In today’s business world where competition is getting even stiffer, brand identity is very important. By this, it means that once a person sees a logo, they’re instantly able to connect this with you. The better your brand identity is, the more competitive you’ll be. This means that you’ve made that stronger impact for recall in the minds of the general public.
Yes, brand identity is mostly visual, as it mostly revolves around your business’ logo and the fonts your business typically uses to communicate with customers. However, there are some great ways in which you can indirectly affect your brand identity as well, like through social media.
As social media has become a world of its own, businesses can set up their own profiles, and through their interaction with their target audience, they can tell people what they are exactly about. Today, social media has evolved into something more than just a means of sharing images, videos, or communicating with others all over the globe. For different business purposes, social media is now proving to be a very effective medium. You’ve only got to learn how to use it to your advantage.
That said, here’s how you can use social media to influence your brand identity:
Post Regularly Across all Your Social Media Profiles
Having profiles on social media platforms is one thing, but using them to your advantage is another. A great way to really catch the attention of social media users is to post content regularly. Here, there’s no absolute rule to follow, as each business or influencer is different. For instance, if you’ve made it a habit to post every other day, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, this should be your standard of regular. That way, your followers on social media will have something to look forward to on those days, as they know that there’ll be something new from you. This helps create a better recall in the minds of your followers.
You should also encourage your followers to share your posts, through which your business will circulate through a plethora of social networks. This can be done in so many ways, such as providing prizes for those with shared posts with the most number of likes. Or, simply that in exchange for sharing your post, they’re entitled to entry for a giveaway. In these simple ways, you’re also better engaging with your followers. This will put you on a better footing with followers, both new and old.
Purchase Advertising Services
The popularity of social media has led to an explosion in the world of brand advertising. Many social media platforms like Facebook allow users to purchase advertising services. They have different schemes to choose from, and even if you own a business that’s just starting out, you can choose an affordable option and drastically widen the range of your exposure to audiences.
Yes, there may be a lot of users subject to your ads, which may not want to see them in the first place. However, look on the bright side. There will also be many people who may just happen to be among the audience you are targeting.
These advertising services can also be likened to your business cards in the digital or online world. Rather than sending out physical business cards, all the Internet users online will get to know all the pertinent details about your business, through your social media sites. This is very important for brand identity, as according to banana-print.co.uk, business cards, as in this case, its online counterpart, still is one of the most effective ways to reach out to potential customers.
Make Your Audience Recognize Your Efforts
When we say posts regularly on social media, we mean post relevant and meaningful content. Posting something for the sake of posting something is something that works in close and personal social media circles. But that’s not something that would work for your business page.
If you manage to post content that’s truly unique and relevant for your target audience on a regular basis, the audience will start appreciating the brand’s efforts to reach out to them. What this does is build trust inside people; trust that is necessary for businesses to evolve into household brands.
Build a Healthy Work Environment and Flaunt It
The plain truth behind all branding, advertising, and marketing moves made by a business is simple; if it doesn’t work on the ground level, nothing can make it work on any other level. Your business’ work premises are the most important places. There needs to be a positive environment where employees feel like valued members of your business family and not simply people working to make their own ends meet.
When the environment is healthy, it automatically rejuvenates and energizes your employees to think big and be happy about what they are doing. Capturing videos of your employees’ positive attitude at work and posting them can do wonders for your brand identity, as your business will be known for one that keeps its employees content. This will not just generate more customers but also more potentially enthusiastic employees in the future.
Consistency is Key
There is no dearth of social media platforms, and your business should have profiles on each and every platform. However, how you behave and engage with your audiences across different platforms should be consistent. By ‘consistent,’ we mean keeping the essence of your brand the same across all social media platforms on which your business has profiles.
This applies to almost everything you express through your social media platforms, from the writing style of your posts to the colors and graphics you use to when you upload your posts. Two brands that you should definitely take tips from in terms of their social media consistency are Amazon and Google. Watch the consistency they maintain in sharing their posts across all their social media profiles.
Don’t Be Robotic With Your Responses
A key part of your brand identity design involves communicating with your audiences across various social media platforms. This communication has to be human. It can’t be robotic. A lot of businesses are going down the automation road to creating generic social media responses, but that is something that, ideally, you should steer clear of.
Imagine yourself in the shoes of your audience. Would you really trust a business that responds to your queries in a generic, robotic manner? You probably won’t, especially after you see that the same responses have been generated to answer queries from other followers of the business’ profile.
The trick is to make your responses as human as possible. Include quirkiness and a little dash of humor in your responses to engage positively with the audience. In the long run, this exercise could help your business immensely to gain the trust of the target audience.
Share Videos, Images, and Infographics As Much as Possible
As patience levels of online audiences are diminishing with each passing day, you need to find creative ways of engaging with them so that they don’t skip your content. The best way to do this is to follow this site that will help you by creating slick videos and infographics and sharing them on a regular basis. Videos, images, and infographics can make your posts much more colorful and vibrant than bland text-based content. Plus, human beings are also very visual individuals. Not only do they get excited about seeing new videos and images, but they’re also able to remember these media content better.
Through images, infographics, and videos, you can also express much more in a shorter amount of time than written content can. As the old adage goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and this is truer now than it ever was. Especially when your graphics, images, and videos are all formatted or styled the same way, this better improves your brand identity. Internet users are able to associate photo styles to you, so they instantly know that this has something to do with your social media account or your blog.
Final Thoughts
Tapping into the potential of social media to further your branding cause is something that you should definitely consider. As social media is becoming the top choice for many businesses to reach out to their target audiences, you should leave no stone unturned to take advantage of the opportunities that it gives your business. Without doing so, you’re running the risk of falling even more behind against the competition. As social media is also pretty easy to use, now there’s absolutely no reason as to why you shouldn’t get into the bandwagon yourself. Apply these tips, and see the many positive changes that it can bring towards strengthening your brand identity.
