The age of digital marketing has become a tad bit difficult and building a personal or brand reputation has become more important than ever.
While several small companies and startups kickoff once in a while, they are brought down in no time, all because they could not thrive in the competitive online industry.
The presence of social media is what has made the whole process easy to find businesses, build a reputation and communicate with the consumers.
About 65 percent of online users surf search engines to find information about people and companies according to the 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer.
About 90 percent of online businesses and people believe that social media has helped them to increase their exposure, while 68 percent of them reported that they were able to develop a loyal fan base through it. Social media is power.
If you have not started branding yourself or your company through social media, the time is now. Here are a few tips to get you started on the right track.
- Make Careful Selections
From Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and many others, you have several options to pick from to create a buzz about your business.
However, not all social media platforms can fit into your branding. You need to be careful to pick the right one as opting for several ones at a time might consume a lot of your time and can cause a negative impact.
Facebook and Twitter are great platforms that can be used to promote any brand online because of the varied user base. On the other hand, Google+ is mostly used by people in the technology industry and is a great fit for brands working in the same field.
Similarly, LinkedIn is a perfect place if you operate a B2B company as you can connect directly with corporate influencers, analyze your competitors and promote your business-related content. Instagram and Pinterest rely heavily on images and are effective if you’ve been running in clothing, or the fashion industry.
You are required to analyze your needs and marketing requirements to explore the possibilities that social media has to offer. Try one at a time and see if you gain good conversion. If it does, do away with your previous strategy and implement newer ones to capitalize more. If it does not, use a new platform and start testing again
- Maintain Consistency
If you are to build a brand online, you seriously need to consider imagery. From your brand name to logo and the profile pictures, updates and everything, you need to keep them in such a way that they are instantly recognizable. The best thing to do is create a unique identity through a design that reflects your branding
For example, most brands online use the same color palette and style of their logo to design their social media pages. This is what makes reflects the identity of your brand online and people can know that it’s you just by landing at your page and not even reading a word. In fact, consistency on social media is what makes your brand a word-of-mouth brand
- Create Valuable and Shareable Content
Content and blog posts are what add a lot of benefit to branding. From increasing the number of pages on your website to increasing chances for more search engine visibility, good content can support your brand image.
- Engage in Discussions
Branding is not just about building your audience, producing great content and staying updated in the online market. You need to socialize and talk to your consumers in order to build trust and authority to perform well above your competitors and complete your equation.
When you are relatively a small brand, publish killer content and branding through it will take time. You need to take a faster approach to influence your audience quickly so that your voice is not lost in the noise.
