Building Your Brand Through Social Media
More than 4.62 billion people or roughly 58 percent of the world’s population use social media. These are platforms for you to directly engage with customers, build expertise in your domain and encourage users to follow and interact with you. When done right, they are also significantly more cost-effective than any other marketing platforms.
If you’re starting out, these tips will help you build your brand through social media.
Focus: Identify the platforms you would like to focus on. You don’t have to be active everywhere. Just choose two or three platforms relevant to your category.
Stay on brand: Define your brand values and have the same tone and voice on all platforms. This helps with brand recall.
Be consistent: The golden rule in social media is to be regular. Consistency beats intensity. Create and upload content once or twice a week at the same time.
Mix it up: You can use a variety of media to differentiate your brand. Use images and videos on Instagram, text, images, and videos on Facebook, and videos on YouTube. On LinkedIn, the right format is short and long-form articles.
Be human: If you sound like a business, you will sound distant. Instead, humanize your brand. See things from your user’s point of view and be approachable and relatable.
Tell stories: Merely talking about your product features can come across as cold and boring. When you share them as stories, you will get higher engagement.
Respond fast: If someone appreciates you, thank them. If someone criticizes you, acknowledge your mistake if it’s true. Listen to your followers and interact with them like a friend.
In short
No matter what sector you operate in or the size of your business, social media marketing will help you raise brand awareness, and convert and retain customers.
Caitlin Ladd, Marketing Specialist at Consumer Choice Award
