Today’s consumers are digital natives. They live online and use social media as their primary source of information about products, services, and various businesses. This means that small businesses need to think strategically about how they present themselves on social media – after all, these platforms are now the first place your customers will look to learn more about you and your business.
A strong social media branding strategy is the first step in creating an online presence that will drive traffic to your website and result in new customers. But what is a branding strategy, exactly? In simple terms, it’s a plan for promoting your company in a way that optimizes its strengths while minimizing potential weaknesses.
A good social media branding strategy will also help you establish a consistent identity across platforms so that users can find you easily wherever they look for you online.
What is included in a social media branding strategy?
A social media branding strategy includes many components that will help you create a consistent image for your brand and your message across all social media platforms. You’ll need to consider your overall objective for each platform, along with your tone of voice, visuals, and content strategy. Let’s take a closer look at these components that make up a robust social media branding strategy.
- Brand positioning – How will your company be different from others in your industry? What is its USP? These are some of the questions you’ll want to ask yourself as you determine where your brand fits in the marketplace. You’ll also want to consider what image you want to portray, and what your ideal customer would want to know about your company.
- Brand identity – How do you want your brand to be seen by consumers? What do you want it to look like? What colors do you want it to use? How will customers hear it be spoken? Creating a brand identity will help you answer these questions, and will set the tone for all of your online interactions.
- Content calendar – How often do you plan to post on each platform, and what will the posts be about? You’ll want to think about the best posting frequency for each platform, as well as what content will work best for your specific audience.
Why is it so important?
As we discussed above, customer expectations have changed dramatically over the past decade. This means that you’ll need to shift your thinking and approach when it comes to social media branding.
Consumers expect businesses to be present on social media, and they also expect those brands to be engaging and helpful. If you don’t take the time to create a robust social media branding strategy, you’ll risk coming across as disorganized, unprofessional, and impersonal. In the worst-case scenario, you might even turn off potential customers before they ever have a chance to become customers.
A strong social media branding strategy goes beyond just having an account and posting every once in a while. It ensures that you’re consistently engaging with your audience and providing helpful, relevant content that positions your business as a leader in your industry.
It also ensures that you’re staying true to your brand’s identity and voice, no matter which platform you’re posting on.
Define your target audience
One of the first things you’ll need to do is define your target audience. This can be a bit tricky since you can’t be all things to all people.
So who are the people you want to buy from you? You’ll want to think about things like demographics, location, interests, psychographics, and more.
You might even want to conduct some market research to get a better idea of how your ideal customer would like to be communicated with.
Once you’ve got a better idea of who you’re trying to reach, you can tailor your social media presence to appeal specifically to them.
Create your brand’s identity
A consistent brand identity will help you present your company in the best possible light, particularly on social media. It will help you stand out from the crowd, allowing you to communicate your message more effectively and authentically.
There are a couple of things you’ll want to consider when creating your brand identity for social media. You’ll want to consider your visual brand identity or your logo and branding colors.
You’ll also want to think about your voice or your tone of voice. How do you want customers to hear about your company? Do you want to be bold and assertive? Or are you more comfortable with a softer, gentler approach?
How you answer these questions will determine how you ultimately brand your company on social media.
Decide on your core messaging
Before you even begin to think about social media branding, you’ll want to consider what your core messaging will be.
What are you trying to say? What is your company all about? What problem are you solving, and how are you solving it? This will help you create consistent content, and allow you to more effectively target your posts.
It will also help you identify gaps in your marketing strategy, and give you ideas for future campaigns and initiatives. Though your core messaging should be consistent across all marketing efforts, it will likely be different on each social media platform. This is why it’s important to create a social media branding strategy as part of your overall marketing strategy.
Select the platforms where you’ll be most active
Now that you know who your target audience is, and you have a better idea of what you want to say to them, you can select the social media platforms where you’ll be most active.
Depending on the type of business you have, you might want to focus on a few key platforms. Or you might decide to be active across most social media platforms. It really depends on your budget, resources, and what works best for your company.
Whatever you decide, make sure each platform is consistent with your overall social media branding strategy.
Choose your graphics and colors
Once you’ve determined your core messaging, you can start to think about your graphics and colors.
This component of your social media branding strategy can be fun and creative, so don’t be afraid to let your creativity shine through. A good way to start is to look at the colors that are present in your logo and use them to create an impactful brand.
Consider the colors that are most prominent in your marketing materials, too.
You can also use colors to convey emotion, which can be helpful when trying to engage your audience and spark interest in your brand.
You can also choose other visual elements, like your photography style, fonts, and more. These elements will help reinforce your brand identity, and make you easier to find across all social media platforms.
Let’s Create a Social Media Branding Strategy For Your Business
Creating a social media branding strategy is one of the most important steps in launching a successful marketing campaign. It allows you to create a consistent image for your brand and your message across all social media platforms.
A social media branding strategy will help you achieve your objectives, drive traffic to your website, and result in new customers. A strong social media branding strategy is important because it will help you present your company in the best possible light, and achieve your marketing goals.
Ready to create an unbeatable social media strategy for your business? Drop us a message or schedule a call with our social media experts for a free marketing consultation.
