3 Key Things that Define Your Social Branding Success

The social media landscape has seen a spate of changes over the years.

09:19 07 May 2021

One thing remains the same - the opportunity to build a truly effective brand and engage in meaningful conversations with your target audience and potential customers.

 

If you have just begun exploring social or have been plugging away for a long time in this space with nothing to show for it, let me assure you that there is a lot of potential in building your social brand.

 

Let us quickly go over three key things that could take your social branding campaign to another level.

 

Content

 

Social media success of a brand is defined by its ability to tell fun, engaging and thought-provoking stories that strike a chord with their audience. Brands are always looking to churn out entertaining content that resonate with their followers, in a bid to outsmart their competition in social circles. But only a few like Denny’s, Wendy’s etc. have (sort of) been able to perfect this art and create a niche for themselves. No surprises they enjoy a cult-like status, having grown into one of the most distinguished and recognizable names out there.

 

Your brand can emulate the success these iconic brands have had. Just be focussed on putting out engaging and relatable content on a consistent basis. It holds the key to creating a strong social media brand that stands the test of time. 

 

Figure out what gets your followers to happily engage with you and latch onto that tone. Don’t be rigid, get creative and express yourself in a cheeky, humorous tone. If it’s received well, why not engage in satirical conversations with your competition? Talk about pushing the envelope a little. After all, who doesn’t enjoy friendly banter?

 

No matter what you do, always remember one thing. What you put out there is going to attract eyeballs- in a good way or bad way. So resist the urge to hit publish. Think long and hard about how this message will be perceived before you hit that button.

 

Channels

 

Content is just one part of the puzzle. Aligning your content strategy with the channel requirements and with the target audience present there makes or breaks your social branding success. With numerous channels available, including a dozen well-established mainstream channels, choosing the right one for your business/brand may seem a little overwhelming.

But there are a few basic questions that can help you narrow down on the right channel though.

 

• There are a few basic questions that can help you narrow down on the right channel though.
  
  
• Where is your target audience?
  
  
• What type of content are you planning to create to engage with them? Is it visual or text-form videos?
  
  
• What do you want to accomplish with your campaign? Are you looking to raise your brand awareness or level up on your brand and user engagement?
  
  
• What is your competitor’s preferred choice of channels?

 

Brands that are always ready to innovate and think out-of-the-box show great inclination to tap into new and untried channels and take home the early bird advantage. The astronomical rise of certain brands on short-video platform TikTok-- which requires unique creatives and high volume of content-- goes to show that such brands are always willing to stand out from the rest of the pack and make a mark for themselves. Having said that, solving the new channel challenge requires adapting at many levels and it is going to be daunting for any brand. But it is a great way to future-proof themselves in the years to come.

 

If you’re just going to get started on social or stuck somewhere and need some help with taking your campaign forward, there are boutique social media consultants like Fresh Engagements you can talk to. Right from getting that all-important verified sign on your brand’s pages to helping you secure inactive username claims and everything in between, they have plenty to offer. Talk to them today and see how you can leverage their experience and expertise to give your burgeoning social media campaigns a shot in the arm.

 

Setting the Right Framework

 

As with conventional brand building, creating, and maintaining a brand on social media requires a lot of time, dedication, and adaptability. Brands need to commit themselves to be in it for the long haul and it requires a solid framework that reflects your brand’s purpose, vision, mission, and values. Your branding framework should be built keeping in mind the ‘why,’ ‘how’ and ‘what’ aspects of your business. That way your brand messaging/positioning gives your audience a reason to believe in what you bring to the community, a sense of direction as to where you’re going, and evidence that they’ve made a great choice associating with your business/brand.

 

Let’s wrap up. Tie together all these things in your social media branding strategy. Build a solid framework, choose your channels suitably and keep creating distinctive brand assets using multiple content formats (short videos, visuals, texts) that constantly reinforce the message you want to send to your audience. Keep grinding away. Don’t hesitate to try new things. Chart a roadmap and stick to it but be ready/flexible to change course if things do not work out. Take feedback and measure how well your campaigns did. It takes a lot of time and effort to nail down these processes and get some momentum going in your campaign. But when it happens, you will see a drastic shift in how your audience engages with you. This transition from followers to advocates will bring with it significant gains that’ll propel you from just another business in the digital space to an iconic brand that everyone swears by. Be sure to stay in the game until then.