By T.E. Cunningham 
You have forty things on your to-do list today, and the first one you are going to move to the bottom is working on your social media – sound familiar?
With the majority of adult Americans on Facebook and other networks, small business owners should embrace the medium and the opportunity to build their brand for free in this arena.
What is your Brand? You don’t need a fancy ad agency to tell you what your brand identity should be. It’s your business. What do you want it to be, other than successful?
You may have great products or excellent services, but you need to tell people what to expect if they are going to try them.
You can do this in part with social media.
First, think about which social media channels are the right fit for your business. Also, consider how much time you are willing to commit to programming the channel – it’s better to not have it at all than to have it sit dormant. That’s a message you don’t want to send!
Next, think about words that you would relate to your business product or service. Think of it as the business’ personality.
Then ascertain what kind of content will represent those words and engage your Followers with posts, tweets and pins that pull Followers into your business.
You want to be consistent in all branding, so your social media may be more relaxed and conversational than your paid advertising, but it should never contradict the tone and voice.
Remember these points about your social branding:
- Messaging – be clear and concise
- Style – develop the “feel & look” of your messaging. From font styles on graphics to a color palette, these choices in themselves set a tone
- Use a “voice” for your social media commentary, meaning how are you going to talk to your Followers: formally, informally, humorously, etc.
Also, remember to fill out all possible fields on your social channels; in both pictures and copy make sure that the “feel” is the same as your website and advertising.
Okay, what’s next? Answer: consistency.
By being consistent with your message, you develop trust with your customers and potential customers. As a side note, this is also important when responding to your online reviews.
You want your logo and creative messages to become firmly defined in your customer’s brain in a favorable manner.