The word “Branding” is over used and many times so lightly used that it loses its core. Lately, I have been at a few networking sessions where the topic of branding on social media popped up. It was surprising to learn how easily people confuse their “brand” with their marketing strategy on social media.
It’s been written all over the internet – Branding is not marketing, branding is not advertising & Branding is not your logo or name.
Branding is the persona of your brand, it’s how you want people to remember your brand. Everything else are just elements of your brand. The diagram below pretty much sums up what a “Brand” is.
Now let’s look at Social Branding or branding for social media how different is it from branding for other channels or in general?
Businesses look to be different or be seen as cool on social media. They tweak their communication so much that the core of their brand – the personality gets hazy. I agree that social media is a jungle one really needs to be different to stand out and grab the attention of your audience. But many a times, being different takes over the brands image.
Don’t you think?
Here are 5 social branding rules you should consider while planning your next social media strategy:
1. Choose The Right Platform
This goes back to what I said earlier, don’t loose your brand image in an effort to stand out on social media. Evaluate which social media channels are actually right for your brand. For example if you sell handmade earrings, then Pinterest & Instagram will work best for you. If you are a high-end luxury watch designer, may be Facebook & YouTube will work better. It good to understand where your audience is and then select two to three social media channels. Focus on them rather than being everywhere.
2. Don’t Be A Robot
There are real people on social media who are liking, commenting or engaging with your brand in some way. It’s important to have a real person replying and engaging with your social audience. Use smileys, thank your positive commenters and acknowledge negative comments. Never delete a bad review, always respond positively. Qatar Airways does a great job of responding to every comment on their Facebook page.
Key here is to stay active on all social networks. Best way to do that is to use social scheduling tools such as Buffer, Hoot suite or Sprout social
Note: I use Buffer -)
Also read: 10 Social Media Plan Templates & Free Resources for Beginners
3. Brand Image First
Rule of thumb while creating content for social media is to always keep your brand image first. I have seen brands crossing “the line” with their play of words for social media which did not go down well with the brand image and their audience. For example during black friday sale, Singapore based e-commerce brand Supergurl.com in an effort to stay hip, changed their “Shop Now” button to “Rape Us Now” next to a photo of a girl in a suggestive pose. Netizens who spotted the insensitive phrase quickly took to social media to lash it out.
Here are more examples of branding failures on the web
4. Stay Consistent With Colors, Fonts & Topics
One of the best branding practices on social media is to use the colors and fonts in line with your website/ corporate colors and fonts. Don’t try to be different in every graphic, be consistent so your customers can easily spot your posts during a quick scroll (There are exceptions where you can go all out with your colors and fonts, such as during sale posts, celebration posts etc) M&Mdoes a great job of staying consistent with its branding on social media. Their use of fonts and colors are consistent across every post on Facebook.
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