Social media is playing a vital role in building your brand online. In this article, I want to show you importance of branding on social media and the right way to get started.
One of the main obstacles and concerns of every new entrepreneur when establishing their start-up is getting through to their audience. Believe it or not, nowadays, putting yourself and your brand “out there” is equally significant as having a good quality product or service. Think about it – regardless of how well you may be doing your job, it’s worth absolutely nothing unless there are people who see that and use your services. The most important and most unpredictable factor when establishing your own brand is the people and, unfortunately, you are completely dependent on them.
Luckily, there are some ways to predict your customers’ behaviour and get inside their heads, at least to some extent. New marketing strategies are being invented and developed almost daily and most of them are done online, especially on social media since it is the best way to reach the largest and best-filtered community. It’s up to you to study these strategies and decide which ones you’re going to use. Of course, in order to actually succeed you need to have a lucky combination of a good strategy, timing, approach and so much more. Nevertheless, don’t lose hope, do your best and perhaps yours will be among the lucky 1 out of 10 start-ups that succeed.
Choose appropriate platforms
There are hundreds of social media platforms and apps out there and you have to choose wisely where you plan on getting recognized. If you have already started promoting your business on a certain platform, but you get no response or traction, it might be your fault – you have probably chosen the wrong social media app. Also, you cannot choose to jump into all of the apps and platforms, since there are already so many of them and there are new ones appearing every day. What is more, not every social network is the right one for your business.
Your job here is to find the social media platforms and apps that correspond to your brand and your brand’s image. Otherwise, you will struggle to make any progress whatsoever. For example, let’s say you are a steel manufacturer. You won’t definitely won’t choose Tumblr as your social media network, since only teenagers are present there and seeing your business there won’t bring any progress, because it does not fit there. A much better option would be LinkedIn, for instance, since it attracts business owners. So, think twice before choosing a network and proceed when you’ve found the right one.
However, for some it can be hard to figure out which social network should be targeted and which audience it attracts. In order to make things easier, you can check out social media demographics and take it from there.
Find your target audience
You must have already thought about your main focus group while setting up your company. Depending on what it does and whose needs it caters, it’s not too difficult to prioritize social groups by the level of interest for your brand. Once you’ve done that, sponsor your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts to filtered groups of people and just wait for results to kick in. Of course, reaching out to people on most popular social networks is the right way to go, however, some social groups use specific media that, while not that popular, might be gathering a high percentage of your potential customers. Make sure to ask around and not neglect these either.
Ask for help
You shouldn’t be afraid of asking for help. This is not a sign of weakness, but merely being conscious and thorough, wanting to explore all options and finally make the best choice for you and your company. Ask your friends, family and colleagues for advice or use the internet to find out how to set up your brand. You can always turn to experts in the field such as this branding agency in Melbourne and get help from committed professions that will help you figure out the best strategies for your business. Such professionals are very thorough and you can rest assured your company’s brand is in safe hands.
Be responsive
Every company has a website and an account on every possible network. However, this is far from enough to get people to notice your brand or hold it in high regard. You must be active on all your accounts and you must be ready to answer people’s questions and respond to criticism almost instantly. The better the service, the more customers will use it. People’s feedback is an extremely important weapon in an ongoing battle that is the survival and progress of a company. This is why you must always respond to both positive and negative criticism, as well as be ready to help out by solving issues and answering questions.
Ask for interaction
When posting on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok etc., don’t just publish facts and statements, but try to include your audience in the whole process. Post interesting questions, quizzes, organize mini competitions with rewards and make sure to connect all these to what your company does. That way you’ll engage your followers which will result of them remembering you and probably liking you better than before. One-sided posts are OK sometimes, but a healthy dynamic is something every account needs in order to be popular and used by others.
Don’t overdo it
Sometimes less is more and you should really have this in mind, especially when it comes to posting. If you don’t have anything relevant or interesting to say, just don’t say anything at all. It’s fine and much better than spamming your audience and causing a counter-effect and boring them away. It’s better to stand still than go backwards, as long as it doesn’t last too long.
All in all, you have a huge variety of options in front of you when it comes to choosing a marketing strategy for setting up your brand. Choose several and make sure they fit with how you do business and what your customers generally do. Everything you do should be aimed at your target audience regardless of how crazy or bad of an idea it may sound to you. They are the ones that should be pleased and, having that in mind, you won’t have any problems when it comes to making it in this fierce and competitive world of business.
