Uniqueness is now vital to the success of your brand. With the sheer volume of people online, you have to make sure that when you’re marketing your product or service using social media that it is recognizable. A brand is much more than just the product itself, or the visuals you create to promote it.
Branding is a complex word for most online marketers. It’s an advertising/marketing term that’s been around for ages. However, regardless of what you’re selling, your branding is what’s going to separate you from everyone else – especially on Twitter and Facebook.
Let’s first talk about image. Assume that 25% of social media is all individuals who haven’t really done much with their Twitter profile or Facebook page. They really don’t need to. However, the other 75% are businesses – like you – that have an image and need to make sure their image is conveyed on the social networks as well. Image is a combination of how you look and what you say.
Inconsistency is the #1 enemy when marketing. To keep your brand alive on the social networks, you’ll want a customized Twitter background and/or a Facebook Custom Landing Page. It should have the same “look and feel” as all your other materials – your website, blog, any freebies, and products. The major benefit of having your own “look” is that both Twitter and Facebook are visual mediums. As such, what people see is all that separates you/your business from the rest of the sites out there. Thus, your look should be enticing, yet not overpowering, and appropriate for the nature of your business.
With social media, your goal is to build a relationship with your followers. For your text image, first make sure your web site address is visible within your profiles. Next, be sure to use only anchor text (keywords that have a link back to your web site) instead of blatant, outright links to your site. Finally, be sure your tweets and postings are genuine. Forget that you’re selling something (and I know you may think that defeats the purpose). Instead, offer tidbits of your knowledge on a daily basis. The more others see that you want to help, the more inclined they’ll be to come to you when they need it.
Something that many online marketers forget about when they expand their brand to social media is their website. Perhaps you’ve had it for years and it’s your typical HTML-based site. If this sounds like you, you need to upgrade now and get yourself a WordPress website. Why? A WordPress website gives the average person the option to have a professional look and feel for their site at a reasonable price that will help your website ranking, while simultaneously allowing you to be involved in your web site dynamics via blog postings and updating your content. You can read my blog post here about benefits of WordPress.
With your website updated and your social media profiles in place, you’re ready to relaunch your product and service to the world with your newly branded look!
Join me on Monday evening at 9p Eastern for a Facebook Fiesta where I show you how valuable Facebook can be for you business. Click here to like me and then join us on Monday at 9p Eastern on my page for community interaction!
