Social media is a powerful tool for any marketer. It is a definite way of enhancing engagement with customers and sharing SEO optimized content.One of the reasons marketers are using social media platforms is to build brand awareness. Social media branding can be very useful is strategies are developed and applied effectively.
One of the biggest reasons customers buy a product or service from a brand is their ability to trust them. This trust comes from the brand’s credibility among the community. If you are able to gain this trust from your customers, then it is definite that they see a certain value in what you have to offer.
Nowadays, we have a fair amount of useful social media platforms. Therefore, regardless of business or personal branding on social media, it is way more than just Facebook branding strategy now.
In this post, I am going to discuss how brands can develop a credibility using social media platforms. The concepts discussed in the following post can be helpful for both new and established brands.
Creating a Social Media Persona
If your brand is fairly new, start from building your profile with one single platform. Although Facebook is a popular starting source, you may want to consider another platform like Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest depending on what type of business your brand offers.
Consistency Across all Channels
Some of the brands are spread across more than one social media channel. If I am searching a certain brand and discover that the description is varying on different channels, I will definitely feel uncomfortable. It creates a sense of hesitancy that will prevent from moving forward with the brand discovery.
Therefore, it is important to remain consistent with the main description you provide across all the channels you are utilizing. The profile image you use matters a lot as well. If you are trying personal branding on social media, then ensure you use the same professional headshot with each of the social media accounts. For personal branding, the recognition of your face is significant.For general social media branding, you may want to clearly represent your logo across all channels. However, the profile picture is just the start. I agree with many branding experts that suggest being consistent with the brand’s voice, imagery, colors and the overall look as well.
According to Stephanie Schwab, founder and CEO of Crackerjack Marketing, there are 4 basic aspects of your social media brand voice. These include the character or persona, tone, language, and purpose. Once you figure out what your specific approach will be with these aspects, you need to keep the consistency across all accounts.
Authenticity and Humanizing the Brand
Social media is a great source for connecting with the customers; both existing and potential. Most marketers using the automating and batching approach. This approach is about sharing third party content and letting the engagements flow. Later, the marketers will incorporate product updates in order to generate leads and sales.
However, social media branding is not just about pushing out content. It looks too mechanical and there needs to be a human side to your social media presence. This humanizing of your profile creates an authenticity that visitors look for when searching brands.
It is similar to the concept of how marketing has changed. It is no more about shoving a sales pitch in a person’s face if you want to gain their trust. The more you appeal their natural and human side, the better chance there is for their positive response.
You may want to entertain your followers from time to time as well. For example, sharing some routine activities that take place regarding your brand behind the scenes.
Creating a Content Calendar
Social media branding or even personal branding on social media does not work if you are not actually present there. You need to stay active in order to build your brand. It is not an overnight process. It can take lots of efforts and time to build your credibility with the followers. In fact, it is impossible to create engagements if there is no initiation from your side.
To ensure that you don’t leave any of your social media accounts inactive for long periods, I suggest you create a content calendar. This calendar will indicate how frequently you update a certain account per day. The frequency of content sharing also depends on your target audience and the type of industry the brand belongs to. You don’t want to end up overwhelming the followers with excessive content so you may need to find your optimal posting frequency.
The Tactical Aspects
Until now, I have only discussed some of the high-level strategic planning. On the other hand, there are some specific or tactical aspects that need to be taken care of as well for social media branding.
The first aspect is your target audience. It is possible that you are targeting different sections through different social media accounts. This means you have to build different personas. Therefore, your Facebook branding strategy can be different from your Twitter content.
Secondly, you can’t effectively handle the social media with one resource. You may want to develop a social media marketing team and assign tasks and tools to them.
Lastly, you need to prepare for criticism. Social media criticism has been experienced by all. I have full understanding that it can demotivating and derail you. Therefore, you need to plan for this possibility if you don’t want your efforts to go to waste.
Social media can become your main source of brand building if you know how to use the platforms to your advantage. Different social media platforms have their own specific strong points. You need to ensure that your strategy incorporates ideas to benefit from them.
I want to end this post with reminding you that social media is a part of the internet that is very powerful. Anybody with a Facebook branding strategy should know that if right moves can promote your credibility, your wrong moves will spread like wildfire as well. Therefore, strategize carefully.