A lot of people want to be seen and heard but don’t know how to go about it, but there is a solution – social media.
If you want customers and your audience to find you and what you do, utilise social media. How do people love you, when you don’t intentionally and consistently put yourself online?
Now, it is one thing to make yourself known to your audience, and it is another thing to build a personal brand that showcases your identity and stands out in the industry. Remember, others are also interested in the same thing as you. However, social media is an essential tool that requires consistent effort to build a brand that stands the test of time.
William Arruda, the author of Ditch, Dare, Do: 3D Personal Branding for Executives, rightly says, ‘If you want to be successful, you need to think of yourself as a personal brand’. In other words, your uniqueness is what sets you apart.
But, how do one build their brand on social media? To do so, follow these helpful tips and thank us later:
- No Consistency Across Social Platforms
Your brand image represents your business and should always be recognisable, whether browsing on the website or scrolling through social media. For your brand to be recognisable, you must be consistent, as consistency guides effective branding.
A lack of consistency across your brand’s social media platform will weaken your brand message and confuse your audience.
Therefore, create a strategic guide to represent your brand colours, logo, fonts, and tone of voice, and ensure it is visible across all your communication platforms. This proactive strategy helps maintain a well-presented brand image across diverse channels.
- Overlooking Audience Insights
Your brand is not just about your logo and colours; it is a connection with your target audience. It’s an emotional entity that should evolve in pairs with your target audience’s preferences, desires, and behaviours. The failure to understand your audience can result in a brand that feels disconnected and irrelevant.
Conduct thorough market research to gain insights about your potential audience’s perceptions and opinions. Use a combination of surveys, social media analytics, and direct customer feedback to understand the different perspectives of your target demographic.
Remember, audience preferences change over time. It is either influenced by cultural shifts, technological advancements, or other factors. Not paying attention to these changes makes your brand feel outdated or out of touch.
- Neglecting Authenticity in Branding
Authenticity is the diamond in the rough in businesses, and it takes effort to polish a diamond to shine. But in this circumstance, you don’t need a tang to polish your diamond; all you have to do is stay consistent on branding, and your business will become authentic.
The mistake brands make is trying to emulate other brands, forgetting their uniqueness and identity. Authenticity starts with a clear definition of your brand’s values and mission. What is the purpose of my brand? What principles guide my decisions?
Authenticity isn’t a short-term strategy; it’s a basis for building long-term loyalty with your team and customers. When your customers feel a genuine connection with your brand, they become promoters, sharing their positive experiences with others. This word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful force that can propel your brand to new heights.
In conclusion, successful branding is an active process that requires careful consideration and ongoing plans. Avoid pitfalls of inconsistency, overlooking audience insights, and neglecting your potential uniqueness, and your brand will capture more attention that will build lasting relationships for your brand to grow.
We can help you avoid this branding pitfalls. Reach out to us today.