INTRODUCTION
Table of Contents
Yesterday we covered part one of this two-part tutorial on branding. In that portion of training, we covered what branding was and why you need it for your online marketing effort.
Today we will continue and finish up the training by discussing the social platforms in detail that are available to you and how best to use each. This will be of use to you as you plan your own branding campaign.
At the end of the tutorials, you will be ready to take action and get started, or if you have started, you can use the points discussed to grow your brand presence online from where it is now…
Let’s get started!
SOCIAL PLATFORMS AND BRANDING
As I stated in the first portion of this tutorial, the social networks that are now in use everywhere on the internet offer a unique and fast way to build your brand like never before.
In my experience, if you use a combination of social media platforms, you can target different audiences that would be interested in what you are offering, and increase your presence and sales.
Steps To Building a Unique and Powerful Brand Using Social Networks
When you sign up for one or the other social platforms, the first thing you will be asked to do is to set up your profile. This is really your first chance to start the branding process. They are intended to be personal snapshots of your likes and dislikes.
Things you want to include may be the groups you may have joined on Facebook, perhaps you can add in any books and movies you like, and maybe the types of relationships you wish to build on Facebook, and of course some photos of yourself.
On the photos, remember that these are a particularly powerful means to brand yourself, and they can help or hurt you. Therefore don’t add photos of you in some embarrassing situation or ones that may change the impression someone would have of you or your business.
As part of your photos, add in a business logo. Let others know what you are doing and what your business is. You can add in your website URL so that others can see it on your profile.
Try to start building your list of friends that are in your niche. The more friends you have that have similar interests and business, the more people will come to associate those same qualities with you.
Over time as you comment on other’s posts and provide relevant and helpful information, you will become to be known as a savvy Internet marketer who can help others…
Interact With Others
When you interact with others, portray in your comments the personality and qualities that you want to be associated with you and your brand.
You may consider creating and add an introductory video where you thank people for adding you as a friend on Facebook and then adding in a bit more about yourself. This makes it easy to add that link to new friends you add.
You can use status updates to promote your brand and offerings, and this can be very effective, but don’t use it to spam people. You very quickly will lose friends and your reputation will suffer. Seek to add value and be known as a brand that has integrity.
Don’t overdo the heavy branding angle. You do not want to be known as that person who only promotes himself/herself or their business.
The better angle is to offer relevant help as possible and add value while still generating brand awareness. Offering helpful hints or advice, maybe links to informational content, and it does not have to be your own always.
Differences Between Facebook And Twitter Branding
Be aware that there are differences with these social networking platforms and how to use them.
Using this knowledge of the differences, you can plan and execute brand campaigns on both without doing twice the amount of work.
Note that they compatible, it is just that they are different audiences so must be addressed differently.
Let’s have a look…
Twitter Used For Branding
Twitter is a popular and unique social networking site that is referred to as a “microblogging” site.
The concept Twitter involves revolves around a status update that you can update all day long. You are limited to 140 characters for each update, and these updates are known as “tweets.”
Contained within those 140 characters available to you , links back to other internet locations places can be added, memes used, or pictures attached.
Very easy to use, you can tweet many times in a day, get a larger audience fairly quickly and use it to further your brand presence with that audience.
When you send out your tweets, people who follow you will see them on their page, and they can “retweet” your message if they like it. They also can like the tweet, reply to it directly to your account, and as others see these interactions you can gain more followers.
It is possible to add several hundred followers a day using Twitter, and when you do many of those new friends will follow you back, thereby increasing your potential reach/audience.
There are tools available to automate your tweets so they will go out all day, or at certain times of the day, even is you’re not online. You can also send them to your Facebook account using an application within Facebook.com called Selective Twitter.
Now let’s have a quick look at Facebook…
Facebook for Your Branding
Using Facebook for your branding is a bit more complex in terms of the amount and the quality of relevant content that you can add to your posts.
This means you can market your brand far more effectively, it’s likely that the word will get out to a smaller audience. But there are other ways to use Facebook that you do not have with Twitter…
For instance, you can set up a fan page that has a sales tab for your company and then using ads market the page to a large audience based on the demographics that you select. This is also known as PPC or Pay Per Click.
This is also known as PPC or Pay Per Click…
I have some training available right here on my website for this if you are interested, here is the link:
===> PPC Training <===
Using paid ads will allow you to build your brand outside the current set of friends you have, just be aware that this will cost you money so you need to plan carefully when you do this.
Also remember that when you use Selective Twitter, send only some of your tweets to Facebook, but not all…It will be overkill and over time, people will get annoyed or ignore your posts.
Know too that if people start perceiving that you only are a spammer or self-centered, and not sharing other interesting things, they will ignore you. Adding in all your Tweets to your Facebook feed will do this.
Next Step: Email Campaigns for Your Branding
OK, you have worked hard to get a large list of followers and friends on the social sites, now what will you do to start monetizing them?
My suggestion is that you take your branding to a more personal level. use that list you have acquired to start to build a more personal relationship with them and then you can market your brand, products, and promotions directly to them.
This is done through sending of emails to the provided addresses that you gather. You also will have collected the names of the people so you can personalize the emails you send.
