Social media users have passed the 3.8 billion mark, which is significant when you consider there are 4.5 million internet users worldwide.

By creating a strong brand presence on social media, you can reach a broader audience and improve your sales.

What Is Branding?

Branding is so much more than a logo and being a multi-billion dollar company. A brand is how people perceive your product, service, business, even you as a person. The goal with branding is to make sure that perception is the one you want people to have. Even if you are not actively marketing your brand, that perception will still exist.

Brand Goals on Social Media

When starting the social media branding strategy, the first key is to set your brands goals. What are you trying to attain? The most common are:

• Driving awareness of your product or service
• Generating business through new leads
• Increasing sales
• Increasing customer loyalty
• Providing a higher standard of customer service

Top Social Media Strategies for Branding

You don’t need to be on every social media platform. Find your target audience where they are and focus your efforts there. Doing a great on one platform is more powerful than doing a little on them all. If you don’t have the time to budget, start with one and dedicate all of your available time to it. Learn your lessons, take your lumps. Then apply your learning to the other social platforms when you can.

Consistency Matters

Be consistent on social media platforms. If you are not posting consistently and frequently, then you are not visible.

Building a brand does not happen overnight. It takes time and dedication.

Social Media Strategies for Brand Voice and Style

Your product or service, plus the demographics of the target audience, will determine the voice and style of a brand on social media. Based on your target personas, you will be able to know what appeals to them and the type of tone that your brand can communicate in.

Once you make these decisions put together a style guide so that it can be a reference document for anyone in the company who speaks on behalf of the brand. Also include vocabulary, catchphrases, and personality traits.

Visual Branding on Social Media

The style guide should contain visual branding elements. You want to have the same colors, and fonts reflected in your images, graphics, and videos. When a video is published, are the overlay text fonts similar to those that you use for your blog post’s featured image?

Over time, your customers see the consistency in posts and begin to recognize when a post is from you without seeing your brand’s logo or social media handle. This type of brand recognition is the ultimate goal for your social media branding efforts.

Create graphic templates for the same type of announcement. Not only will they look the same, but it also saves time when posting.

Have Conversations on Social Media

Focus on building a relationship with customers by conversing, interacting, and caring. Avoid over promoting products or services. Give information, respond back to comments, and DM’s. People want to trust a brand that values them.

Social Media Strategies for Telling your Brand Story

People love a good story. Telling a story has a powerful effect it causes them to turn the story into their own idea and experience. It gives them a personal experience about the company or customers who love the brand.

See the Impact

Social media is more than a branding tool, it is a way to effectively stand out and keep customers engaged and interested.

Executing the strategies to reach the goals can sometimes be the most difficult part of a social media branding strategy. However, with some planning and consistency, you will see the impact both on social media, click rates, and sales. Your brand will achieve its goals.