When establishing your startup, getting your target market to know and remember your brand should be one of your top priorities. But with other business setup processes to work on, focusing on branding your new company may be the least of your concerns for now.
However, failing to work on branding your startup, particularly during the setup stage, can be a costly mistake to make. When you ignore this vital marketing process, you will find it more difficult to establish a unique identity and a strong image of your business.
Because of these reasons, you will encounter more challenges as you break into the market and go head-to-head with your competitors.
A top provider of branding consultancy services from Dubai also says that neglecting to build your brand from the start won’t help you boost your visibility and get the traction it needs to obtain your target market’s trust and loyalty. This will impact your startup’s success in the short and long run.
Building Your Brand On Social Media
The lack of time, manpower, or budget to invest in branding your startup is no longer an acceptable reason to neglect this key marketing element. With nearly everyone having access to the Internet and social media, it makes sense to use these fully to build and boost your brand. To start building your startup’s brand on social media, follow these tips:
1. Establish Your Official Brand Style Guide
Consistency is a crucial element of branding. If you want all your social media posts to be uniform, which can help you in various ways, create your formal brand guidelines first.
Set your startup’s brand style guide, which should identify the color or hues, typography, tone, and voice of your label. Make sure you already have your official logo as well.
Your style guide should also have guidelines regarding images and graphics to use.
Once you have established these guidelines, you will be able to create a consistent impression and experience for your audience on all platforms. And this will help you greatly with your social media branding efforts.
2. Choose Your Tone Of Voice Wisely
Your tone of voice is one of the most crucial elements of branding your style guide. As such, you need to select the best one before officially establishing it.
You can choose the right tone of voice for your startup by considering the type of product or service you provide first. For instance, if you are offering a finance-related product, selecting an authoritative, informative, and helpful voice will work best for your brand.
Also, think about the type of personality you want your business to convey and how this can help you build your brand online.
Your brand’s personality will differentiate your startup from the competition and help you connect with and build relationships with your target audience. Because of these reasons, you have to choose a persona that sets you apart, and make sure this is reflected in all your social media content.
3. Select Which Social Media Platforms To Utilize
Being active on all social networking sites is not a good branding strategy, particularly if you or your staff do not have enough time to put into this marketing process. Doing so will only drain your energy and give you unsatisfactory results.
To determine which sites would work best for branding efforts, find out which ones your target audience is most likely to be active on. Additionally, test and evaluate which platforms can support your goals.
Also, consider the nature of your business when choosing which platforms to use. If you have a B2B company, you need to be active on LinkedIn since many entrepreneurs are on this site. In case you have a B2C startup, building your brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will be more advantageous since nearly all consumers are using these networks.
Keep in mind that each social media site has an audience that is used to seeing a certain type of content. These platforms differ in the ways they support branding and marketing campaigns as well. Once you know where your target market is and which sites can aid your efforts, you can expect better results from your branding efforts.
4. Make The Most Of Visual Branding
Images are also important components of branding and marketing strategies. Because of this, you also need to use the power of different visual elements.
Whenever you post content on your social media accounts, add a photo, graphic, or meme that supports or builds your text. Another option would be to make images and videos the subjects of your posts and add targeted messages in the descriptions.
But whatever you post, again, always be consistent. Make sure your chosen hues, typography, and personality are reflected by the photos, graphics, and videos you select.
When your target audience sees this consistency in the things you publish or share, they will have no difficulties identifying that these posts come from your company. And this type of brand recognition is a goal worth working hard for.
5. Post Frequently
Posting regularly on your social media accounts is also a big part of consistency.
Using an online or app-based content calendar will enable you to plan your posts and content and schedule your updates in advance. These tools will also help you get a bird’s-eye view of what messages you will send out and how they can affect the results of your campaign.
To ensure your schedule supports your branding efforts, you have to maintain a good balance between value-oriented content and promotional posts. This means avoiding sharing too many pieces of content that are promotional in nature.
If you want to connect with your audience at a deeper level and encourage them to engage with you, you have to publish and share posts that are about your products or services and ones that they find fascinating and exciting.
Additionally, be consistent with interacting with your audience. If you build a reputation for replying to messages quickly and engaging with followers who leave comments on your posts, people will associate your brand with professionalism, reliability, and excellent customer service.
This will go a long way in helping you achieve your branding goals.
Referring to your brand style guide and being consistent will help you build your brand on social media. However, don’t forget to think about your audience and engage with them every chance you get. This will ensure your branding campaign works for (and not against) your startup.
Hasan Fadlallah is a Serial Entrepreneur - Founder & CEO of Brand Lounge, the region's leading and award-winning branding consultancy, whose role is to help organizations align their business behind an idea that will deliver success time and again. Equipped with over 20 years of professional consulting experience, today he advises businesses throughout the Gulf and Africa on brand development and in 2014 was recognized by the World Brand Congress who awarded him the prestigious Brand Leadership award in Brand Excellence.