More and more businesses are entering the current marketplace or making new ones. The big question now is – what makes you different? This is when online branding enters the forefront. The way you differentiate your company and your target audience’s perception of it can make a huge difference.
Experts from advertising agencies here in Kansas City cite the following techniques that enable you to boost your brand image and convey your unique selling proposition effectively.
Feel the Pulse of Your Audience
It is crucial to determine how your target audience perceives your brand and interprets your brand message. Listen to your market to understand their perception of you. One way to achieve this goal is by tuning into social media.
Read the comments on different pages about your brand; both positive and negative ones will enable you to gain insights. Identify the mentions and hashtags people use; these provide you with feedback and trends regarding the actions your brand makes.
This also provides you with an opportunity to interact with current and potential customers. Answer complaints and engage questions that you think may help improve your products and services.
Be Proactive in Content Making and Social Media
To keep your online brand image pristine (or at least in good standing) take a proactive approach to content making and engagement in social media. Identify the different kinds of content your audience will like, share and comment on.
Browse forums, read blogs and look at your analytics to determine this. Videos and images are the most easily consumed and shared. Produce a video that provides in-depth information, elicits emotions you want and has a cohesive and relatable narrative.
The combination of colors, logo and expressions of the people in an image can strengthen positive associations with your brand. Creating longer but more detailed posts are also search-engine friendly.
Have a content calendar and regularly published on your social media channels, whether it is Facebook or Instagram.
This could be a meme, a quote, a snippet or even a rant. This keeps you atop the minds of your intended audience. Generating buzz maintains the interest level of your intended audience.
Create a Network
As the cliché goes, no man is an island; this saying is true in most aspects of business. Collaborating with other industry leaders allows you to reach a wider audience and build a strong brand image. Guest posting, commenting and sharing links are old techniques but are still relevant to marketing strategies today.
Webinars and TED-like talks also bolster your authority in the minds of your target market.
Leverage Your Community
Strong brands have strong communities that allow them to reach a wide audience. Build your own community of followers and potential ambassadors. This provides you with word-of-mouth advertising spreading through various social groups and networks.
Your community can act as a representative of your company because they firmly believe in your brand’s message and unique selling proposition.
These are some of the techniques that enable you to build strong branding and allow you to create an authentic image. Implement these to get the results you want and become a better brand.
