When managing the online presence of your business there are a lot of decisions you need to make. You are bombarded with choices, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+… all offering different styles of representation. Then you have to share the right content to your audience to build relationships and gain useful insights about your customers. You need to be able to understand why you are using a social media and know what you want to get out of it. Common uses include building brand awareness, product launching, customer care and tracking your campaigns to improve your social media activity accordingly (W.Knight 2016).

Durkin et al (2013) found that small to medium enterprises often adopted the use of social media as it is being “perceived as the new essential tool for business growth”. Although this is a key factor of social media, it is also important in adding value to the customer experience which the enterprises studied were less motivated by. This may be due to the small sample of enterprises studied, but I believe this to be a very short sighted view of the applications of social media use within your company. It seems that initially the enterprises had little clue as to how much social media could impact their brand. They also found that embracing the social media methods were easier with younger generation staff compared to senior members. This makes a lot of sense as the new generation has been raised with social media as one of the top communicating tools, so understanding and utilization is bound to be better. Edelman (2010) agrees that “consumers today connect with brands in fundamentally new ways” often beyond your control. Consumers now rely on digital communications to help make many of their decisions. Obviously this view is now 6 years old and companies have wised up to the ways in which we can impact these “decision journeys” and engagements, even if not gaining full control. You can have real-time interactions with your customers, you can utilize people of high influence on your customers and target customers that are sharing reviews when disgruntled ~ to name a few methods.

What has become clear to me, when looking at certain companies, blogs and articles, is that you need to present a consistent image across your different channels with a cohesive message throughout.

Coca-Cola is an excellent example of how to be consistent, yet varied, across different platforms. They are consistent with their brand, values, message and photography style, but they vary their content slightly depending on which audience they are sharing it with. It can be hard to maintain consistency when each social media offers a different way of expressing yourself. You have to be adaptable, conveying your brand visually, concisely or in depth, professionally and personally. This in turn corresponds with your audience too. LinkedIn users expect professionalism and facts, whereas Twitter users are happy with highlight style updates.

Social media can be an extension of your branding beyond your website. It’s not just about using your logo. Finding your social media voice is fundamental in maintaining a consistent presence. If your logo was not present, could your audience still tell whose content they’re looking at? Trademark Productions found that “through branding companies have been able to associate meaning to not only their products, but also their image and values as a company.” A brand is not just what you do, but who you are as well. This enhanced brand image and personality improves loyalty, recall and distinction from competitors. Deciding what message you want to convey and how you want to convey it can help you to always give the best impression no matter what platform you are found on.

 

 

References:

DC Edelman 2010 http://saberfazermarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Branding-in-the-Digital-Age.pdf

Durkin, McGowin, McKeown, 2013 http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1108/JSBED-08-2012-0094

Coke screenshots were grabbed from Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr and Facebook on 05/02/2016

TM 2015

Social Media Branding: How to Send a Consistent Message Across All Social Platforms

 

W Knight 2016 http://www.warrenknight.co.uk/2016/01/25/techtuesday-the-social-media-dos-and-donts-in-2016/

Top image from : http://bit.ly/1PYAs3c

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