Market your Self Storage Facility by Building an Engaged Online Presence
“How do I build an engaged online presence for my self store?”
Almost 30% of UK people now use social media to research brands, and it has been reported that TikTok has overtaken Google’s dominance as the world’s most popular web domain.
Social media marketing is important now more than ever because it’s where buyers and customers are engaging. The average UK person spends almost two hours a day on various social platforms, and companies are now investing more time than ever to build an engaged online presence for their self store.
Three years ago at Kuboid, the only marketing we did was an occasional advert in the Unlocked magazine. We had no social media presence, rarely attended industry events, and didn’t even track our website analytics! Our leads either came from our sales team dropping leaflets or through word of mouth.
In 2021, three new directors acquired Kuboid and decided to take the company to the next level. Since then, we’ve built a strong marketing team, launched a new brand identity and website, hosted various customer networking days, sponsored industry events, built an engaged social media following, and created and implemented a strong digital marketing strategy.
Social media has become a staple of our marketing strategy and we’re never looking back! If you want to level up your social media game, take a look at some tactics we’ve implemented which have allowed us to boost our online presence with high-quality content.
Understand your goals
It’s important to set out your goals for every new marketing activity. Create a clear strategy and stick to it.
Build leads → focus on direct messages, look at profile views and create targeted ads.
Build a community → show off your brand personality and focus on one channel.
Manage brand reputation → show off your positive company culture and focus on increasing Google reviews.
You can also have more than one goal, just split your approach into seasons or create individual posts dedicated to your goal. This will all help further build an engaged online presence.
Tell your story
There is one thing that no one else has, and that is your story – so tell it! Storytelling marketing means using a narrative to communicate a message to your audience.
84% of consumers say that they buy from brands they feel an emotional connection to.
Some of the biggest brands in the world use storytelling marketing. For example, Nike has long understood that harnessing emotion in service of storytelling is a far more effective strategy for brand building than rattling off features and benefits.
“Why do people get married—or do anything? Because of emotional ties. That’s what builds long-term relationships with the consumer, and that’s what our campaigns are about. Our advertising tries to link consumers to the Nike brand through the emotions of sports and fitness. We show competition, determination, achievement, fun, and even the spiritual rewards of participating in those activities.”
– Phil Knight, Harvard Business Review, 1992
Airbnb, on the other hand, does something a little different. The company uses its community to share the brand’s stories. Airbnb’s content is totally focused on people—on the people who own the homes listed and the travellers who go there. They show how connecting with others is important to their brand and how their brand makes that possible.
At Kuboid we do something similar. We focus on creating and promoting our customer success stories which we share on our website and socials. This allows us to share different perspectives and journeys to target different markets effectively.
Brand collaborations to build an online presence
There are so many advantages to brand collaborations: it’s low cost, creates new content, you can reach a wider audience, increase engagement and create buzz within the industry.
A perfect example of a fantastic brand collab is the recent Barbie movie. Before the movie was released Barbie’s marketing team collaborated with over 30 brands, from Crocs to Airbnb, at one point, it felt like Barbie was everywhere. You can even stay in the Barbie’s dreamhouse which was available through Airbnb. Although I’m sure not all of us are blessed with a £150,000,000 marketing budget… there are still many ways you can generate excitement and buzz. Barbie created a huge engaged online presence using this strategy.
We recently started a partnership with Open Tech Alliance the PropTech leader in self storage. Although partnering with OpenTech has given us some of the benefits mentioned above, really, it is about us providing our customers with another level of service. This partnership recieved a lot of engagement online, and helped boost our online presence for our business.
How your employees can help build an engaged online presence
This is something we always include in our social media plan and can be a fantastic way to build an engaged online presence for your self store. According to LinkedIn, content shared by employees gets 200% more clicks than brand channels.
Utilising employee’s social media channels you can amplify company messages and promotions, which increases brand awareness. You can also share an “inside look” into the business which comes across as more authentic than posting from a business account.
90% trust peers on social networks (even strangers); only 17% trust brands.
Consistency really is key
I’m sure you’ve heard this before but consistency is so important. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is posting and ghosting. Find the best times and days for your audience. If a post doesn’t do as well as you thought, it’s not a failure, it’s an insight.
Something to also consider is repurposing your content. You can turn a single LinkedIn post into a video of you talking on TikTok. Turn that video into a blog post. Turn that into multiple graphics. The list is endless. It’s important to remember that repurposing your content isn’t about being lazy or not wanting to come up with new ideas. It’s about helping your audience and giving new perspectives on something. It also keeps your brand consistent across platforms, so it’s a win-win.
Your copywriting will increase an engaged online community!
Another tip to build an engaged online presence is to focus on your copy. Copywriting is an essential, and often overlooked, element of any brand’s personality. It can be challenging and can take a lot of practice.
Try and write copy for skim readers – people are lazy! If the first line doesn’t capture our attention, we move on to the next post.
Content is king, but formatting is queen. Make sure you break down your copy so it is digestible. Humanise your brand and make your brand’s tone personal, approachable and engaging. A great example of this is Innocent Drinks who have a uniquely chatty and conversational tone of voice, copy that is both funny and friendly.
Finally – don’t be afraid to be yourself, it’s more authentic
You’ll never stand out trying to be like someone else. Make it personal. How likely are you going to be interested in corporate language? Chances are, not at all. Strive to be different in your marketing, show off your workplace culture, and don’t forget to have fun!
Free Marketing Tools to build an engaged online presence:
Marketing Week – marketing news and insights
SemRush – website audits, analysis of competitor sites
Grammarly – spelling and grammar
Hemingway Editor – copy help
AlsoAsked – keyword research
Milanote – plan and organize your content
What is Today? – content ideas
Answerthepublic – current trends
Sources:
https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2023/02/new-report-digital-2023-the-united-kingdom/
Need help with building an engaged online presence for your self store? Contact Kuboid today to find out more.