Brand Your Small Business on Social Media

Getting your brand to stand out on social media is not easy, and yet for some brands the whole social media exercise is a breeze. There is so much noise, so much information, and so much clutter that a reader can’t begin to scroll through the content. There’s little that is unique and worthy of actually reading. Ad blindness was already an issue. Now, even native ads are being objected to by people who seek only information and don’t wish to be subjected to an infomercial in the guise of an informative piece.

Clearly, ads have their limitation and there’s a glut of content online. However, there are things that you can do that will help a new brand gain traction and enable an established one to gain more customers.

One of the basic steps to take is to give your brand a voice that is consistent with the brand’s image with its clientele. It could be sober or irreverent, it doesn’t matter as long as it helps the audience identify with your brand and its values. A voice helps you distinguish your product and service from that of competitors and it attracts followers who arrive with a level of commitment to what your brand embodies.

Here are some benefits of boosting your brand on social media

Brand Awareness

Millions of people use social media every day. Most platforms have dynamic tools available for you to target your audience. To not take advantage of a ready-made audience and often free tools to reach them is well, stupid. Don’t be stupid, get on board.

Open and faster communication

Have a flash sale you want your customers to know about? Social media can do that. Have a serious problem. A product recall or health alert? Social media is the best, fastest way to get work out.

Build brand loyalty

By interacting with customers and prospects more often, the bond of trust that keeps customers coming back to your brand will be fortified and expanded.

High conversion rate

As your brand becomes more popular and trusted, making the sale will become easier and easier.

We listed 4 good reasons to brand on social media. Sprout Social has 34 more.

How to brand your company on social media

Publish content that works.

Infographs, images, listicles work. Use them. Videos are great, and can be used across multiple social media channels. The idea is that you must choose the most appropriate content type for the message that you wish to share. A product description or review is best executed through a video. Interesting nuggets of information are best shared via an infograph. Visual appeal matters a lot. Awareness of visual appeal will also let you use colors and fonts that present your brand favorably.

Become a trusted source of information.

If you have subject matter expertise, then leverage it to resolve doubts, offer insights, and educate the readers. Establish yourself as the expert in your niche. There’s a lot you can do to build trust within transactions. For example, a quick apology and hassle-free replacement of a defective product will be appreciated. Trustworthiness is worth striving for. Content from trusted sources gets shared. Name the author of an article, quote sources, appear in video interviews and connect with the audience on a human level.

Keep tabs on your competitors.

Audit the social media performance of your nearest competitor ahead of you. Learn what the 800-pound gorillas in your niche are doing to crack the social media marketing code. There will be useful information available and clues to what you must do with respect to content marketing and audience interaction to build a community and generate sales.

Focus on social media platforms patronized by your prospective audience.

Choose a social media platform or two and build your social media strategy around the selected platforms. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram are the big players. Creating a community on any one of these platforms will let your brand leverage social media.

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