When it comes to business goals, branding is one of the most impactful elements.
Here at Flylight Creative, we constantly help businesses improve their branding strategies. Thriving in a digital space is crucial, therefore we make sure each client’s brand makes an impact.
EVERY SINGLE CLIENT
Why?
Because your brand makes a huge statement for your business. Without proper branding, your business will suffer.
In this article, I’ll explain…
What is branding
How to Create a Branding Strategy and Goals
How to Achieve Branding Goals
We believe that strong values paired with proper branding truly make a difference for your business.
What is Branding?
Branding involves…
- Appearance
- Communication
- Personality
- Reputation
Essentially, branding creates the image that consumers have when they think about their favorite or the most popular brands.
You want to establish your brand as a credible source of information with quality products and/or services to drive more traffic to your sites.
Why is Branding Important to a Business?
Branding is essential because it aids in making the company recognizable to viewers and distinguished from other companies in the same industry.
While there may be many other companies who entered the industry before your own, branding is what sets yourself apart from them.
You might be environmentally cautious, local, or all around friendlier. Whatever it is, branding will help showcase that side to the public.
Your audience should feel connected to your brand. Branding will help bridge the gap and allow them to know who you are and what you stand for.
One huge benefit of branding in a digital space is that, not only are you able to reach your local audience, but also audiences all over the world.
It also helps people who work for your company remember their mission and values so they can incorporate them at the forefront of all your projects.
How to get started with a branding strategy
You can begin creating your branding strategy by asking yourself some questions:
- Who are you trying to reach?
- Which social media platforms do your intended audience prefer?
- How frequently do you want to share content on your platforms?
- These questions will help guide you in selecting where to market yourself and building the best brand identity for your company.
Your intended audience will determine which platforms you use.
You don’t have to build your brand on every platform. Select 2-3 sites that you know your viewers use.
If you’re trying to reach millennials (anyone born between 1981 and 1996), Facebook would be a great option.
If Gen Z’s are your target (those born between 1997 and 2012), Instagram and TikTok are where this group frequents.
To appeal to professionals, LinkedIn will allow you to connect with this community.
Once you have your target audience and platform in mind, gear your content for them.
Gen Z users tend to be less trusting of companies and prefer to see content that feels real. However, no matter the generation, all users prefer content that feels authentic.
So be sure to be as transparent as possible and show who is behind the brand here and there.
Ways to do this include:
- Behind the scenes videos
- “Meet the team” posts
- Content explaining your products and/or services
- You can read more about social media trends among different generations here.
Stay on Code.
What are your brand’s colors and how do you intend on incorporating them into your strategy? Using a set color palette will your viewers instantly identify a post belonging to your brand without having to read the user name.
Fonts matter when building brand identity as well. Select a legible font– or multiple fonts– and stick to them.
At its core, this is what builds the character of your brand. It’s the first thing people notice.
You, of course, can experiment from time to time, but sticking to set colors and fonts helps make your brand recognizable and keeps your social media pages uniform.
Watch Your Tone!
Remember that how you address your audience is vital. Let your brand reflect a vibrant personality to meet them at their level.
This does not mean you have to use today’s teen speech, but rather talk to them as a friend would.
You want to come off as though you are excited about whatever it is you have to share so your audience will be excited too.
Using language that speaks to your audience is one of the best ways to connect with them.
As creative problem solvers, we at Flylight offer a variety of branding services to boost your image and foster loyalty from the public.
We offer three main services to help organizations build brand awareness:
- Brand and Identity
- Web and Design
- Social Media Services
We are very intentional about the content we create for organizations as our mission is to help you achieve your goals.
How to Set and Achieve branding Goals
One of the many benefits to branding via social media is that you can track and measure your steps to achieving your goals easier than through traditional marketing.
When establishing your branding goals, think about what you want to achieve and the time frame you wish to achieve them.
Do you want your follower count to grow, more engagement, or a higher click-through rate?
Social media engagement is any way that your followers interact with your content. This could be likes, comments, shares, etc.
Be sure to track this data using analytical tools so you can see what works and what needs improvement.
Social media scheduling tools like Hootsuite offer built- in analytics tools where you can manage your platforms in one place and track their progress.
Click-through rate is how many people take further action after viewing your content or ads, whether it’s clicking to read more or visiting your website to make a purchase.
These actions are what you want to encourage in your content. You want to pull them to the product or service that you’re selling.
