Welcome back, everyone! We hope that you had a great, productive week. Today, we wanted to shed some light on an integral lesson relating to brand social presence. Almost every single brand in the world is integrated into social media; whether LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok, or all of the above, connecting and building a social following is key to brand longevity, recognition, and success. So, how can you better connect with your online following? How do you make followers feel valued? How do you create a brand perception founded in reliability, trust, and sustainability? Find out everything you need to know below!

Building a Connected Following

Know Your Audience

Above all, know your target market and brand audience! Depending on each platform (between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.), your brand message will reach different demographics and consumers with a variety of purchasing intent. Take Pinterest for example, would that work for our brand? Would a client or candidate likely seek a “Pin” in order to identify a new job opportunity? We’ll let you brainstorm about that question while we leave you with one last tip about this idea: before hopping onto any social channel, directly and effectively assess your audience, your product, and the intent you hope to achieve (whether purchasing a good, creating a relationship, offering a service, increasing follower conversation,…).

• Extra Note: Almost every online social platform is available for free! Differentiating your advertisements by investing in a variety of ‘boosted’ content opportunities is a great way to expand your audience reach exponentially. So, we also encourage you to identify your social media budget and advertising spend before engaging in content creation so as to hold yourself accountable and understand a realistic view of performance and reach.

Consistency

In order to paint a reliable image and provide value to your consumers, always be consistent in branding. Not only do we mean in the message you send, and the type of content you provide, but we also encourage you to post at similar frequencies each, day, week, or month. This way, you will start you create a relationship with your consumers where they will know what to expect, when, and in what form to best access your brand and its products or services. Consistently posting content (at least once or twice a week!) is the best way to optimize your reach and build a consistent following from the ground up.

• Extra Tip: We have a TON of previous articles available on our website that will provide you with a suite of different ways to manage your time and create a schedule. So, find the best strategy that works for you, and make sure to set aside time solely dedicated to social media and branding activities so that you can dedicate your full attention and effort. You can also ‘batch’ out content so as to mitigate the need to revisit posts throughout the week and instead just have a bunch ready to click ‘post’ on when the time is right!

Integrating Consumer in Brand Voice

Millennials and Gen Z are rapidly obtaining the largest portion of buying power from our US consumers, and as these individuals are more than not “digital natives”, they possess a different set of brand expectations as they seek products. In order to make this highly impactful population feel valued, it is crucial to loop them into your brand message and intent. Ask what your followers want to see! What they’re looking to purchase! How you can better deliver on their wants and needs! However you have the resources to discuss your brand with these consumers and offer them a voice and role in your company (from an external perspective), we encourage you to do so.

• Extra Tip: Be vocal with your consumers! It would be unreasonable to expect a brand to not evolve and adapt to changing consumer needs and environments. If you’re undergoing a branding update (either in color, logo, mission, vision, product offering, etc.), make sure to loop your followers into the conversation and set expectations. Creating an open stream of communication is a great way to prepare followers for change while ensuring they feel like a valued part of the future vision of your brand.

And if you’re looking for a job… Check out our open jobs list!