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How to Effectively Use Social Media to Grow Your Business

How to Effectively Use Social Media to Grow Your Business

At this point, we all know social media has become a commonplace for consumers to discover and learn about brands. If you’re not maintaining an online presence – rest assured, you are giving your competition a noticeable advantage.

The possibilities are endless with social media marketing. From increasing your brand’s awareness to building relationships with your target consumers, marketing in the virtual space can add value to your brand in more ways than one.

Although the sky is the limit with what you can achieve for your brand through social media marketing, it is not always the easiest. At WBG, we have a tried and true social media strategy that we implement with every one of our clients — although sometimes it varies, there are always three constants that we focus on: events, design, and hashtags.

Let’s take a look at some brands we’ve recently worked with and show you how we implement the three tactics listed above in all of our social media campaigns to produce measurable results.

Events

One of our favorite tactics for growing a successful social media account is through events. Online events such as giveaways, sales, or contests are a great way to drum up attention and get people to interact with your brand.

With events, you can build and strengthen your brand’s community, which can be done in so many creative ways depending on your community’s interests!

What we especially like about giveaway posts is their ability to incentivize people to follow brands and raise brand awareness. We’re always asking for two or three things in these types of posts: a follow, tag your friends, and, of course, to like the post.

Having people follow your brand’s account for giveaways is usually free advertising in the future since most people don’t end up unfollowing you after. With contestants tagging their friends in order to be considered for the prize, you can expand your brand’s awareness without spending extra money on boosting posts. And as I’m sure you’re all aware, liking the post will help it appear on the discover page, but it also helps it appear at the top of whichever hashtags are used — if you get enough likes.

Although giveaways are great for building brand awareness, events such as photo contests, like above, are great for interacting with your brand’s core consumers. These events directly translate into customer loyalty, just like big brands with cult
followings such as Carhartt or Apple.

Design

Social media loves visuals. Videos, images, really any kind of graphic will always outperform posts that only contain texts. That’s why well-thought out visual designs are key to building brand awareness and grabbing the attention of viewers with the
little time you have.

When it comes to design we like to focus on a few things like color, balance, and lines when creating the perfect social media post.

Each of these designs above execute the aforementioned design principles, but it’s
important to understand why they work.

Colors are hands down one of the most important yet complex aspects of social media design. Did you know that a case study revealed that up to 90% of snap judgments about products can be based on color alone? It makes sense when you think about color theory and its use to create a mood or convey emotions.

Certain colors elicit certain emotions and depending on the brand and the industry it
belongs to, it’s vital to pick the right colors. Look at the differences in the designs
above and notice how the colors vary between brands and the personalities conveyed through them.

Another important factor when it comes to visual designs is the use of balance and lines. Both the use of balance and lines in these designs are pretty straightforward but important to the overall aesthetic of your post.

Without balance, your image can come off as busy or cluttered – pulling your viewers
in every direction and giving them a headache, ultimately forcing whoever to scroll to
the next post on their feed.

On the other hand, a balanced post with strong lines can guide and help viewers understand the message you are trying to deliver. With balance and lines, you can create a sense of harmony and comfort that people unknowingly look for in designs.

Hashtags

Although we’re listing it last out of our social media tactic do’s, it is far from the least important part of how WBG grows social media channels.

Knowing how to use hashtags within your social posts is an art. Use a hashtag with too many posts, such as healthy choices (26 million), and your post will never be seen because you’re competing with too many other posts. Use a hashtag with too few posts like glassjug (7 thousand); then you’ll never be seen because no one is looking up that hashtag.

The trick is to find hashtags somewhere in the middle of these extremes for optimal visibility and engagement.

Another reason why hashtags are helpful to us is their ability to hyper-focus on your target audience rather than blindly posting, hoping someone will notice. With hashtags, you can go to your prospective consumer’s virtual front doorstep and show them how your product or service can benefit their life.

Creating your own hashtag (or choosing a hashtag with little use) for a service, product, or an upcoming event is also a great way to promote brand awareness. By doing this repeatedly, you’re giving your brand the opportunity essentially control this hashtag. Continuously including that hashtag in your posts helps increase your visibility and helps users begin to associate your business with that hashtag, further establishing your brand.

The Results

When these three social media tactics are properly implemented, we guarantee you will begin to see noticeable growth over time on your social media accounts and online presence overall.

Below you can see the data on one of our client’s social media performances before and after we started helping them with their social media needs.

Before we took over their social accounts in April, they were receiving minimal likes, and their engagement with users was minimal. Over the next three months we were able to successfully increase likes, comments, and interactions by adhering to our three big social media tactics: events, designs, and hashtags.

Let WBG Grow Your Social Media Accounts

WeBranding Global is a full service creative agency and marketing consulting network driven to help brands fulfill their true potential by connecting them to the world around them.

We love working with brands to plan and create strategic social media strategies to help you build better brand awareness and develop and connect with communities that interest you.

Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about how we can help grow your social media accounts.

