to help with scroll-stopping photos, highly shareable videos, and about-to-go-viral posts to amplify your presence on major social media platforms.
Find out how lifestyle marketing experts could achieve better ROIs for your brand on social media and why more and more lifestyle brands, hotels, bars, restaurants, health and wellness brands, and others are choosing us as their Alias — and how we’re maximizing ROIs in the process.