HOW?
We would advise you to utilize as many features as possible on each social media platform you choose. This way, your pages look active and have a higher chance of outreach.
For LinkedIn, share and repost relevant articles to your profile and encourage employers/clients to leave reviews.
If you’re on Instagram, take advantage of the story highlights and Reels features. IG is an image- reliant platform where users are drawn to short, visually appealing videos.
Remember it’s crucial to grab a viewer’s attention in the first 3 seconds. So make it count!
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT CONTENT TO MAKE, YOU SAY?
Experiment with different kinds of content to produce for your brand. This will help you learn what their audience is drawn to.
Here’s some things you can try:
- FAQ’s about the company or a subject related to your industry
- Tips and suggestions
- Fun quizzes
- Reposts from other platforms
You can make this content into graphics or video clips to see where the engagement is higher.
If you notice that some of your content does not do as well as others, you may have to create that kind less or not at all.
When making graphics, different sizes are better for viewing on social media. This is a perfect opportunity to play with spacing in the design.
Instagram Post (Square 1080 ✕ 1080 px)
Facebook Post (940 ✕ 788)
Notice the two examples above. Instagram uses square images, so it’s important to format your design to make everything fit.
Facebook on the other hand, uses a wider, rectangular shape. This allows you to expand your designs so it doesn’t have to look too cluttered.
Remember Your “What” and Your “Why”
Earlier, we mentioned that branding helps your marketing team remember the mission and values of your brand– your “what” and “why.”
Use this to your advantage!
Refresh yourself on the overall purpose of your business. Does your mission need to be rewritten/adjusted?
After going over your mission, include it in your content.
Not only will this give you more ideas for what to make, but it will also help you reach your intended audience.
Overcoming challenges
Do you have a plan of action in case there are customer/ consumer complaints? How will your brand respond to potential negative feedback?
Your team should develop a plan that measures the severity of incidents, how you decide to respond to them, and how soon you should respond to them.
How would you want a brand to respond to you if you had a complaint? Better yet, how would you address an issue with someone close to you?
Even if you find that your content/brand is harmless and wholesome, mistakes are made and a viewer(s) could be rubbed the wrong way.
Remember, your followers are your peers! Make sure you acknowledge and take responsibility for the problem and go forward with action.
More Things to Consider
Keep it fresh!
Follow and interact with platforms and blogs that are within the same industry as your own brand. It’s necessary to stay up to date with the latest trending topics.
Some things to consider when seeking trends:
- What are experts saying on the subject?
- Is there any controversy surrounding a subject within the industry that you could address?
- What questions do people have lately?
Frequently update yourself with this information so the next time someone searches for a trending topic, you will have the answers!
Share your Knowledge.
As we mentioned earlier, you want to draw people to your products and/or services. Blogs are a great way to do this.
You can answer questions on trending topics and link your products/services to your blog.
The content you create to promote your blog will encourage higher click-through rates.
No blog yet? No problem!
Many users go to social media as a skill guide. Upload informative content, especially in the video format.
Brief tutorials are a helpful and palatable resource for users to understand a subject better and give your brand a reputation for reliability.
But seriously, get that blog set up!
Your website is a virtual business card. Your blog is a gateway to it.
You want to present yourself as an expert in your field. The blog will leave them wanting to see more of you!
Consistency is key!
Head of Instagram, Adam Mossieri, suggests creators share a couple of posts per week to catch user’s attention.
Hootsuite broke down the recommended frequency for posting to different social media sites.
Don’t allow too much time to pass between your previous posts and your new posts.
However, don’t simply post without intention, either.
If you’re out of ideas, sharing others’ content or updating your followers on news relating to your business is a great way to keep the page alive.
Another thing to keep in mind
While these are suggestions made by trusted sites, we recommend that you try different frequencies for posting and choose what works best for you.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the best advice we can share with you about branding is remaining consistent. Not just in how often you share messages, but also in tone and color scheme.
Keep your platforms active and updated with fresh, relevant content.
The goal is for people to speak highly of your brand when you’re not around.
You want them to only have positive images in their minds when they think of you.
The tips that we provided work together to make sure that this effect is achieved.
At Flylight, we are passionate about helping our clients exceed their branding goals and guiding them on their mission to change the world. Cause marketing is what motivates us to keep going and is behind everything we do.
Make sure to follow us @flcagency on IG for more tips and updates on our blog!