Tips on How to Build Branding on Social Media for Your Business

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Consistent branding on social media is an important thing for many reasons…

…not least of which being that consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33%. 

But beyond revenue, brand building is how you relate to your customers.

It’s how they perceive your business and it’s a collection of your business’s core values, goals, and solutions all wrapped up into your name and logo. 

So what does branding on social media look like? How do you build a brand on these social channels? 

Read on as we answer questions about branding on social media and more. 

Let’s start by defining what branding means.

What Is Branding?

Investopedia says,

“The term brand refers to a business and marketing concept that helps people identify a particular company, product, or individual.

Brands are intangible, which means you can’t actually touch or see them.

As such, they help shape people’s perceptions of companies, their products, or individuals.”

What we like about that definition is that it talks about your customers’ perceptions. 

We think almost every business owner gets hung up on how they themselves view their brand, but your “brand” is really how the public perceives it.

You may think you’re putting off one thing, but in reality, people think differently than that of your brand. Check out these statistics:

• Nearly 80% of people say that user-generated content impacts their decision to purchase – and great branding will encourage more UGC.
• 60% of consumers prefer receiving branded email marketing campaigns through email instead of other channels like SMS.
• 86% of consumers prefer an authentic and honest brand personality on social networks, especially on their customer support.

That’s why it’s important to put some intentional thought and planning into your brand.

This is so that you can successfully shape people’s perceptions into what you want them to be. 

When most people think of getting their branding together, they think of logo, colors, etc.

But before you get into that aspect with your branding, you first need to determine your brand archetype and your values.

So on that note, let’s talk about the first thing you need to do when building your brand on social media.

Branding On Social Media: Determine Your Archetype

Webster says an archetype is:

“the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies; a prototype or the perfect example.”

So let’s take a look at the common 12 archetypes to better understand.

If you’ve ever googled brand archetypes, you’ve probably seen these images before.

But we’ve condensed them for you here so we can briefly go through all 12, and you can see if any of these sound like your brand.

1. The Outlaw

Also called “The Rebel”, their goal is to overturn what isn’t working or to shake things up. 

Common personality traits with this archetype are:

• being blunt,
• allowing swear words in their marketing,
• speaking without fear, and
• challenging the status quo. 

Some popular brands that exude this are:

1. Virgin
2. Harley Davidson
3. Diesel

2. The Magician

Their goal is to make dreams come true, to create a vision and live by it.

Common brand personality traits are:

• charismatic,
• transformative, and
• visionary.

Popular examples of this archetype are:

1. Coke
2. Disney
3. Dyson

3. The Hero

This archetype’s goal is to improve the world, to motivate, encourage and be brave. And this is actually our archetype here at LYFE Marketing.

Common traits are:

• motivating,
• encouraging,
• achievement-oriented, and
• competitive, 

And popular examples of this are:

1. Adidas
2. Nike
3. FedEx

4. The Lover

It’s also called “The Seducer”, their goal is to have loving and committed relationships, to be desired.

Personality traits include:

• warm,
• welcoming,
• enticing,
• sultry, and
• seductive.

Popular brands that exude this are:

1. Alfa Romeo
2. Chanel
3. Victoria’s Secret

5. The Jester

This one is also called “The Entertainer”. Its goal is to bring laughter, fun, and joy to the world, to be curious, funny, and playful.

Common brand traits are:

• witty,
• humorous,
• entertaining,
• loud, and
• exciting.

And some popular brands like this are:

1. M&Ms
2. Old Spice
3. Dollar Shave Club

6. The Everyman

Their goal is to belong, to be down to earth and a straight shooter, to live a normal life that is not too flashy or extravagant. 

Some common traits or feelings this brand exudes are:

• laid back,
• casual,
• empathetic,
• practical, and
• straightforward.

Some popular brands like this are:

1. Ikea
2. Target
3. LYNX

7. The Caregiver

Their goal is to help and do things for others.

Common personality traits are:

• gentle,
• kind, and
• nurturing.

Some popular caregiver brands are:

1. UNICEF
2. WWF
3. Toms

8. The Ruler

Its goal is to be a role model, to create a prosperous community, and to be strict on rules and policies.

Common traits are:

• sophisticated,
• very professional, and
• structured. 

Some brand examples of this are:

1. Louis Vuitton
2. Mercedes Benz
3. Rolex

9. The Creator

Their goal is to turn ideas into reality, to brainstorm, and use creative thinking to problem solve.

Common traits are:

• expressive,
• imaginative,
• original, and
• poetic.

Some creator brands are:

1. Lego
2. Apple
3. Adobe

10. The Innocent

Their goal is to be happy, to do the right thing, and to see the positive in any situation.

Brand personality includes:

• being optimistic,
• happy,
• sweet, and
• hopeful. 

Some brands that exude this are:

1. Aveeno
2. Dove
3. Innocent

11. The Sage

Its goal is to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world, seeking out information and knowledge. 

Common traits are:

• logical,
• analytics, and
• fact-based.

Popular sage brands are:

1. Google
2. BBC
3. Oxford University

12. The Explorer

Their goal is to live an exciting life full of adventure, to live the road less traveled, and to be authentic. 

Common traits are:

• energetic,
• enthusiastic,
• questioning, and adventurous

Popular brands for this are the:

1. North Face
2. Jeep
3. Patagonia

So were there any that stood out to you?

Any that you’ve read and thought, “Oh yeah that’s my brand.”

