Jedda Cain
Recently, the 10 years time-warp challenge that people took up on Facebook became a revolutionary environmental movement. What started with Facebook users posting a decade-old picture along with their current photos to show what magic puberty had weaved soon turned into an environmental transformation challenge. Several of them cleaned beaches, and parks and alleys to reclaim the natural beauty and hundreds followed suit. Yes! Such is the power of social media.
Our planet earth is at risk, thanks to none other than us. As the ozone layer depletes by the hour and a tree is chopped down every second to make space for factories, life on earth is threatened. While some just read the news snippets from a science magazine, few have taken up the mantle to do something to help our mother earth breathe. Being an environment lover, you have been the Good Samaritan and started your recycling business to make this earth a better place to thrive in. But not all the people around you are as conscious about the environment as you are. So how do you keep your waste business afloat and spread the word? Simple—-you use the magic that we call social media.
6 Ways Social Media Can Salvage Your Waste Business When At Risk
Here are some fantastic tips on how to use social media to make your recycling business a successful endeavor.
#1. Tell Your Story
Use social media as a medium to tell your story and help your users have a clear perception about the recycled products you are manufacturing. Share pictures of the “upcycled” objects your company creates to promote your sustainability efforts. You can also share intriguing “Eco-Facts” about waste recycling with statistical evidence via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to inspire change and motivate people to recycle traditionally.
And it is just not about your company. Share content created by other recycling businesses as well. Although your motive is to promote your waste business, yet promoting other “green” brands like yours will show your concern about the environment. You can also share short films or documentaries to convert potential clients to the greener side.
#2. Understand the Target Market
Social Media is an effective tool that can help you reach out to several clients with just a click. Thanks to the technological boom, almost everyone has access to social media through their desktops or handheld devices. So why waste your money on traditional marketing tactics? Just type in #GoGreen on Instagram and you can get a list of environmental lovers with just a click.
Most likely, it is going to be the millennials who will be interested in your initiatives. So study the lingo they use, acquaint yourself with their idiosyncrasies and use them to your advantage by tailoring your content and campaigns with precisely what they want to see. Here are some of the best pro-environmental podcaststhat you can check for yourself.
#3. Get in Touch with Your Users
What is the point of having a social media presence if you are not socializing enough? You need to remember that social media isn’t just about fetching likes and getting more shares. Use it to touch base with your customers. And why just customers? Get in touch with environmentalists, researchers, herbal manufacturers and pro-environmental bloggers as well.
Also make it personal. Get in touch with academic help brands to connect with students pursuing environmental studies. You can tie up with top brands in the field like My Assignment help and Essay Assignment Help to reward clients using their services with recycled paper notepads or tree-free eco pencils. Similarly, you can mention your users directly on your Instagram account and thank them for joining hands to save mother earth.
#4. Understand How Social Media Works
The key to using various social media platforms to your advantage is to understand the algorithms first. Every social media platform works differently and with a different intent. If you want to showcase images of your products, then Instagram is the right tool for it. However, if you intend to share information about your company in detail and spread the word about how your products help the earth, then Facebook should be your choice. Again, for lengthy demo videos, YouTube could be your go-to guy.
If you want to share curated links, then I suggest you use the 140 characters on Twitter for the job. But knowing what to put where isn’t all. You need to go through Facebook Posting Policies to know that Zuckerberg’s brainchild limits the reach of posts that have words like Tag, Like, Share in it. Similarly, go through Twitter’s policies to make the best use of the platform. Know the nitty-gritty from Neil Patel himself.
#5. Be on the Right Time Zone
As a waste business owner, your customers do not fall into a geographical category. It is about the world and your customers are going to be from every corner of it. So, as a global player, you need to understand that your audience is in different time zones. If you are an Australian brand catering to American clients, then you need to bridge the gap between different time zones of the two hemispheres. Make sure that you post when your audience is online.
Moreover, different clients have different recycling needs. You need to keep the differences in mind and gather data on all of your experiences so that you can direct specific information to specific people and provide them with a solution they are looking for.
#6. Make Your Users Participate
If you want to improve the quality of life on earth, you have to come up with a joint effort. So you need to pool in people around you to participate in environmental drives. Challenge participants to pledge to reduce waste from their lives. Give it a name and add a hashtag and ask individuals to make their pledges by sharing the hashtag on social media. You can also offer social media tutorials, tools and other resources for people interested in starting their own cleanup events.
Use Instagram to engage influencers, bloggers, and real users to use your products. For example, if you have a paper-recycling business, you could engage students in your stories. You can also fund a science fair project for candidates with the best environmental innovations to promote eco-friendly ideas.
The rate at which the earth is degrading, we need a good scout that can help it recuperate from the wounds and gashes we have inflicted upon it. Use the above social media tips to connect with other “sustainably minded” individuals and engage a wider audience for better reach of your business.
Go on doing the good for the planet and let social media do the rest for your company.
All my best wishes are with you!