Social Media Branding!

Definition

According to one marketing company, “A brand is the idea or image of a specific product or service that consumers connect with, by identifying the name, logo, slogan, or design of the company who owns the idea or image. Branding is when that idea or image is marketed so that it is recognisable by more and more people, and identified with a certain service or product when there are many other companies offering the same service or product”.

Application

The key for your social media branding is to identify yourself and indeed your business to yourself, know it, own it, and be it, consistently, and to the best of your abilities, thereby distinguishing yourself from others. Your brand is who you are, what you stand for, what you want to achieve in your life, your morals, ethics, values, interests, hobbies, and lifestyle etc. If you know YOU and your business, everything else is pretty straightforward after that!

Remember: There are people already doing what you do, so getting your branding right to differentiate yourself is paramount to success!

Example

If you want an example of branding, check out my Facebook business page. I have my own logo, motto/tagline and colours. I post frequently about the same things, and even mention it on my “Intro” which simply states: “I help people create their ideal lifestyles from wherever they are using a laptop :)”. I am consistent with everything I do, so my Facebook page is pretty popular because people buy into me, because I know me and so do they!

However, I also have several other pages, for my social media agency Bham Digital, for my pharmaceutical consultancy Bham Pharma, and for my food blog Spiced Up By Bilal. Each has its own set of branding, colours, feel and motto. The videos I record for each of my pages are also different, in terms of the camera I use, where I record, the tone, style and even angle, so you cannot confuse one page with another, each page is unique in its expression of the different things that interest me. My values and principles are intact, but the way in which I deliver my message about a particular topic is different.

Defining Your Own Brand

Defining your brand is like a journey of self-discovery. It can be difficult, time‑consuming and uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you answer the questions below, so I urge you to answer them because you are your business!

  1. What is your mission? (Your WHY)
  2. What are the benefits and features of you, your products and services?
  3. What do your customers and prospects already think of you?
  4. What qualities do you want them to associate with you?

Do your research. Learn the needs, habits and desires of your current and prospective customers and team members. And don’t rely on what you think they think. Know what they think!

Marketing Your Brand

Once you’ve defined your brand, how do you get the word out? Here are a few simple, time-tested tips:

  1. Get a great logo. Ask a graphic designer or creative friend of yours. Fiverr is great and cheap too! Place it everywhere.
  2. Write down your brand messaging. What are the key messages you want to communicate about your brand? Everyone in your team should be aware of your brand attributes.
  3. Integrate your brand. Branding extends to every aspect of who you are – how you reply messages, your e-mail signature, everything.
  4. Create a “voice” for you that reflects your brand. This voice should be applied to all written communication and incorporated in the visual imagery of all materials, online and off. Is your brand friendly? Be conversational. Is it ritzy? Be more formal. You get the gist.
  5. Develop a tagline/motto. Write a memorable, meaningful and concise statement that captures the essence of your brand.
  6. Design templates and create brand standards for your marketing materials. Use the same colour scheme, logo placement, look and feel throughout. You don’t need to be fancy, just consistent. Canva is great for this!
  7. Be true to your brand. Customers and team members won’t return to you–or refer you to someone else–if you don’t deliver on your brand promise.
  8. Be consistent. This tip involves all the above and is the most important tip on this list. If you can’t do this, your attempts at establishing a brand will fail.

If you’re looking at organising your social media branding, please do get in touch, I’d love to help 🙂

Networking Do’s and Dont’s!

Networking comes to me very naturally. Being an only child, I have been putting myself in situations where I had to meet new people from a young age, to develop myself and my skills and meet interesting people. This has helped me make friends with some of the most wonderful people I could have ever imagined meeting!

Networking for your business is vital but people get it so badly wrong its painful to watch and be a part of! When you are out and about at networking events, there are some dos and don’ts, which I feel everybody should learn, because if you don’t, no matter how good you are, or how effective your product or service is, no one will care! Simply put, people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care! So do what I tell you and stop doing the things I tell you not to do!

Top 10 Tips!

Here are my top 10 tips for networking effectively:

  1. If you can, print off the delegates list beforehand and look through it, highlighting who you would want to meet, find interesting or could have a referral for.
  2. Prepare yourself mentally, know what you can do for the other party, make it about them, get to know them, make them do 75% of the talking! People love talking about themselves so give people the confidence to do that, and their barriers will come down, they will relax and you will see the real person behind the business persona!
  3. Know your story, who you are, what the features, advantages and benefits of your business are, and keep your story as short and succinct as possible, because you want other people to do the talking as stipulated in point 2!
  4. Mind your body language! Body language is everything, and people are naturally attracted to and gravitate towards happy people! And that means do NOT fold your arms! Keep an open stance! And smile! Seriously! This makes such a difference when you are talking to people or looking for people to talk to!
  5. Genuinely show interest in other people, their personality and their business! You will never do business with people you don’t like! And vice versa!
  6. Follow Rudyard Kipling’s advice as follows: I keep 6 honest serving-men: (They taught me all I knew), Their names are What and Where and When, And How and Why and Who. I would also add Which, so that makes 7! So prepare some key “W” open questions.
  7. Ask for their business card and then connect with them over LinkedIn and/or other social media platforms on the spot. I rarely carry business cards because I have social media apps on my phone to take care of such things!
  8. Look around for who is speaking to the biggest group. That person has influence. That person is a leader. Go and speak with them!
  9. Do NOT shove your business, business card or simply your agenda down other people’s throats! You will NOT make any friends or win any favours!
  10. Be yourself, be honest, have integrity, live and breathe your values, morals and ethics! If people don’t know you, they won’t like you, if they don’t like you, they won’t trust you, if they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you or recommend others to buy from you!

PLEASE! Do NOT mess this up! It is so easy to get RIGHT but people get it so WRONG! Networking is NOT about you! Make it about others, and your time will come to shine! Trust me!

Let me know how you get on 🙂