3 Ways to Start a Brand-Centric Social Media Strategy
Instagram has quickly become a dominant force in social media and you’ll be surprised how effective it can be for your business.yes
A brand-focused social media strategy is a great idea before starting any social promotion. Not only will you save time and money in the future when you have a following, but building those followings will also be much easier.
Branding with social media can actually reach a significant audience, but you need to give users a sincere reason to follow you.
This comes from understanding your current brand value and properly translating it into an account that your ideal users will search for and want to follow.
With Instagram you have enormous brand potential. If you haven’t already, you need to get your branding right. Take a look at our post on how to define your brand if you’re stuck.
Now let’s see what you need to do to successfully build your business brand on Instagram:
1.YourProfile
Your profile page is where your business branding on Instagram should start.
You can feature your logo or a headshot based on your company branding. I always recommend using your professional headshot if you’re the face of your business and using a logo if you’re a larger company like the Adidas profile shown here.
Then you have 150 characters in the description field to tell people what you do. Use this space to make a clear and compelling statement. If a hashtag defines your business, then this is where you should include it (or them, if there is more than one).
If you ever have a promotion with a relevant hashtag, you can update your profile accordingly.
So you have 1 chance for a link. If you’re just getting started with Instagram, then you’ll probably want to make this your home page. Ideally, have this link click to a landing page for your free giveaway, so you can use this space to build lists as well.
The next time you have a new promotion, you’ll want to change the link and direct users through it.
2. Your posts
Consistency is key, and not just in your posting schedule. You should have a common theme for all of your images where that theme gives your followers a window into what you provide.
This is not the platform to send spam ads at all. Your followers want to learn about a business brand on Instagram by seeing who is behind the brand, not its ads.
In saying that, you absolutely must showcase your products, especially when you have something new to offer. But don’t just publish advertorials.
Instagram is a great place to showcase your business community. If you have an office birthday party, post some photos or a short video.
If you have a day where employees bring their dogs to work, let your followers see what’s going on.
When posting all of this, remember who your primary target audience is and who is likely to become a customer. Gear your posts towards that general topic.
Where applicable, you can direct users to a link by posting: “follow the link in our bio to learn more” using the text section that accompanies each post.
3. Your competition
Your competition is a great way to find new followers who are already interested in what you do. They can also provide great insight into which hashtags are effective in your industry.
If you already use Instagram, you will have seen how competitors are always seeing each other on this platform.
Once you like or follow a particular brand, you will see that within minutes your account will be followed by another brand related to the brand you just followed.
There are companies that literally just do this as their entire business model.
Caution: Stay away from any company that promises to increase your follower count. Volume may seem like good optics for a business, but these kinds of services will only devalue your brand and account by getting irrelevant followers posting spam comments.
Follow your competition yourself and comment on their posts with real information.
This is a genuine and sincere way to not only build your brand and find new people, but also put you in the position that your users will be in with your own account.
See which posts your competitors are publishing that perform best in terms of real likes and comments and adjust your own strategy to reflect their success.
A great way to kick things off is to find out which hashtag really defines your business. Understand that there are communities for particular businesses on Instagram, and you’ll want to be a part of the ones that are relevant to your industry.
Starting this can be tricky, but maintaining it can be even more difficult. A dead brand on Instagram sends a bad message to users, and with 75% of users checking social media before making a purchase, you’re taking a big risk if you don’t do it right or at all.