According to experts, over 50% of Americans are loyal to brands they follow on social media. Findings like these are no longer new, and for small business owners, whether selling website templates or household products, this is good news indeed.
Social media plays an integral role in building brand awareness, and in this field, all players are equal.
With social media, entrepreneurs get the opportunity to interact with their target customers directly. Depending on your strategy, you can easily build your brand and get some loyal customers.
Here are five effective strategies you should consider when building your brand using social media.
1. Choose a social media platform
Here are some of the most popular social media platforms today.
- Google+
- WeChat and Tencent QQ for the Chinese market.
For sure, there are others. Not all, however, will guarantee success of your business, and it’s not recommended anyway to use everything. Why?
Well, first, you need to understand the nature of your business and where your customers are likely to hang out. For instance, LinkedIn provides a better opportunity for a B2B business. It provides a better platform to interact with corporate influencers, than, say, Google Plus.
The popularity of a platform will determine the viability of a social media marketing strategy. Facebook, for example, is a popular marketing platform due the large audience — 75% of Americans use this site.
In terms of choosing the social media platforms to be present in, you must therefore know your business and your potential customers very well.
2. Build the right social media network
You have to socialize to build your brand via these platforms. This could be in the form of your friends list, connections, followers, likes, comments, and endorsements, among others.
It is important for your brand to interact effectively with the audience. At any given time, strive to expand this network and treat your social community as your close friend.
Don’t aim to convert everybody you connect with into a customer, though. Instead, aim to provide help or solve their problem. A business based on this principle will definitely succeed. Always remember, you have an audience who needs your help.
3. Publish sharable content
Building your brand on social media will depend on the strategy you adopt to express a business idea through your content, which can be in the form of articles, audio podcast, pictures, infographics, or videos.
Brian Dean, a Digital Marketing Consultant at Backlinko, emphasizes adopting different techniques to craft content.
Make sure that it is either informative, entertaining, engaging, or a mix.
At any given time, aim to address your audience directly and let them feel they can get help from your content. This way, they will share the content with their friends.
4. Be consistent
The symbols you use for your brand should be consistent, whether it is a logo or mission statement. It won’t make any sense to have different logos or mission statements on various social media networks. People will begin to doubt the credibility of your businesses.
You should also be consistent in the frequency of posting content or information. No one likes a dormant social media page. You need to update them regularly and interact with the audience to keep the conversation going.
5. Follow influencers in your business niche
The equation of social media marketing campaign is never complete if you ignore influencers in the industry. Normally, you should work to get their attention, although, this is always the most difficult process of all.
The best ways to attract influencers’ attention include citing their websites or their names in your content, tagging them in your social media posts, or sending them a well-crafted and personalized email about your new content
NOTE: Don’t overdo this, though, otherwise you’ll be marked as a spammer. Whenever influencers share your content, success is always inevitable.
Apart from these five techniques, you may also consider using social media campaigns. Every social platform has a flexible advertising program. You can take advantage of free offers or discounted credits.
Building your brand via social media is a systematic process. With these five strategies, your chances of success will be high.
Remember though, that whether you’re selling website templates or high-end electronics, you can only build your brand using social media if you create a relevant and useful online community.
Ready to take your business online? Get started with Bookmark website builder today!
Originally published at www.bookmark.com on August 29, 2016.