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: The Importance of Branding

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: The Importance of Branding

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Branding can be one of the most powerful disciplines within your marketing strategy to gain or lose momentum for any size business. Since your brand is a reflection of who you are, the feeling customers get when they think of you, or briefly put your personality, it’s incumbent upon your business to have a good branding strategy to thrive in any marketplace.

Because when branding is done right, your company will see an increase in sales, a rise in product value, and ultimately make a name for yourself among a sea of competitors.

Over the years, many brands have come and gone because of 5 unique qualities that distinguish a good brand from a bad one—those being consistency, uniqueness, simplicity, storytelling, and engagement.

Branding disasters and triumphs happen all the time. So when globally renowned brands find success or failure with their strategies, it’s important to note whether you should implement these tactics for your own development or avoid others’ mistakes.

 

Now is the best time to re-evaluate your branding strategies – with summer at our front doorstep and the pandemic winding down, people are ready to interact with brands again and spend money. To help, we’ll review a few household-named brands, so can you compare them to your own branding strategies and see how they match up.

 

So let’s take a look at a few major brands like Carhartt, Fubu, and REI to learn more about where they found success or failure to help you learn more about your own brand.

Carhartt

Carhartt is one of our favorite brands for several reasons and is the perfect example of how branding should be implemented. For the 126 years they have been around, they’ve made little to no mistakes with their branding strategies, which is unmistakably impressive.

In the beginning, the essential part of their branding success was storytelling through their defined audience. Carhartt has been known to make durable, long-lasting clothes for blue-collar workers. This campaign or brand idea highlighted the ruggedness of these workers, ultimately creating a tribe mentality between everyone working a blue-collar job and giving them something in common.

This commonality led to an exchange of experiences and why people personally use Carhartt. This is the basis of how successful brands are built, which ultimately drives growth, awareness, and sales.

But what is more impressive with Carhartt’s brand is its ability to change with the times. For years, Carhartt’s brand perception was the male blue-collar worker, but as we’ve made technological advances, that need is not as prevalent as it once was. Recognizing this, they implemented several campaigns directed toward women, artisans, and craftspeople to meet the needs of a new and growing customer base. Even now, you can find Carhartt on the streets of NYC because of what it represents: getting things done.

Brand Takeaways:

There is a lot to learn from Carhartt and its branding and marketing strategies. Still, the biggest takeaways for any brand are knowing who your audience is, developing communities within that audience, and knowing when to adapt to your audience.

Fubu

Like Carhartt, Fubu is a clothing brand, but instead of focusing on the blue-collar life, they represent streetwear.

In the 90s and early 2000s, Fubu was inescapable, you couldn’t walk a block in any major city without seeing someone wearing one of their designs, and within only a few years, they managed to fade from the limelight. But why?

There are a few reasons for their downfall, but the biggest one is how they strayed away from their brand. When you aren’t consistent with your brand, you confuse your customers as to what you stand for or against, and ultimately the struggle to trust you.

For instance, in 2001, Fubu decided to expand by creating a record label. They entered an entirely different industry without strategically aligning themselves with industry professionals or a business strategy.

If you’re thinking about expanding your business, it is always important to ask yourself why you are expanding and does it reflect your current brand’s vision or mission?

Similarly, Fubu started designing and purchasing inventory on a much larger scale than was needed or wanted. Without consulting their customers, they unknowingly strayed away from what made them a 350 million dollar a year grossing company.

Brand Takeaways:

Fubu’s downfall can be directly correlated with its inconsistency in brand strategy. Rather than keeping it simple, they ended up biting off more than they could chew, which led to confusion, indifference, and a lack of trust in their consumer base. Had they been more attentive to their customer’s needs, just like Carhartt, they may still be as relevant today as they were 20 years ago.

REI

Another exemplary brand to take note of is REI. For those who don’t know, REI is a co-op that sells outdoor equipment for basically every scenario, whether it’s camping, hiking, biking, or simply the clothes people love to wear while being outside.

REI has made strides in the branding world because of the simplicity of its brand, its willingness to educate and engage with its consumer base, and the transparency in their companies goals.

REI has always stayed true to its mission: getting people outside. A few years ago, REI started the Opt Outside movement, which encourages people to step away from their screens and (you guessed it) go outside. What is particularly appealing to people about this movement is that REI isn’t asking you to wear their gear or use a hashtag to promote their own products. They simply want people to go outside.

Not only do they encourage people to go outside, but they provide educational guides and resources to help people get outside and plan adventures. It’s a direct parallel to thought leadership. They’ve established themselves as the go-to resource for all things outdoor, which has inspired brand loyalty and a massive following.

If that isn’t enough for you, they even host events ranging from volunteering to clean up your local park to classes with certified instructors that help teach you various outdoor activities. Together, all of these events prove their mission statement isn’t just a gimmick but what they truly stand for, and people love it.

Brand Takeaways:

REI turned itself into the go-to resource for everything outdoors, which is what any brand should strive for regardless of industry. By being authentic and genuine to their brand, they have developed a community and cult following that will share their values for years to come. By inviting, educating, and trusting their consumers to go outside, they have built a truly unique brand.

