Social media platforms all over the internet are used daily by billions of individuals who rely on the posts there for everything from their news to their shopping habits. Because of this, more than 80% of marketers now focus their efforts on creating and maintaining a solid brand image on social media. In a world where you can build out your fanbase online, engage with customers in real-time for product feedback, and respond instantly to the latest trends, you have to choose the right platforms and build a consistent strategy to succeed in improving your brand image. Some entrepreneurs opt to consider getting help from professional companies to build followers on Twitter, Instagram, and many other social networks. Consider these tips about building your brand across the internet's social channels.
Why Your Brand Needs Social Media
The biggest reason a brand needs an effective social media presence is awareness. According to recent reports, roughly 90% of consumers are more likely to offer their attention and willingness to purchase from a company that they can follow on social channels. These platforms allow consumers a more detailed and authentic view of a brand than traditional advertising and even email marketing can give. Managing social media accounts can be a tough challenge, so some employ the use of tools for buying cheap Twitter followers and growing a follower base which can assist in reaching goals on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or other social platforms. By posting relevant, realistic, and relatable content, brands can encourage word-of-mouth advertising across multiple platforms, which increases public trust and popular opinion. This, in turn, leads to an increase in conversion and, ultimately, higher customer retention. The more a customer feels that they can know and understand your brand and comprehend that it aligns with their values, the more likely it is that they will continue to support the endeavor. Creating a supportive community of followers is the end goal for every brand and business, and social media can help you a lot with that. Social media also offers brands the opportunity to connect with their customers as well. Informal polls and Q&A sessions can not only engage your followers but also offer valuable insight into product and service popularity and interest in a particular idea or upcoming project. It's also relatively easy to address customer concerns directly on social media and to offer promotions like contests and giveaways.
How to Choose a Social Media Platform
Once you've decided that social media marketing is right for your brand, you need to decide on a strategy. The biggest decision to be made is which social media platforms you are going to work toward the building, as this can dramatically affect your brand image and the strength of your marketing. It's important to remember that you do not need a presence on every single social media platform. Rather, if you choose 2-3 of the most relevant platforms and build a dedicated audience there, you will typically see far better results than if you spread your marketing resources thin across five or more platforms. The most popular current social media platforms—and who they're best for—include:
- Facebook is one of the oldest and most populous social media platforms. Its general audience is older; and you can host live events and create groups to encourage interaction. Facebook also has fantastic analytic reports and an easy-to-use and relatively inexpensive advertising program that can vastly improve your reach.
- Twitter is good for companies that regularly share short updates and link back to their websites. It's a good place to build a younger following, especially if your brand has strong social values. Unfortunately, the analytics are less intuitive, and the site does not feature prominent business-specific features.
- Instagram is great for visual brands like fashion labels, jewelry boutiques, and restaurants. Its audience is relatively young but also typically more willing to purchase directly on the page. Instagram also benefits from the same great business tools as Facebook being under the same parent company.
- LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B communication, as it allows your company to share interesting industry news with other professionals and build a network of connections you can utilize to grow. It isn't a platform designed for B2C communication, however, so its advertising tools are limited.
- TikTok is relatively new to the social media world but is booming in popularity. The short video sharing platform is fantastic for brands that appeal to a younger audience and have a strong visual or audio aspect to their marketing campaigns. It's a great site for encouraging collaboration and content sharing.
Assess your goals and choose the right social media platform to improve your brand image, and enlist assistance from professional organizations such as Brisbane's best social media marketing agency as it can be beneficial for you to do so. Do you work closely with other businesses or with consumers directly? Are you a visual, auditory, or message-driven brand? Is your ultimate goal engagement, conversion, or growth? Once you've answered those questions, assess where your target audience is already active. Research popular tags related to your industry and competitive profiles to gauge the general size and interests of the demographic to which you are most likely to appeal. Conduct small-scale experiments across multiple platforms to find the ones where you garner the most engagement, then focus your strategy on growing your presence on those profiles.
Using Social Media to Improve Brand Image
Some key tips for improving your brand image on social media include:
- Make sure that you have a strongly branded website to which you can direct your followers from all platforms. This gives you a centralized, completely customizable, and controllable base to work from. This site should be well organized, optimized for multiple platforms (desktop and mobile), and aesthetically pleasing.
- Keep content consistent across platforms. If you are making an announcement or running a giveaway, make sure that the same message is going out across all of your social media channels at the same time to maximize its reach. No matter where they follow you, your audience should be able to trust that they are getting the same information.
- Match the content to the platform. Though it seems slightly at odds with the previous point, you should tailor your posts to the platforms they are appearing on. While you don't necessarily need images for Facebook or Twitter, you need a well-designed visual element for Instagram or TikTok. Make sure that you are formatting your posts according to the conventions of the site they are going to be posted on.
- Create a calendar of frequent updates for all platforms. The best way to build engagement is to post frequently, which is easiest to do when you have premade posts scheduled to go up at regular intervals. Consider using a social media management service to post on all platforms frequently.
- Engage with your audience. Social media is just that: social. To encourage growth, you need to interact with your followers. Reply to comments, host Q&A sessions, reach out via direct messaging for important issues, and celebrate the community you build. This allows your followers to see your brand as more than a faceless business; it offers them a chance to connect with the people behind the scenes and therefore trust your brand more.
Building your brand's image on social media is essential in the modern marketing world. Traditional advertising can only garner so much interest in a business; now, the key to reaching and converting an audience into a customer base is to appeal to them on social media and create a brand that is worth investing in. By choosing the correct platform for your goals and audience, and creating a strategy that encompasses the variety available to you in social media, your brand can grow rapidly and build itself on the support of a loyal and active base.