Your purpose to build a brand online could be a lot of things. It could be to promote a business, a service, or simply to gain followers. No matter what the goal is, understand that it is important to build brand awareness as it signifies what you stand for. You want to be perceived as an institution worthy of trust and your online presence will dictate if people would want to support you or not.
While it took years for the world’s biggest companies to build their brand identities, you have an upper hand thanks to social media and online marketing. Here are ways how to build a brand online by making use of modern marketing strategies.
Establish a Solid Brand Identity
Before getting into the details of online promotions, it’s important to shape the identity and aesthetics of the brand. Conceptualizing the logo and picking out theme colors are important, as these are the things that represent your brand in the online realm. Design a logo that shows the brand’s philosophy and what it stands for, and pick colors that will best describe the kind of statement you wish to convey. If you don’t have experience in brand identity, it might be best to seek the help of design professionals for concepts and studies that will suit the brand well.
Go On Networks that Fit Your Brand
Being active on social media is the best way to put your brand out there. However, not all social media channels are suited for your brand, so it’s important to spend time and effort on ones that will generate income and be an effective advertising tool. Obviously, Facebook is the best platform to promote any kind of brand because of the diversity of its users. You can set up a page, garner likes and shares, and even create ads and promotions with access to user insights all within the platform.
Instagram is another effective social media channel to promote your brand. The freedom to upload photos and use hashtags to reach users with similar interests are the network’s strongest marketing tools, and your brand can utilize the sponsored posts to make your content reach more potential followers as they scroll down their feed. Twitter and Pinterest are also strong options, as well as LinkedIn if you are looking for business-to-business networking.
Know Your Target Market and Communicate With Them
One of the most important tasks that go with building a successful brand is to foster the growth of a market following. An ever-growing following means that your brand is getting more popular and popular, and you want this kind of growth by all means. Research tools from Google, ComScore, and Nielsen can help you find your specific target market and determine their age, location and status so you can craft communication plans that work well with your marketing and advertising diagrams.
In the online world, it is important to build a relationship based on trust, and you want your demographic to trust you and what your brand is all about. Responding swiftly to inquiries in a personal manner, and taking time to really listen to concerns builds credibility and quality service.
Create Engaging, Consistent Content
Posting photos on your brand’s social media page is an effective way to gain followers, and having a consistent theme makes your account stand out. There are several photo editing apps in the market, and you want to use something that offers the best tools perfect for keeping on top of the ever-changing social media game. The new version of Instasize has a respectable number of photo filters that give refined, sophisticated results. You can use these filters to edit your photos in a similar way time and time again, creating a visually coherent feed without giving up diversity. Available for download for both Android and iOS, the new Instasize also has a multi-font text tool that you can use for Instagram Stories, announcements, and promotions.
Get Influencers To Promote Your Brand
The heavy use of social media gave birth to influencers, or Instagram personalities with millions of followers. Influencers use their networks to swing popular opinion to their favor as they bank on their huge following as effective advertising tools.
And it’s no joke. Research Facts state that 74% of consumers rely on social media to make buying decisions online, and that 90% of consumers would rather trust recommendations from peers than advertisements. This is where influencers come in handy. They have die-hard followers who wouldn’t think twice on purchasing the item they are promoting, or subscribing to the service their idols are talking about.
While working with influencers could be ideal, find out which influencer is perfect for your brand (budget wise, and identity wise), and know the pros and cons of the relationship you wish to have. Paying an influencer allows you to control content before they get published, but make sure you are not shelling out money more than your ROI.
