The “father of advertising” David Ogilvy described a brand as “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes.” The “intangible sum” may look natural and organic, but it’s never accidental. The elements that yield this result are a multi-dimensional construct that are purposefully and mindfully built.
Your company’s brand encompasses more than a singular product or offering. It involves more than your business’s name and logo. Your company’s brand is the sum of the professional philosophy that inspires your work, the mission that drives you and the ethics that guide you. Your brand exudes the essence of who you are as a professional entity.
Your social media marketing efforts should reflect and reinforce your essence, your brand. Those efforts make your brand tangible, usable and irreplaceable for your clients, friends and followers (prospective clients); here’s how.
Super-nerd bestie
When it comes to the persona your brand assumes on social media, you want to be your clients’ and prospects’ super-nerd bestie. You answer their questions. You are their go-to subject matter expert, providing all the info they need. You’re full of solutions and enthusiasm, making them feel in-the-know, and well-supported in the key ways that relate to the work that you do.
The brands that are most satisfying to follow on social media are cheerleaders, problem solvers and info sources that circulate vibrant news and info. They make those who follow them look social media savvy, because they’ve always got fresh updates and tips to share.
What’s in a post?
If you’re wondering what content is post or share-worthy, check it by your mission and your philosophy. Is your audience going to understand and appreciate this content? Is the content helpful? Would you share it in a meeting? Is this a joke you’d tell a colleague? Is this a meme you’d circulate to your team or a pic you’d hang on the fridge at work? These are all ways that you revel in your subject matter. That means that it fits right into your mission, purpose and, yes, your brand.
By sharing and circulating that content, your showing your audiences that you’re peddling expertise in this subject matter. You are such a committed and comfy expert that you can freely share the nuts, bolts and scholarship that goes along with your subject matter. Plus, you can also circulate the fun and lighthearted material as well.
In this way, you’re like that English teacher who gets her class so worked up about Shakespeare that by the end of the term everyone is laughing at her Bard jokes.
Authenticity and connection
Your brand is about selling services and/or products, but it’s also about doing work that you’re proud of and that you believe in. You do that work because you’ve found a unique way to make people’s lives easier, better, healthier. That awareness is part of your identity and part of your company’s brand.
Brand strategist and author Lindsay Pedersen explains: “What's the number-one secret weapon for brand building? Empathy. Learning to stand in the shoes of your customer enables you to channel that person as you're making decisions to build your business.”
Use that awareness to fuel your social media strategy. This way, your brand identity will always be tightly anchored to who you are and who you’re aiming to serve. Your social media identity should be an extension of your company identity, reinforcing your brand and distinguishing your business as an approachable subject matter expert.
Need help highlighting your company’s brand on social media? We can help! Reach out to our Social Butterfly team today!