Social media branding is beyond your complete control and is entirely different to the branding that you use for your website, newsletters and advertising collateral. This means that the personality of your brand must be carefully and continually managed through social media. Developing Authoritative Content is one thing but building a reputable brand on Social Media platforms is a different level of challenge altogether.
How is social media different?
When using social media to promote your business, the platform used belongs to someone else. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media site, they establish and enforce the rules and these rules can be changed at any time.
Another key point to remember about the use of social media for marketing purposes and the presentation of your brand’s personality is that conversation with users is central. While you do need to post, broadcast, comment and share, you also need to listen and measure your responses; they say a lot about the personality of your brand.
With this said, social media should not be avoided because it can be challenging. If you do not create an effective social media personality and establish your digital presence, your competitors will. Essentially, if you care about and are ambitious for your brand, you need to care about social media.
Ways to establish an interesting brand personality for social media marketing
The great news is that you can comply with platform rules while still establishing your brand personality on social media – and you can make your brand personality interesting. Here’s how…
1. Consider your social media profile as a shopfront: Ensure that your virtual address, profile ames and URLs are the same or similar to the name of your business.
2. Use a consistent voice across various platforms. Chances are you will feature your business on various social media sites. Take care to ensure the voice used is the same for all platforms. All personalities have a place on social media but you need to consistently reinforce your brand.
3. Follow the rules and utilise the benefits of each platform. It’s vital to understand the rules of each social media platform, despite wanting your brand to be consistently presented across all platforms. The key here is to maximise the features and benefits of each social profile while maintaining your definitive voice.
4. Consult the people who matter and ask your customers to review and give feedback on the performance of your brand on social media. Does it work for them? What are their honest reactions?
5. The ultimate purpose of social media is to interact and discuss. Your social media activity must be current and your branding relevant.
6. When it comes to social media, the most significant and obvious things need to be done right, but the details should never be overlooked. Look for every opportunity to reinforce your brand identity and personality, and develop robust systems for ensuring that content is always fresh, relevant and without errors.
The brand personality that you develop for social media marketing needs to be interesting and carefully constructed. It’s vital to find the right tone and use this voice consistently. When your brand personality shines through on social media, you are more likely to reap the rewards that various social media platforms make available. For information on how your online brand can affect your future employment opportunities, click here.
