16. Using Social Media for Branding

Branding is an important aspect of marketing, as it enables establishing a name that is recognized and respected. Different methods have been used in this purpose as this is a complex process that involves different channels and methods, and social media has become the inseparable part of it. 

About branding

Branding is a process of creating a unique image, a representation of a product aimed at attracting the clients and establishing a position on the market. Branding creates the sense of awareness that helps a product to become distinctive and thus different from the competition. Besides acquiring clients, branding helps you with keeping the clients, as people are prone to be loyal to a brand they find reliable and of high quality.

Branding does not only refer to the name and the logo of your business. It stands for credibility, trust, reliability and the overall impression users get seeing or hearing about your business. It is the way people perceive your company and how they respond. Therefore, branding is a process that takes a lot of time, effort and consistency in both quality and promotion, but it certainly pays off. Branding is one of the most effective ways to increase sales, especially nowadays when people relate brands with quality and consistency. People feel familiar with certain brands they are used do, and the result of this is loyalty to a certain brand. This kind of trust is what modern businesses should strive to, because it helps with both gaining and keeping customers.

Personal branding

When we talk about branding, we should also mention personal branding, a term that has become increasingly important. It refers to establishing a reputation of a person, regardless if that person is a representative of a company, or an individual. Social media enabled this kind of branding, as people can create their own profiles and pages on social media, usually in the purpose of promoting their work.

There are a lot of individuals who have become true celebrities, known globally, due to their work promoted on social media. These people specialize in different industries such as beauty, marketing, fitness, etc. but what they all have in common is the personal brand they have established through social media. As a result, it is enough to mention a certain name, and users will relate it to a specific industry. Creating such connection or association is extremely important for branding.

Companies can leverage personal branding as well, regardless if they choose to create their own personal brand through one of the employees, or they choose to collaborate with people who have already established their name on social media. In order to achieve this, companies can contact the popular individuals on social networks in order to establish a certain type of collaboration and business relationship.

Social media and branding

The role of social media in all of this is crucial. Social media is a tool, an inseparable part of branding process, used for transmitting the message and establishing the relationship. Social media is a medium through which the process of branding is being realized.

Having in mind the importance of social media, and its role in modern society, it is obvious that social media represents one of the best places to work on branding. Large user group of social media is what makes this area so fruitful and luring to a marketing discipline called branding.

The general advice would be to use recognizable images and create social media strategy that is consistent with the marketing strategy of your company. Find your own voice on social media and adopt an approach according to which you are going to represent your company. Be consistent with using a specific approach and make sure you are active regularly on social networks.

The usage of social media and strategies applied can be really different depending on the industry, on the goals, as well as on the company’s policy. What all companies do have in common is their opportunity to achieve a lot of benefits from branding by using different social networks.