Having a well-recognized and exclusive brand identity in the marketplace is the ultimate desire of every company, every entrepreneur.
A strong brand identity adds tremendous power to the sales and marketing efforts for every business, in every profession. Therefore, all businesses strive to achieve this goal. Technology has made this a level playing field.
Let’s discuss what it takes to create a distinct brand identity by leveraging the power of social media to create growth.
Brand Identity For A Business Organization
For a business, it is critical to plan the strategy to portray the right image to your target market. As a business, you want your company to set itself apart from the competition. You want consumers to buy your product and services. This requires a unique brand identity that your consumers can like, trust and remember.
Today, a brand can only be strong if it can connect with people in human terms. To create and establish a healthy brand identity, a business must decide who they are and what are their values. Once that is identified, then comes the marketing strategy to communicate the message in an effective manner. Social Media can bring tremendous blessings to this process if done properly.
Here is a quick list of actionable items every business, small or big, need to consider to leverage social media and establish a healthy brand image:
- Identify the vision for your business (You may call it mission statement, value proposition or even value system).
- Recognize the need to effectively communicate your vision to the world.
- Employ the right people or agencies to help you plan your social media marketing strategy.
- If your business can afford to hire external experts, research the market and hire the best agency to help you create your unique brand identity and engage your audience.
- Plan your strategy and then execute the plan. Tweak the plan as needed on the way to leverage social channels (such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube) to build your platform that delivers your message to your audience.
This strategy has been very effective for so many businesses today. In fact, if you look around, every major business organization is aggressively using social media marketing to expand their market reach. This is the right time to ride the wave and make a difference in your business.
Brand Identity For Individuals
I was speaking to a local Toastmasters group today on a similar topic. It was fun. However, from the feedback I received I got a sense that a lot of people still think that becoming well known, associating with famous people or even working towards building a brand identity is not for ‘normal people’.
If you think that building your brand identity and setting yourself apart from your competition is not important to you, you’ve got to wake up. You’ve got to take charge because if you don’t define your personal brand identity, someone else will do it for you and you may not like that.
As a job seeker, as a small business owner, as a network marketer or even as a life coach – you need personal branding. You need your unique brand image that connects you with your prospective employers or your business prospects.
You probably do not need to hire an agency to create your personal brand. You can do it yourself and if you really take it seriously, it is a lot of fun doing it.
With a laptop and an internet connection, you can be your own media company marketing your brand name all over the web. All it requires is a willingness to learn, a little planning, a little discipline and consistency.
There are three levels of personal branding for an individual and depending on where you see yourself, here are a few actionable items for you:
Beginner Level – Creating Brand Identity
If you are just beginning to explore social media and trying to figure out what is the right way to build your brand identity, I recommend you to read following posts:
- Brand Yourself To Success: Get The Personal Branding GPS e-Book
- How To Leverage Social Media For Business Success
- What Not To Do On Social Media If You Are An Entrepreneur
- Your Personal Branding Efforts Drive The Size Of Your Success
Intermediate Level – Creating Brand Identity
You probably already understand the value of personal branding. You already have established your presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc.
I want to talk to you about blogging. You probably already have a website as well. However, probably you do not have a blog or you aren’t paying much attention to it.
I want to emphasize the importance of blogging to you. I want you to know that your business growth could skyrocket if you blog. I want you to know that your target market will start loving you much more if you share your knowledge, your experience and your news through your blog.
Here are a few posts that you may find interesting, as these talk about the importance of blogging and the power it adds to your personal branding efforts:
- Why Blogging Is Important To Your Personal Branding Efforts
- Choosing The Best Blogging Platform For Your Needs
- How To Setup Your Self-Hosted WordPress Website And Blog
Advance Level – Creating Brand Identity
You already have a self-hosted website and probably a WordPress blog. You are blogging already. You already have an RSS feed that people can subscribe to. You also have a good presence and following on social media platforms.
At this level, your major battle is the list building. Your brand needs loyal following. You need a growing list. Your major challenge is no more the creating of brand identity. Your battle cry is to take your brand to the next level.
Here are a few important actionable items I think advance users of social media and most bloggers should focus on:
- Networking with other bloggers and influential people who may be helpful to boost your brand identity.
- Spend some time and resources on doing proper SEO work on your website to get it to rank higher.
- Seek mentorship of experts and act on their recommendations. This can be a huge gain.
Questions: How will you define your brand identity? What strategy do you follow to establish your brand value in your social and professional network? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments by clicking here. Thank you kindly.
When I go out to a job interview and the interviewer already knows me in a good way because of his/her research on me on social media, it gives me a positive start.
Creating a brand identity to me is creating a positive aura around my name on the internet.
You got it right Avinash. That’s exactly branding is all about!
This is great article! Mr. Kumar, Thanks.
I am also wondering if i can figure, how to put some information on my website, Like how to share my arts, knowledge and most importantly my resume on site in such way that it will share info and improve my branding?
Atit,
Thank you for your appreciation. Also, I like the fact that you brought up the topic of resumes.
The way I see it is, resume was relevant (it still is) for those who didn’t have a website. Today, now that you already have a website of your own, your domain represents you. Your articles, your art work, your ABOUT page represents your profile. Your Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc bring endorsements. Do you still need such a thing like a resume?
Agree:). Thanks! I think i just need to learn how to organize and put it into format in such way that i can represent those segment well!
Speechless Post. I’m working on personal identity since few years. This is awesome.
Oh, Thank you! Glad you enjoyed this post.
Brand identity is very important in today world. One year ago I had no idea what it is, but because of Kumar, now I have knowledge and constantly keep on getting more information on this topic. Thank you, Kumar!
You are very welcome Aistis. You are doing a great job!
Hi Kumar,
I must say you have said it all, branding is very important in everything you do because it is mostly through branding that you stand out from the crowd. I love this.
Thanks for sharing
Thank you Olili for coming back again. The whole idea is strengthen our brand values as we keep moving forward. I am glad you enjoyed this post as well.
You’re spot on! My goal is to create something that people have NEVER seen before. I want to shock the world. Good post!
Hi Kumar, this is my first time here and I can see I am going to spend a lot of time here! Great information. Just this weekend, me and my friends were talking about branding as it is so important in everything you do and it is so important to evolve this as you grow…would you agree? My brand is an extension of my identity…and I really like to review it and strengthen it regularly…something I think people often do once and then forget about…but branding allows for consistency.
I am really looking forward to reading more inspiration from you!
Hi Sarupa,
Yes, I do agree. Our branding efforts help us evolve just as we evolve as a person living life and doing what must be done.
Not necessarily is your brand an extension of your identity though. You always have a brand whether or not you know it. You always have a brand identity whether or not a lot of people know it.
The branding work, in my experience, is about expanding that brand identity so the world can see it. Branding is about taking control on what people see or envision when they think of you, or, when they come across your name somewhere (in the online world, it’s mostly Google). That requires efforts, strategizing and consistency as you rightly said.
By the way, thank you for taking time to share your thoughts and those words of appreciation. It’s my pleasure to meet you 🙂
You have a wonderful day and a sucessful week coming up!
Regards,
Kumar