Maybe you have two that you’re kind of going back and forth between. 

We went back and forth between The Hero and Sage for our branding on social media…

…because we do provide a lot of educational content and guidance to our followers.

But, we ultimately went with The Hero archetype because beyond just educating you all…

…we know that being a small business owner takes a lot of heart, bravery, encouragement, and sheer will to get stuff done just as much as education.

So you’ll want to sit with your team and really dive into the purpose of your brand.

The same goes for the feelings and tone you want your brand to portray.

And after that, select your archetype and have a consistent voice on all your social posts. 

What will naturally kind of happen as a result of that is narrowing down your values, mission statement, and company culture.

What things are important to your business? Is it transparency? Is it giving back? Is it affordability?

You need to list out your top 3 values as a company because:

1. it will guide you as a basis for content creation moving forward, and
2. because customers care about what your values are.

94% of customers are likely to show loyalty to a brand that offers complete transparency.

13% of consumers would pay 31-50% more for your products or services…

…if they were under the impression that your business is making a positive impact on the world.

In one study, they found that the top 4 qualities people use to describe why they are loyal to a brand are:

1. cost,
2. quality,
3. experience, and
4. consistency.

So, it is definitely something to think about as you nail down your top values!

Once you’ve got your archetype and values narrowed down, it’s time to create a topic map.

But before we get into that, be sure to check out our new social media ads training course if you want to master social media advertising.

How To Create A Topic Map For Your Branding On Social Media

These are the 5 general topics you’ll create social media content around. 

You may already have some ideas in your head and if you do, that’s great, jot those down real quick and we’ll come back to them in a little bit.

For now, we want you to do 2 things:

1. Make a list of your target market’s goals and pain points as they relate to your business or industry. 

Why do they seek out the products and services you provide?

What problems are they trying to solve or what goals are they trying to achieve?

Speaking of goals, check out this post next to learn more on how to set smart goals on social media.

2. Look at the content your competitors’ post.

Start with market research or a social media audit of your competitors’ social profiles.

What is their social presence like? Do their social media posts get good engagement from your shared target audience? 

If so, take note of what’s working well for them. If not, take note of what your customers are not engaging with. 

We want you to then take those two sources of information…

…and write out the top 5 content topics you think your customers would be interested in seeing on social media.

If you jotted down a list of engaging content ideas earlier, cross-analyze and compare.

Were you spot on or a little far off in what you thought your audience wanted to see before doing the research?

You’ll want to use your topic map as a guide in your content calendar.

This is so that you can be confident that your social media accounts are publishing branded content that provides value to your audience…

…while simultaneously eluding your brand archetype and values.

So once you’ve got your archetype, values, and topic map nailed down, it’s time to tackle your brand guide.

3. Create your brand guide.

A brand guide is like a style guide that communicates how all of your content should look.

This includes your logo, any variations of it, and when or where to use those variations.

It includes all of your logo colors and any secondary colors that are fair game to use along with their hex codes.

And side note, if you need help creating a logo, here’s our ultimate guide on how to create your business logo with Canva.

Your brand guide also should include your fonts, dictating which are to be used in headlines, subheadlines, and regular text.

Some other things your brand guide can include are notes on your brand voice, as well as any DON’Ts.

Like if you don’t want this secondary color used if a different secondary color is already in use on a graphic.

Depending on how small your small business is, you may be a one-man show right now.

But as your business and team grow, you’ll want things to remain consistent across your visual content on every network no matter who is working on what. 

Having a brand guide allows everyone to be on the same page.

It’s even helpful if you’re into influencer marketing, so as to make sure those influencer-sponsored posts are consistent with your overall branding.

And beyond just being useful internally, your customers will appreciate your brand identity as well!

Using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80%.

A great example would be, for us, a lot of you will recognize our content when you see our LYFE blue flame.

It’s prominent on our Facebook page, Instagram account, Twitter account, and YouTube channel.

You would also see our brand logo on our profile photo and cover photo.

And don’t forget what we said at the beginning of this post which was that consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33%.

It’s a powerful tool to drive traffic and generate leads for your business.

Creating your own visual brand guide allows your business to share content that is consistent across all social media platforms.

So at this point, you’re ready to start posting on social media.

But before we wrap up, we’re going to leave you with…

3 Key Tips To Remember To Drive Optimal Results

1. Start with social platforms that your audience is the most prevalent on.

If you need help determining this, you can check out our top social media platforms for brands post.

But if you’re a little short on manpower, or you’re at a stage where you cannot outsource and get professional social media marketing solutions like ours…

…you don’t want to stretch yourself too thin by posting on all the platforms right out of the gates. 

We would advise starting with the platform your audience uses the most, mastering that, and continuing on from there.

2. Make a content schedule.

So in addition to your branding on social media being consistent, your audience can regularly expect content from you as well. 

For instance, our audience knows they’re going to get new YouTube videos from us every week, and social media posts from us every weekday. 

Your audience is more likely to stay in tune with your brand…

…if they’re seeing your posts on a regular basis as opposed to only hearing from your brand every once in a while. 

3. Engage with your followers. It’s not enough to just post. 

You’ve got to be interactive with your followers to ensure they’re actually seeing your posts.

The ways you can be interactive will vary by platform.

This is why it’s important to determine which platforms you’re working on in step 1. 

Quick question for you guys, where are you at in building your brand?

Is there a certain stage you’re getting hung up on? If you need more help or guidance with your branding, check out our expert branding services today.

We’d love to hear from you!