How to Use Social Media to Build Your Brand
By Jennifer Blanchard | HRTools.com Business Writer
All businesses want to build their brands. But the old-fashioned ways of building a brand—direct mailers, radio, TV and print media ads, etc—are not as effective as they used to be.
Enter social media.
You’ve probably heard a lot of talk in the last year or two about social media—you may even use social media yourself. If you don’t use social media for your business, however, you’re missing a huge opportunity to interact with your current customers and with prospective customers, as well as build your company’s brand.
Social media used to be mainly for individuals, but now many businesses have jumped on the bandwagon and learned how to put social media to use for their businesses.
Here are some examples of how you can use some of the most popular forms of social media to increase the visibility of your brand:
Twitter
As mentioned in the Introduction to Twitter Insight on HRTools.com, Twitter is a micro-blogging/public instant messaging platform where a person has a maximum of 140 characters (about the length of a text message) to get their message across.
Here’s how to use Twitter to build your brand:
- Twitter allows you to customize your background, which means you can put your company logo and tagline on there, helping to make your brand visible. For some examples, check out: www.Twitter.com/ProcrastWriter or www.Twitter.com/Copyblogger.
- Twitter allows you to have conversations with your customers, with prospective customers, with notable peers, etc. The possibilities are endless when you can speak directly to your audience, as well as have them respond to you.
- You can “follow” your customers/prospective customers and really get into their worlds to see what they’re “tweeting” about. Doing so will help you learn what they need to make their lives better/easier, and it can help you engage them in your products/services.
- You can share valuable industry news, as well as news about your company. Add as much value as possible using Twitter, such as “tweeting” links to interesting content or offering coupons, discounts, etc. for your products/services. Doing so will do wonders for building your brand.
- You can use Twitter to drive people to your company Web site and your company’s blog (if you have one). Just be sure that every link you “tweet” has something valuable for the person who clicks.
- You can use Twitter to monitor what people are saying about your company/brand. Using the Twitter search tool, you can type in your company name and get a list of everything “tweeted” about you. This is a great way to build your brand because it allows you to respond to the people who are talking about you. This is especially important if people are saying negative things about your company/brand.
- People will spread your message and brand to others by “retweeting” the stuff you post. (Read this HRTools.com Insight to learn what a “retweet” is, if you don’t already know.)
Facebook
Facebook allows you to share information, links, videos and pictures, as well as connect with people you know—friends, family, colleagues, etc—and keep track of what everyone is up to.
You can use Facebook to build your brand in the following ways:
- You can create a Facebook fan page for your company. You can use your fan page to have discussions with people, post links and information, share images, videos, etc. Once your fan page is created, people can join it. This will help build your brand, because it allows you to have a central location that’s chock-full of people who like and support your company/brand.
- You can post pictures, videos, links, information, content, etc. on your company’s Facebook profile page. Just make sure everything you post adds value, otherwise you could take away from your brand.
- Customers and prospective customers can become your friends on Facebook, which gives you direct access to their worlds. This can also help you better understand them and what they need from your company.
Blogging
Although you might not realize it, blogging is a form of social media, as long as you allow comments on your blog. And blogging is actually one of the most effective forms of social media, as well.
Here’s how a blog can help you build your brand:
- Blogs are personal and, therefore, give a human face to an organization.
- Blogs position companies as “experts” in their industry/market.
- Blogs that are updated frequently and contain useful information and links are ranked higher in the search engines, making it easier for customers/prospective customers to find your company.
- Blogs are very affordable—you can start a blog for less than $5/month or for free if you use a blogging service such as Wordpress or Blogger.
- Blog comments will give you instant feedback from your audience, which is likely to be a mix of current customers and potential customers.
“Blogging is the single best way of generating sustained, quality buzz for your company,” according to Ben Yoskovitz, CEO and co-founder of Standout Jobs, and author of the Instigator Blog. “Done well, your company blog will create more awareness, customers, press, publicity and goodwill than anything else you can do.”
In fact, a recent survey by Hubspot found companies that blog have far better marketing results than companies that don’t blog.
The study also found the average company that blogs has 55 percent more Web site visitors, 97 percent more inbound links and 434 percent more indexed pages. This is huge. And it speaks volumes for what blogging can do for your brand.
A company blog can:
- Establish your company as an authority.
- Become the go-to blog in your industry/market.
- Play an active role in the social media landscape.
- Connect with your communities—both internal and external.
- Encourage interaction between your company and your audience/customers.
Building your brand is extremely important—especially in the current economy. So why not use the social media tools that are available to help you along the way? They’re free, they’re simple to use and they can build your brand in ways you can only begin to imagine.
<p>All businesses want to build their brands. But the old-fashioned ways of building a brand—direct mailers, radio, TV and print media ads, etc—are not as effective as they used to be.</p>