Social media is an excellent way for businesses to brand themselves. It’s also a great tool for engaging with customers and building relationships. However, you need a strong strategy to truly get the best out of social media. This includes using the right tools, leveraging existing strengths and building on them to create a unique brand. Let’s take a look at how you can use social media to build a strong brand for your business in the online sphere.
What Makes a Strong Brand?
A strong brand is a unique entity that communicates what your company stands for. It reflects the values you want to communicate and resonates with customers over time. Think of it as your business’ unique fingerprint!
Know Your Audience
The first step to building a strong brand is knowing exactly who your audience is. This is the only way to be sure that your brand message will resonate with them and create a lasting impression.
Your audience on social media could include current customers, potential customers and even influencers in your industry.
Once you’ve identified who this group of people is, it’s time to tailor all aspects of your branding accordingly.
Consistency
You also need to be consistent across a variety of different channels if you want people to recognise your brand easily. In visual terms, this means using the same colours, logos and imagery.
It also extends to creating a uniform tone of voice that you use in all your posts across different social media platforms. This way your audience won’t be confused by sudden changes in what you’re posting about or how often it’s posted.
Build Trust and Establish Authority
You can’t just set up social media profiles for the sake of it – you need to have a plan in place, especially if you’re trying to build trust with your audiences or establish yourself as an expert within your industry.
It’s important to create and publish content regularly. Show up and answer a common question or address a key problem that your audience is facing. Your content doesn’t have to be Nobel Prize worthy, it just has to be relevant and helpful.
If you’re pressed for time and struggling to create long form blogs, you can also share high quality articles from other sources that your audience will find interesting. This way, you are still being helpful and delivering value.
Build Relationships with Influencers and Customers through Social Media
One of the best ways to build a strong brand is by developing relationships with influencers and customers through social media. The experience you create in the digital sphere is just as important as what happens offline.
The first step is to engage with your audience regularly through social media channels, whether that’s posting a question or asking for their opinion on something.
You can also use social media to build relationships with influencers in your industry by sharing and retweeting their content.
Building relationships on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook takes time, but it’s well worth investing in these platforms if you want your business’ voice heard beyond your immediate network.
Summary
The key to developing a strong brand on social media is consistency. Be sure that your branding, tone of voice and content are all the same across different platforms and make a concentrated effort to show up day in, day out so that your audience doesn’t forget about you. It takes time, but it’s well worth investing in social media platforms if you want your brand to become known beyond your immediate network and attract a steady flow of quality leads for your business.
