Building your Brand on Social Media

“People who consider buying from you want to relate to you and your product or service and through social media, they can”

Social media is essential to building a brand in 2020 because it will make sure that your message is reaching its intended audience. Every social media platform has its own mix of demographics and depending on your brand, you may have to be on as many of them as possible. 

Social media demographics are not what they used to be. It’s not the young people using TikTok and Instagram and the older crowd is cruising Facebook and Pinterest recipe collecting. All ages, genders, etc are using all sorts of social media these days. Your brand has to be able to target the right audience on the right platform.

 Most popular social media platforms globally for 2020 (so far)

•  Facebook
• TikTok
•  Instagram
•  Twitter
•  Tumblr
• LinkedIn
• WhatsApp
•  Snapchat
• Pinterest
• Reddit
• YouTube

Take a look below just to see why people are using social media and if you look really closely you will see that this survey was taken in 2018 by almost 80,000 people between the ages of 16-64. 

You must spread your brand's seed so it can flourish and reach a  potential audience you didn't even know existed. So knowing which social media platform(s) to use is a key factor in social media branding.

Get to know the other guy, by getting to know your competition you will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to differentiate yourself as a brand. Being able to stay on top of your competitors will allow your brand to stand out and be authentic because you are doing your own thing not what everyone else is doing. 

This is a perfect way to stay ahead and keep your audience engaged with what your brand is about.

Attracting your audience is one thing, keeping them locked on your brand is another story. Keeping tabs on competitors can also allow you to have a better foundation and to be able to take care of your audience where the other guy may be lacking. You can improve and evolve constantly, giving people a better experience.

Pay attention to social media trends in 2020. Staying on top of trends is a key factor in building your brand. Not only are you with the here and now but people are expecting to be amused and wowed. It has been proven that people are unconsciously aware of trends in social media.

These are the top trends to pay attention to and should be used to help build your brand in 2020.

Go Live

People don’t want fake anymore, they want an authentic experience. By truly keeping it real and genuine you will be giving people the feeling that they are part of your brand and what it's about. 

That’s why live streaming is steadily increasing, just as video content in general. The biggest social media platforms make live streaming so easy that everyone can easily get started.

Giving insights into your brand’s daily business and what the inside team is up to is an awesome way to build relationships through live streaming.

Educating your audience through live streaming is a huge trend. People want to learn and grow more now than ever, so if you can educate your audience on your brand in some way it's a proven plus.

Get your audience excited about your live streams by announcing specific times and provide scheduling for when the live stream will start. It gives your people something to get pumped up about.

Video is Gold

Personal branding is more important than ever before, and the video is playing a huge role in 2020. If you want to build relationships with your audience and a lasting brand on social media, you need to get used to creating videos.

Through video content, you are able to show and give so much more emotion and energy than through basic images or text. Your audience wants to see you in action, videos give them another connection to your brand. Those people are all potential customers so always remember people buy from people.

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Micro- and Nano-influencers

Influencer marketing is changing, it is all going back to your audience wanting an authentic experience and being able to trust a brand because it’s able to provide them with that authentic feeling.

Million-follower influencers are losing trust with their followers because there is no real authenticity while micro-influencers and nano-influencers are rapidly rising. Nano-influencers are usually those with around 1,000 to 5,000 followers, while micro-influencers can have up to 50,000+. 

People can relate more to smaller influencers. The million-dollar, Fastlane lifestyle is not attainable or relatable for most people, so they lose trust with big influencers. People want to watch other people who seem to be just like them.

Small influencers can build strong relationships with their followers and community and drive more sales to another level if they engage in brand cooperations.

GIFs

Even if it doesn't seem like a new trend on social media platforms it really has risen. Think how on Instagram GIFs are quickly growing in popularity, people are using them more now than ever. Look at GIFs like this “in with old and out with the new”. GIFs use in brand building and awareness has been increasing since 2019 and 2020 is no exception it’s blowing up.

It is relatively easy to create cool and funny GIFs of your brand and even of your product or service and people really like and enjoy them.

If you can motivate your community to use your GIFs in their own stories, you will get free advertisement. GIFs will also make your postings unique and fun. 

If you have a few specific GIFs that you use often, people will recognize your brand and engage more often. That's what we like to call brand association.

Remember building your brand on social media needs to be done strategically, you will need a plan of action and that is an obvious must. Do keep in mind though the more personal you are, the more real the content you share of your brand will attract and keep your audience behind your brand because 2020 is all about the authentic experience.