In 2017, social media isn’t something you can ignore or simply go without. As a business, social media can be used to allow you to engage with customers, respond to feedback, and advertise your products and/or services. In fact, 71% of brands intend to invest more money into their social media presence. However, using social media to your benefit isn’t as simple as signing up to a platform and posting. Potential customers need to know who you are and what you do. Here are some helpful tips to help you build your brand.
There are hundreds of social media networks out there; some are huge and some are incredibly niche. For the purposes of building your brand, however, there are really just a handful that you need to focus on.
Facebook: When it comes to building your brand, Facebook is the essential social media site for any business. With an unparalleled number of daily users, Facebook’s reach is global and spans across generations.
Twitter: Like Facebook, Twitter is a hugely ubiquitous platform. The 140 character format, rather than being limiting, allows you to put forward your product or service quickly and succinctly. Twitter now shows you your engagement statistics, so you will be able to see if your campaign is reaching the right people. It’s also a great way to quickly and efficiently reply to your customers.
Instagram: Instagram is a great platform to use if your company’s advertising relies primarily on images. This makes it particularly suitable for clothing companies and other retailers. It’s user base is primarily teens and young adults, making it very effective if young people are your target market.
Google+: While Google+ never became the social media behemoth that many expected it would, it can still be a useful tool for building your brand. Google+ should be considered for companies marketing tech products.
Pinterest: Similar to Instagram, Pinterest is a valuable tool for companies that advertise primarily with images. Pinterest’s user base is largely women, making it ideal if that’s your target market.
LinkedIn: If you’re running a business-to-business company, LinkedIn is an extremely valuable tool for building your brand. LinkedIn is a great platform for promoting business-related content and engaging with other business owners and influencers.
When attempting to build your brand and improve your brand reputation, it’s important that the content that you’re creating and posting is valuable, and that viewers will want to share it. There are a number of things to keep in mind when posting to social media.
Does it build your brand? Is it supporting your brand image?
Every post you make on social media needs to be supporting the brand image you’re trying to cultivate. It’s important to avoid posting clickbait style posts as they are likely to annoy your followers more than it will engage them. Memes can be a valuable tool in marketing, but the popularity of memes waxes and wanes incredibly quickly and sporadically. Avoid a meme based marketing strategy unless you’re very up to date with meme trends.
When trying to decide which kind of content generates the most engagement, you will want to look at the engagement data. This allows you to tailor your content to suit your audience.
Twitter posts with images receive twice as many views as text posts alone. Just remember the old adage: a picture is worth a thousand words.
Sometimes, organic reach isn’t enough. In this instance, you will need to opt for paid campaigns. If used properly, these campaigns can be extremely effective and will really help you to promote your products and build your brand.
Another potentially lucrative option is to hold contests and giveaways to encourage follower engagement and participation. Offering decent incentives ensures that your followers will be much more likely to participate and share your content.
While social media can be a great tool when trying to build your brand, it is also a difficult tool to master. If you aren’t fully aware of the latest trends and tools in social media, there’s a chance that you might fail to engage with your target market or even ostracise and alienate potential customers.
Investing in a dedicated social media company to help you build your brand and cultivate your brand reputation will yield incredible results for your business. For more information about creating great social media content and using social media to build your brand, get in touch. Our dedicated social media team are on hand to answer any questions you might have, and are ready to start helping you engage with your target market.