How to develop your brand on social media

Social media is a powerful way to build brand awareness and get your message out to millions. Three-quarters of the adult world is on social media every day! Here are some essential tips:

Develop a strategic plan. Before engaging on social media, you need to answer two questions: Who are you trying to reach, and why are you trying to reach them? First, know your audience’s psychographic and demographic — and how you can bring value to their lifestyle/business. Then determine the purpose of your communications. Is it to increase sales? Create awareness? Once you can answer these questions, you can develop measurable objectives for each social media platform.

Be consistent. Each, post, tweet, video or picture you put on social media has to have the same message. This gives your audience a clear representation of who you are and what you’re trying to get across. Feel free to adjust the tone a bit depending on the platform, but use the same brand elements and maintain a consistent theme. Don’t try to be something you aren’t on social media just to gain followers. This will create distrust and ultimately hurt you in the end.

Keep it relevant. To reach your audience, you have to speak their language. Choose words, pictures and content that will mean something to them. And make sure your message is clear, or people will tune out. Think of your company as a person speaking to other people. Make sure your message reflects your company’s personality. Otherwise it will sound like the same old canned marketing message — and people will tune out.

Build trust. Creating trust with your audience is essential to building your brand. Establish yourself as a credible source and stand by what you promote. Don’t expect to establish a trusting relationship overnight. Give it time. Pay attention to how your audience responds to your content, and tweak it as needed. Invest in your audience and they’ll invest in you.

You’ve established your audience, developed your message and shared valuable content on social media. Look at the engagement levels and adjust your content accordingly, paying attention to what works and what doesn’t for your brand. Put in the time and effort to develop your business social media brand. Three-quarters of the adult world is waiting to hear from you!