A big part of getting your business off the ground is establishing your brand. Once people understand, recognize and value your brand, you will get more customers. But do you really know what your brand is?

It is just a recognizable logo, like the Target bullseye or the swoosh on a Nike shoe? No, it’s much more than that. A company brand should have a life of its own. Does your brand have:

1. A personality? What are the tone and voice?
2. An emotion? Does it strike an emotional chord?
3. A color? Does it have an identifiable color(s) and/or image?
4. Authenticity? This is very important in the social media realm. Everyone can spot a fake story.

Once you have established our brand, you can utilize the social media networks to introduce it to the world. However, there is one social media network that beats out the others in generating followers, which can convert to subscribers. Instagram.

This social media gem was created to share images, rather than text like Twitter. You can include text with an image, but it is limited.

Instagram was created in 2010 and has over 500 million active users. Why do people love it?

• Mobility. You can use Instagram on any device and immediately edit images.
• Visual. Most people are visual learners, which is why it’s appealing to users.
• Different. It’s not like the other apps (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) out there.
• Function. There is more control over spam because there is hardly any text. It encourages interaction and networking.

A Social Media Marketing Tool

Using Instagram to build your brand strategy is easy. As with any tool, you just need to know how to use it to enjoy it. So, how can we use it for building a brand, and a brand strategy to shortly follow?

First, think of what you can do for free – a shout out. We hear shout outs all the time – award ceremonies, posts, and radio programs. Having a celebrity give a shout out for your brand is pure gold.

Second, now think about what you can pay for – a paid shout out. This is where celebrities are starting to make money. A simple shout out can cost upwards of $10,000. Shout outs are also a way to build your email list.

Third, create compelling content. This is the golden rule for anything you post (i.e., blog). You don’t want to just put words down on “paper” just for the sake of something to “say.” Content that is valuable to your customers will also be authentic.

The goal is to have visitors coming back for more. This can be done by educating and inspiring visitors. This also includes having meaningful images.

Fourth, create a community. A community is your audience; they all have a number of things in common, aside from liking your brand. When you find out what else they like, you can connect it to your brand through a partnership.

The number one goal of a community is to get their attention. So, you should post at the times when most people are using Instagram. You should also ask for engagement, such as asking them to give their feedback and/or to go to your website.

Brand & Reputation

A brand and reputation management go hand in hand. After all, the brand plays a big part in the company’s reputation. It’s wise to stay on top of reputation management as well as SEO tools.

At Result Driven Marketing, we have the experience and track record when it comes to helping a wide range of business achieve their goals through a digital marketing strategy. Contact us today at (215) 393-8700 to see how we can help your business grow.

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