Most people use an email autoresponder service to get this done. It just frees you up for other pressing tasks you have in your life, and they work 24/7. That means you do not have to.
Setting up a series of emails helps you stay in contact, build on the start you have in place, and also a chance to add in subtle branding for yourself or your business…
Your Email Signature – An Excellent Opportunity To Brand Yourself and Your Business
When you plan your email series or campaigns, be sure to add in an automatic signature that includes your brand.
This area should point readers to your website, maybe to an offer of the week, or maybe to a personal biography, depending on what stage the receiver is in with the relationship you are establishing.
You can use this same tactic when you are contacted via email by someone for any reason as well. Just make sure that the message you are sending in the signature area matches the intended receiver.
What Should You Include In Your Introductory Email
In the case of Twitter, you can automate the direct message to people who start following you through direct messaging. This message will be sent to them as soon as they follow you. You’re on your own with Facebook.
With Facebook, you do not have that option. I would recommend using the introductory video that you provide a link to in your thank you post to new friends, that will do the same thing.
One caution…On introductory emails, you are only seeking to let readers know who you are, add value for them, and that is it. You are not selling anything. There will be plenty of time to sell something later; first, try to establish a genuine connection with people, but make them aware of your brand.
Believe me, there will be time to sell something later on. With the introductory email, you are establishing a real connection with readers. Still, you can make them aware of your brand. No harm in that.
Planning an Email Branding Campaign
As you create your series of emails, look at services like AWeber.com or Get Response, Mail Chimp or similar to see which might work for you…
These services will store and schedule emails to be sent automatically over days as you set up, and as new leads subscribe to your list, they can be sent an introductory email and then follow on emails.
Once you have a relationship started, and have built up trust through providing relevant and useful content, then you can offer in an informal manner links to your products and offers.
When you start doing this, be sure to include branding information like videos and applications that can help people, and make them understand more about what you and your company offer.
Always mix in free branding offers with sales offers. I recommend using a 4 to one 1 ratio, at least initially. That means for every 4 emails you send, 1 will be offering something to sell.
This will help make sure that your emails continue to be opened. Readers will know that when they open an email from you, they aren’t expecting that they’ll be sold something every time. Most people just don’t like that.
If they see that you are giving away free information at least hal the time, and this information will benefit them, they are much more likely to open your emails.
Play with the headline you use for your emails. Start collecting a swipe file. By this I mean when you see a headline that attracts you, save it. You may not copy it exactly, but you can use these for ideas.
As you start sending emails, track the actions that recipients are taking. You will be able to see what is working and what not. Most of the autoresponder services will help you do this through their tools.
You can adjust your emails and campaigns using these metrics and over time have a much better follow through and conversion rate for sales.
As time goes on, your tweaking will mean that your message becomes more appealing and increase the brand awareness you are seeking, plus get more sales, as mentioned.
ADDITIONAL TRAINING ON SNAPCHAT, FACEBOOK, AND WHATS APP
I have prepared some training on What’s App, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram that you also can review if you would like. Each offers their own advantages and disadvantages.
To get to these, you can do a search in my search window, and some I will add links to right here for you:
===> What’s App Training <===
===> Snapchat Training <===
Really I would recommend that you focus on two maximum to start with, then once you have mastered these, consider adding in additional social platforms.
I say this because if you try to do all of these at one time, likely you will be disappointed with your results because you are not fully using the power of any of these.
The two I would start with is Facebook and Twitter. It is not that hard to get started quickly with both, and they are good to build a following quickly…
Depending on your niche, Youtube is also one that you should look at. The search engine size is huge, and of course, it is owned by Google, so you can tap into that combined power to get organic traffic.
Youtube also is very easy to rank for. Consider creating your own channel, adding in lots of your videos for your niche using relevant keywords, and you are off and running with organic traffic!
CONCLUSION
Today we concluded our two-part training on branding your business or yourself. Lots of advice, some personal experiences, and some tips that you can start using today!
The social media explosion over the past years along with the proliferation of mobile internet users means that more than ever today, you have a real chance to get your brand known by a lot of people globally.
This was not possible 10 years ago. Some may tell you it is too late, you have missed the boat when it comes to getting started. I will tell you that there is more opportunity than ever to get started!
The internet continues to grow, and the competition is getting more fierce for the attention of the internet surfers out there, but if you plan and execute that plan you can get a piece of the business too.
The most important thing is to get started…Today!
FINAL POINT
As always I as that readers add in their feedback on my posts…In this case, what is your feeling on branding? Does it apply to you, what are your experiences, and maybe you can add in additional points that are not covered in this tutorial. It helps everyone when we share and I thank you in advance for your participation!
Cheers!
ABOUT DAVE:
Dave has been involved in sales for 20 years with offline products and has been fortunate to have traveled the world while realizing up to $4 million USD a month in gross sales of products he promoted.
He has brought that experience to the online world and this is one of his online ventures. This site is intended to present ideas, products, tools, tips and more that will help all those seeking to make money online have success.
Subjects covered are diverse, but in totem, you can learn a lot about the things that you will need to have success with online business right here. This includes things to do and things NOT to do!
Enjoy!