A strong audience base is the foundation of any thriving business. Your job? To nurture prospects as they discover your brand and move through the buyer’s journey.

But nurturing your audience takes time and strategy. From building trust to conveying value to showing up consistently, growing your reach and supporting your following can feel like a full-time job and an intricate dance. 

Enter: Social media branding.

As part of a solid multi-channel marketing approach, social media branding can be a helpful nurturing tool for businesses looking to grow their audiences.

That’s why we created this handy guide to walk you through some of the key things you should prioritize – and dismiss- when building your brand on social media.

Ready to learn more?

Here are six do’s and don’ts of effective social media branding.

3 do’s of effective social media branding

Setting yourself up for success on social media is possible with the following three simple practices.

1. Define your buyer personas and understand how to solve their pain points

Before you can understand how to show up for your audience, you need to learn more about who they are. That’s why it’s essential to create detailed buyer personas and understand how to solve their problems.

Take Luxury Presence as an example, a real estate SEO company in the US that helps real estate agents and teams thrive online.

In the following example, you’ll notice that Luxury Presence highlights an audience pain point (the desire to elevate digital presence) and provides a solution (its property websites and networks app).

This is a simple yet powerful way to position your brand as the solution to your audience’s problems so they can begin making their way through the funnel.

So, what are some key pain points you can help solve?

While we’re on the subject, don’t forget to engage with your audience via your posts and Stories. Reply to every comment, question, or concern – bonus points for using four or more words as shown in the example below.

2. Create your branding basics

Solidify your brand image by setting up branding basics, such as your logo, value statement, bio text, color palette, and any relevant brand elements and images.

When creating your branding basics, stay consistent across the board. To create a memorable image in your target audience’s minds, they need to see similar imagery, messaging, and styling when your brand pops up in their feeds.

If possible, hire a graphic designer to create correctly sized branding assets for your social media profiles. If you need to DIY it, use tools like vector graphics and design templates to remain consistent.

When it comes to your bio text, highlight your target audience and your value statement. For instance, “we furnish dorms and living spaces with eco-friendly furniture for busy students on a budget.” This is also the perfect time to create a consistent posting schedule and finalize your social media marketing KPIs.

3. Tailor your content to each social media channel you’re utilizing

Promote an authentic brand image by posting content that’s native to each platform you’re marketing on. That includes paying attention to image sizing requirements, hashtag limits, and ideal content types.

When in doubt, if it looks like you’ve copied and pasted it, it’s not a good move. Take the brand American Trucks as an example, an automotive parts company that specializes in selling rims for trucks, pick-up parts, and other truck accessories.

If you head to the brand’s Facebook page, Instagram page, and YouTube page, you’ll notice the content varies and is individually tailored per channel – a must to making the most out of each platform.

Integrating QR codes into your social media strategy can be a savvy move, especially if you are using a custom QR Code generator to create social media QR Codes. These QR Codes can be implemented on all your external channels, such as your website. It’s an excellent pathway for external website visitors to be redirected to your social media profile.

3 dont’s of effective social media branding

When it comes to social media branding, here’s what not to do.

1. Don’t obsess over your competitors

While it’s helpful to understand what type of competitors your business competes with on social media, it’s important to strike the right balance between inspiration and obsession.

In other words, it’s fine to feel inspired by what other brands are doing. But don’t forget to hone in on your own special magic sauce so you can stand out and create a targeted following.

So, look, get inspired, and then ignore your competitors and focus on your own content goals instead.

2. Don’t forget about the importance of lead magnets

Keep prospects interested and engaged in your brand by integrating irresistible lead magnets throughout your social media marketing campaigns. Stay organized and automate your campaigns by using an omnichannel marketing platform.

Not sure what kind of lead magnets to use? Focus on delivering value.

Think about it: What kind of freebies, downloadables, or solutions could help your audience add value to their lives?

For instance, here are some examples of lead magnets you might use if you’re marketing for an EdTech company that specializes in ecommerce education:

  • An ebook about how to start an ecommerce business
  • A free mini course about ecommerce inventory management best practices
  • A ticket to a webinar about the hottest products to sell online

3. Don’t forget to tie in value-driven content

And speaking of delivering value, posting value-driven content is key to keeping your social media audience interested and engaged.

Use trends like carousel posts, bite-sized videos, and infographics to boost virality potential and share information in easily digestible formats.

Another effective way to deliver value on social media is to share posts from your brand’s blog. A nifty trick? Share snippets of your most popular articles and ask your audience to visit your blog to continue reading.

Wrap up

Nurturing prospects as they move through the buyer’s journey is key to building a strong business. As part of a multi-channel marketing strategy, social media can play a pivotal role in helping you grow and nurture an audience.

And that’s why social media branding is so important. Are you ready to create social media branding that improves your social selling and helps you build meaningful connections with your audience? We hope today’s article has inspired you to do just that.