In the past decade, the boom of social networks has taken over almost every sector across the globe. It has changed the way for marketing and branding and has been an effective medium to reach out to the target audience. As a business owner in this day and age, you probably make use of social media networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to promote your products or services.
Today, social media campaigns are an important part of the digital marketing strategy for businesses and can help them create a strong brand identity as well. If you think about it, your social media accounts could effectively promote your brand with the right tone of voice, brand message, and imagery.
Presently, there are around 3.6 billion people in the world actively using social media channels, and that number is only going to grow in the future. Its impact on branding has been quite powerful and mostly positive. These are a few ways it has and can help brands grow successfully.
1- Increased Brand Consistency
By creating an effective strategy for branding through social media platforms, businesses can benefit from a consistent image and create a positive perception in the minds of the audience. They are an effective tool for making people familiar with your brand and spreading awareness as well.
When people come across your brand identity, product images, or content that matches the brand voice on your various social media marketing accounts, it could work in your favor greatly. You may have a higher chance of creating a lasting and memorable impression when you have a professional logo for your brand. Consistency in brand designs help build your business for the long run, and social media can help you stay on the right track.
Ultimately, you want people to think of your brand positively and associate the products or services with it. Take the example of Starbucks. The corporation has successfully managed to build and increase brand consistency with engaging and relevant posts on its pages.
Consider their Instagram account here. It features images of the company’s different beverages and includes messaging which shows that the company is socially as well as environmentally responsible.
2- Increased Visibility and Lead Conversion
One of the positive impacts of social media on digital marketing is visibility. Presently, businesses also focus on social media marketing through sponsored ads on Facebook or Instagram.
It so happens that these channels can be linked on the website and allow the links to be incorporated within posts as well. This is a good way to boost brand visibility, generate traffic to your web page, and convert leads effectively.
According to a report, almost 54 percent of consumers search or find information on products and services on social media platforms. They may find your business on such channels before actively looking up the website. If the link is featured in some of the posts or accessible in the description, then the audience can be directed towards it easily.
Eventually, there is going to be more traffic coming to your web page and people will begin to become familiar with your brand. You could also convince people to buy what you have to offer and convert leads into paying customers.
3- Increase in Engagement
If you think about it, social media has made it a lot easier to reach out and connect with consumers, personally. You can actually know what they think about your products or services in real-time and interact with them directly as well. For example, it’s one of the effective marketing strategies for eCommerce businesses.
With live-streaming sessions, giveaways or contests, and hashtag campaigns, you have the option of increasing brand engagement and expanding your consumer base.
There are quite a few brands that have managed to turn people into loyal customers with their creative and innovative branding and marketing on social media. PlayStation ran a successful campaign on Twitter with the hashtag ‘Play at Home’ which encouraged social media users to install or download one of their new games easily.
It led to a huge increase in their followers which hit up to 21 million in 2020 and helped them generate a lot of positivity as well. Similarly, Proctor & Gamble was also one of the corporations actively involved in increasing their engagements and spreading brand awareness in a way as well.
They made use of TikTok to connect with a younger age demographic and encouraged participation from the people by trending the Distance Dance movement. The hashtag has become hugely popular, with millions of users sending their videos and promoting safe entertainment during the lockdown.
4- Creates or Builds Brand Loyalty
By leveraging their social media presence, brands can build or create a loyal consumer base of existing or new customers. While attracting people who are yet to become completely familiar with your brand identity could take some time, there is always the opportunity to reconnect with previous customers.
According to a report, almost nine in every ten people are of the opinion that it’s easier to trust and buy from brands that they follow on social media networks. By reaching out to them and offering discounts or announcing a special promotion, you could build customer loyalty and help spread vibes through word of mouth.
In the end, your customers could refer or recommend your brand to family or friends, and increase awareness.
5- Generates Positive Perception of Brands
Social media can be hugely influential in creating the right perception of a brand. If you want consumers to associate your business with a good customer experience and quality of service, then you should be regularly active on your social media pages. By updating them frequently, answering queries about various products and their availability, you could help people think of your brand positively.
It is important that when people visit your social media account, they find the most recent information and are able to get in touch quickly and without any lags. This way, you can create a name for yourself in a highly competitive digital market and build upon your reputation as well.
To Sum Up
These are just a few ways that social media has made an impact on branding. If you think about it, the effects are quite positive and platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest are greatly useful for small to mid-range brands.
Since such channels require a minimum investment, small businesses, in particular, can easily use them to promote their products and services and attract more customers effectively.