How WBG can help your branding needs

We’re the one-stop shop to help develop or reinvent your brand. We can assist you in avoiding the mistakes other brands have made and guide you to the successes other brands have found. Whether it’s the message you’re sending out into the world or the aesthetic of your designs, logos, or fonts, we can advise along the way so you can reach the level of awareness your company or business deserve.

Get in contact with us today.

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Branding vs. Marketing 101

Branding vs. Marketing 101

In the business world, it sometimes seems like there is a new acronym invented every day or a buzzword your colleagues will become obsessed with to describe a specific process or strategy. Although some of them do sound silly, it is important to be able to differentiate their meanings while understanding the concept they are describing. 

Coincidentally, this happens all too often when describing branding and marketing. A significant amount of people believe these terms are interchangeable when in reality, they are not. 

Although these concepts work in tandem when appropriately utilized to upscale your business successfully, they could not be further apart in terms of what they are and how they are implemented in your day-to-day operations. 

How to Define Branding and Marketing 

Let’s start with properly defining each of these terms/concepts so you can better implement them within your strategic business processes moving forward. 

Many people think branding is just the logo at the bottom of your email or on the front of your office door, but it’s so much more. It reflects what you, your team, and your company represent. 

It defines what your business stands for and distinguishes you from your competitors to help shape how consumers think of your products or services. For example, this can be done through your core values, mission statement, and company culture. 

Now, let’s talk about what marketing is. Simply put, it’s the set of tools, activities, and strategies you use to promote your product, service, and company, so consumers understand the value you have to offer them.

Examples of marketing would include:

  • Social media marketing
  • Sponsored ads
  • Content marketing
  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Direct mailers
  • Email marketing
  • Television and video ad slots
  • SMS texts 
  • Telemarketing 

Unlike your brand, your marketing strategies should constantly evolve to gain better insight into your customers and define who they are. 

Some changes are implemented due to an ineffective campaign that did not garner the sales or attention you were expecting. Other changes may occur because you improperly identified your target audience for a new product or service you’re offering. 

There is a multitude of reasons why your marketing strategies should continue to develop and stay fresh, but your brand needs to remain consistent throughout this process. 

Maintaining a consistent brand identity is essential because it allows you to build long-lasting relationships with your consumers, which in turn helps you better understand their needs and creates brand loyalty. 

Which Comes First, the Branding or the Marketing?

It’s important to have an established brand when it comes time to focus on your marketing strategies. If you don’t have a brand to market, you will most likely be wasting time, money, and efforts on marketing campaigns.

This is because memorable brands have a lasting impact on your current and prospective consumers. People want to do business with unique brands that they believe in. So even if your marketing strategies are exemplary, your brand is bland. It doesn’t distinguish itself from your competitors, and it will most likely not deliver the results that you were expecting.

With an established brand in place that resonates with your target audience, you will be able to better utilize and hone in on your marketing efforts as to what works or what doesn’t.

To foster a relationship and build a connection with communities, you’ll need to have an established brand practice within your organization before you begin your marketing efforts.

How to Build Your Brand

Now that you understand the importance of having a unique and distinguishable brand before implementing any marketing practices, let’s discuss how to combine these strategies to build your brand and market it successfully.

So let’s ask this: What separates your brand from your competitors, and what is supposed to make it so unique in the eyes of your consumers? Are you family-friendly, or is your product or service designed for only a niche age group? If you’re a lifestyle brand, are you luxurious or tailored for the everyday man?

These are the types of questions you want to ask yourself when developing your brand because when successfully implemented, your brand should reflect your target audience. You can find more questions to ask yourself here when building your brand.

How to Market your Brand

Congratulations! You’ve successfully built your brand, and now it’s time to market it. With the introduction of the digital landscape, marketing has become much more lucrative than it once was, so having an integrated marketing strategy is essential to the success of your business.

Only utilizing one marketing strategy at a time, like sending emails to potential customers or placing ads on the television, just doesn’t cut it anymore. It would be best if you had a consistent and well-developed integrated strategy.

This means you need a user-friendly website, a social media presence, create Google Ads, optimize your content for SEO value, and have a blog that connects to each other so your potential customers can find you through multiple channels.

All of these forms of marketing act as the face of your brand, and it is important to be consistent with them. Consistency allows your brand to build recognition and reinforce your brand’s place within the community.

Remember, marketing drives sales, and branding creates loyalty.

WBG is Here to Help 

We’ve talked about a lot today, and to be honest, we could discuss branding and marketing strategies in much more detail, but we hope you gained a little more insight into how branding and marketing work together.

If you’re interested in learning more about how branding and marketing strategies can elevate your business, feel free to reach out to us.

At We-Branding Global, we’re a one-stop shop for all of your brand and marketing strategy needs. Our team of industry professionals live and breath all things marketing. For years we’ve been helping people like you not only find your company’s brand or voice within your community but uniquely market it in a way that garners exponential growth!

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Say Hello.

Want to become our client, global consultant, designer, or corporate partner? Feel free to contact us. We would love to hear from you!

info@we-branding.com

JOBS

Come work with us! We are always looking for great talent to join our global teams. Please email us at job@we-branding.com

Want to know more about our data services? Please check our adtarg official website

1412 Broadway New York, NY 10018