Your Essential Guide To Social Branding

Sheana — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:08:41 +0000

Social Branding 101

Social branding isn’t simply a case of just going on Facebook and chatting with your customers under the auspicious canopy of a fancy branded image. It goes a lot deeper than that. It’s about ensuring that every action you take on social media embodies and reflects the essence of your brand. To help you nail that perfect but elusive social media nirvana formula, read on for our essential guide to social branding 101.

Implement a solid CSR initiative

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a new one, but it’s increasingly becoming a crucial aspect of a business’s social branding. CSR refers to a brand’s commitments to social and charitable causes. A shining example of this is apparel brand Patagonia, whose marketing channels are permeated with messages of sustainability and environmental concerns. By aligning themselves so publicly with such a hot button issue (and by actually fulfilling their commitments to them), Patagonia convey a powerful social brand that speaks to their customers. And it works. Consumers are increasingly buying from brands that have a genuine, visible CSR commitment.

Identify a social cause that matters to you and your customers and make it part of your brand strategy. Set up a charity initiative or donate a percentage of your profits to a cause. But most importantly, make your CSR visible. Weave it into your social media channels and let your customers know the good work you are doing. As more and more consumers choose to align themselves with brands with a conscience, it behooves you to be vocal about your support for social causes.

Identify a social cause that matters to you and your customers and make it part of your brand strategy.

Find out what matters to your customers

Social branding isn’t passive. It’s a proactive idea that relies on listening to your customers and finding out what matters to them. Just as a relationship between two people relies on each person being aware of their partner’s needs, hopes, and desires, so too does the relationship between a brand and their consumers rely on the same.

Brands have the advantage in this respect though. They have a range of social listening tools that can help them learn more about their customers, helping them to reposition themselves and their social brand accordingly.

Such tools include Twazzup, a simple application that provides alerts in real-time when your brand is mentioned on Twitter. Alternatively, you could use HowSociable for a more holistic view of social mentions. And for mentions outside of social media, Boardreader lets you search forums and message boards for keywords or phrases.

Monitor what people are saying about your brand online, then adjust your marketing efforts accordingly. You could capitalize on positive mentions, or head off negative ones before they become an issue. But by interacting with them on a meaningful level, you’ll help bolster your social branding with ease.

Offer personality, not a sales pitch

While it’s tempting to focus on chasing the almighty dollar as a brand, try to avoid turning your brand personality into a constant sales pitch. An excessively self-promotional tone across your website, email, and social channels will simply repel your customers.

Indeed, studies show that 45% of consumers unfollow a brand on social media as a result of being overly self-promotional. As a rule of thumb, employ the 80/20 rule: 20% of your content should be promoting your brand, and 80% should be content that content that engages your audience.

Social branding is about building relationships, rather than a one-way street of sales pitches and image boosting. A strong social personality leads to repeat customers and regular sales, even if your product and service can also be bought elsewhere.

A good example of this can be seen in the many dropshipping stores on Exchange. These are businesses that are selling the same thing as thousands of other websites. But they’re successful in making themselves look and feel different to their competitors because they have good social branding. Their customers buy from them not for their products, but for their brand. The evidence is clear: social branding works and adds value to your business.

A strong social personality leads to repeat customers and regular sales, even if your product and service can also be bought elsewhere.

Be speedy and responsive

A brand ignores its customers at its peril: people don’t just expect a reply when they reach out to you, they expect it to be quick and compassionate. A swift and empathetic response to your customers portrays you as a brand that cares about their consumers, in turn augmenting your social branding. An example of how this can impact your branding can be seen in the case of disgruntled businessman Hasan Syed. He made headlines after he spent $1,000 promoting a tweet blasting British Airways over some lost luggage, after they ignored his original complaint. It was seen by more than 50,000 people and was very bad publicity for the airline.

image via Twitter

On the flipside of this is fast food restaurant Wendy’s whose speedy response to one of their customers led to the most retweeted tweet of all time. Carter Wilkerson asked the Wendy’s Twitter account how many retweets he would need for a year’s free supply of nuggets, and the company promptly replied with ’18 million’. The tweet went viral, garnering support from Apple, Google, Microsoft and other big brands. Twitter even included the story in its Q1 shareholder letter of 2017 (and Carter did finally get his year’s supply of nuggets). This brief exchange generated a huge amount of free publicity and goodwill for Wendy’s, proving the importance of engaging with social media followers.

Social branding is vital when it comes to your business’s success. Brands are so much more than their product or service: they are a personality, and they should act as such. You are under scrutiny from your customers 24/7, so you need to work to convey a positive brand that your audience will engage with.

The post Your Essential Guide To Social Branding appeared first on Breakaway Graphics.

Social Media Archives - Breakaway Graphics