How are you leveraging your brand to connect?
On average, “it takes five to seven times for people to remember a brand” according to SmallBiz Genius. When considering those five chances, what stands out about the way your brand engages that makes it a truly memorable experience for your audience?
Building an Emotional Connection
As we mentioned in our article “Is Your Brand Holding Your Business Back?”, we discuss the importance of personifying your brand and engaging with people. If people understand who you are then they are more comfortable buying your product or service. And if you can honestly talk with and listen to your audience, they will gain trust in you.
What’s the secret sauce of effective engagement that builds connections? Good question.
The secret sauce is AUTHENTICITY. Yes, authenticity is definitely the buzz word of the moment, but what isn’t being talked is that there are actually 2 sides to authenticity:
What is usually talked- is your brand needs to be authentic- every brand has a personality, a reason for existing and a point of view. Curate your own voice and use it. Avoid the urge to always use language, claims and buzz words that competitors or your audience uses if it doesn’t feel right to your brand and what you stand for.
This is the big difference- is that you still have to be authentic on the platforms you choose to communicate on and the content you share. People are on these platforms because they like what is happening on the platform- Tik Tok and LinkedIn are very different styles. The sweet spot here is to create content that matches the individual platform's purpose, while ensuring it reflects your brand voice and point of view.
Role of Brand in Social Media
73% of small businesses invest in social media marketing to connect with their audience (The Manifest, 2019 Study). But doing this effectively is the kicker. Does your brand have an Instagram account that has been dormant since 2018? Or maybe a LinkedIn that does not have any postings. Are your posts promoting a product, sharing your philosophy, engaging your community in topics they believe in? Are you consistent in your visual and verbal expression to help people make an immediate connection to your business?
Before jumping on the bandwagon, check-in, and think about what you are currently doing to increase engagement. In reviewing your company’s social media platforms, ask yourself if your company has the means to manage multiple social media accounts and if you have a right to win. Not quite sure? Start with looking at the platforms where your audience is most likely to be active and searching for solutions. Allow social media to keep your brand honest. Sticking to a few platforms where you can consistently post is better than little presence over multiple platforms. Being choiceful can help you build relationships.
Other Ways to Engage
Online Videos Online videos can also play a pivotal role for bringing to life a brand and how it positively impacts people. Videos can include customer testimonials or a live look into how your product or service is used. Both are a way to create credibility for potential customers. Per Wordstream’s Video Marketing Statistics, marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
Check out this Starbucks video on Instagram. The movement not only catches the target audience's eye, but it cues what's new and unique along with the purpose of the video, to promote their new white chocolate mocha creamer. It's short and fun to watch, which is authentic to the Instagram platform.
Blogging
Blogging gives insight into your brand voice and values. Writing about what you know best and being able to create actionable insights for your readers will give them even more reason to trust your brand, and reportedly creates 67% more leads for your business according to BrandBuddah. Sharing the blog article across platforms can amplify the conversation and increase awareness. However, like social media, this can only be done if you have the capacity to complete it. Having a regular rhythm of content enables your blog to be much more effective than a post every few months. AND, ensuring each article is “on-brand” in tonality and visual layout will also reinforce sub-conscious associations with your company.
While there are many different ways to engage, making your audience’s experience memorable by consistently leveraging your brand will pay off in creating a strong connection.
The Brand Evaluator is a joint venture of independent brand builders – Michelle Thompson, BrandSpark Design LLC and Christine Sech, Brave Oak Brand Building LLC. We work with emerging businesses to help them clearly and meaningfully convey their organization’s value through brand building strategy, design and content that drives results.
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