In this ever-growing virtual world, it’s no wonder more people are turning to social media to promote their company’s brand. Social media websites have redefined the ways of branding by offering services to promote a company brand.
What is Branding and Why is it so Important?
Logos, symbols and taglines are just some aspects of a brand. Overall, a brand is your company’s vision. This helps potential clients see what you have to offer and why you stand out from the rest of the businesses similar to yours.
Branding is important because it allows companies to stand out from the rest of their competition. Branding develops an identity for you and your company that eventually will become quickly recognizable by your clients. The stronger the brand your company has, the more trust your clients will have.
If you are able to establish a strong brand it means you will spend little to no time explaining to clients what you offer. Your brand will say it all!
Branding Types: Professional vs. Personal
There are two types of branding: professional and personal. The branding you choose depends on the type of business you have. A personal brand is suitable if the individual name is most recognizable. A professional brand is most suited for a company that can be represented by more than one person.
People often have difficulties choosing the right brand to use. Both types of brands have their pros and cons. Choosing a personal brand means that your name represents your business. Any tarnish on your name may harm your company.
A professional brand means more than one person is the face of your brand. This also has its downfall since that means there is no direct point of contact. If it is a large business, that means each individual reflects the business.
How to use Social Media to Launch Your Brand
Social media is becoming a popular way for budding companies to create and establish a brand. The leaders of the social media world: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn provide a number of services for companies to use for free.
Facebook allows you to create groups, pages and edit your own profile that you can use to connect to clients everywhere around the world. Twitter time reaction mimics real-time talk. Create a Twitter profile and start tweeting. If you want a more professional image, LinkedIn may be what you are looking for. The website allows companies to make profiles and connect with clients. Take advantages of these websites to gain more exposure.
I Have an Online Profile, What’s Next?
Once you have created a profile, it is important that you quickly update it with the proper information and images that are vital to your company. A key reminder; if you have more than one profile, make sure that the information on each profile is consistent with each other.
First, update your profile picture. The best option for a personal brand is a picture of you. If you have a professional brand then you may want to choose the company logo. Once again, if you have multiple profiles, you want to make sure that you have the same profile picture for your name. This will avoid the possibility of your company looking inconsistent.
When creating your profile page, update all the necessary information, and links to your company’s website.
Lastly, you should also provide your company’s tagline. In one to two sentences, your tagline should be able to tell clients what your business is and how it relates to them.
Make sure that the contact information is also consistent on each profile. You also want to make sure that your customers can contact you easily to get the answer of their questions, so also include Skype and other Instant Messaging (IM) accounts details for maximum communication.
It may seem like a lot of work, but the benefits of using social media to promote your brand is most rewarding.