How To Build A Strong Social Media Brand

In our Tribe Session for May 2022, Sincere Fidelis (Picture Storyteller) taught Tribe members “How To Build A Strong Social Media Brand”. She talked about building a social media brand from the experience of building her brand. Read through our session below.

What Is A Brand?

A brand is a series of external and internal attributes used as a symbol of identification.

Take note your brand is not what you say it is, but what others say it is.

12 Steps To Build A Strong Social Media Brand

List Out Your Skills

For you to build a brand on social media, write a list of things you’re good at. If you’re good at writing, good at singing or being in front of the camera. Write that list. When you have written these things down, some of them may not have any need for brand creation. Some of them are going to continue as a hobby. But for some of them, it would be something you could use to build a sustainable brand like writing. I’ve used that as an example.

Choose A Platform

The next thing we have to decide on is where you want to build this brand. You should start building your brand on 1 social media platform first. Build to a level of growth. When you divert to other social media platforms, at least 2% of those who follow you on your first social media platform can follow you to the next.

The next thing you are to do is to decide on the platform where you want to build the brand. Is it Instagram, Facebook or YouTube? Do you want to build a brand on any of this? That is the next thing to do.

Pick A Niche

After deciding on the platform where you’re going to build your brand. The next thing you’re going to decide on is what niche you want to build your brand on. To be sincere with you, writing is a very broad niche. If you say you want to build your brand as a writing brand. Where do you want your writing brand to focus? If you want to become a writer and build a brand, you need to decide what writing niche you want to build your brand on.

On Instagram, some writers focus on writing motivational quotes. Some people focus on mental health services, creative writing, lifestyle content or memes. With this, you know when I go to this person’s page; I am going there to laugh. With other pages, you know you are going to learn about relationships. Or motivational quotes that will push you through the day.

Decide on Your Brand’s Tone

Next, pick your brand tone. How do you want to have your brand perceived? For some brands, for example, Salem King, from his brand you will know he is jovial. You can come to his comment section and joke and this person is going to understand that this is a joke. He is going to reply using a joke. Why? Because of the way, he puts out his content. How he writes his caption, the way he replies to comments and because of the way he replies to story posts and all that. But on some pages, they go straight to the point. Their posts and responses to comments are professional.

Pick Your Brand Voice

How do you want people to explain your brand to others? This person is funny, she can do the work but her posts are funny. You can laugh with her. Or do you want people to say that this person is straight to the point? By knowing your brand tone, you know how you’re going to create content, and what type of content you’re going to create.

Determining your brand tone will help you decide what type of content you’re going to post. It also helps you with how you are going to be replying to comments. You cannot be straight to the point on your page and be throwing jabs on other pages. You are deviating from what your brand tone is.

Plan Your Content

The next thing to focus on now is your content. This is one of the main things in branding. Your content. You have decided that you want to be a writer and you want to focus your writing on sharing tips for creatives. That is what you want to focus your writing on. That is what you wrote in your bio. Later on, you’re posting motivational quotes that are not related to Creatives.

Let me use Social Media Oga as an example. Social Media Oga is a social media manager. She branded her page as a haven for social media girls. This is where social media managers come to get social media management tips and social media-related lifestyle content. She posts lifestyle content. But these are things related to what social media managers experience. Why? Because she focuses her page on social media management. This is what you’re going to check for. Your content should be what you want your brand to be about.

Connect and Network

When you are sure that your content is in line with what you want your brand to be perceived as. The next thing you have to do is to build connections. When you start your brand, if nobody knows that you started your brand, nobody’s going to tell anybody about your brand. How do you do this? Check big creators in your niche or communities and drop relevant comments. People are going to engage with your comments if it is relevant. Follow big creatives. You can also follow medium creatives and small creatives in your niche. But the main thing is to connect with them. To connect with them, engage them.

Work on Your Brand Aesthetics

Then, I am going to talk about brand aesthetics. Brand aesthetics talk about colour and how you arrange your feed. It Is not compulsory because many people don’t have their aesthetics in line but they have built sizeable communities. Their content speaks for them. Your content should speak to you. Even if your aesthetics are not so beautiful, your content should speak for you. When someone needs knowledge, they move to your page. They know you will provide them with the content they need. When we talk about brand aesthetics, I am not talking about logos. Your logo can be your face in a personal brand. But for a business, you can create a logo.

Build A Community

The next thing I’m talking about is building a community. A community differs from followers. You can build followers. They will follow your page. But they are not your community. A community member loves everything you do, even if it is selling sachet water. They will engage with your post and reshare it, even if they don’t buy. If you are influencing a product, they will help. They will subscribe to your newsletter and repost it. This is important for you to do.

So how do you build community members? Building a community is a give-and-take process. If you should build a community, that means they are members of your community. Also, you are a member of their community. They are people you support and they support you right back.

Step 10. Choose The Type of Content to Create

The next thing I’m going to talk about is the type of content you can create. You can create problem-solving content. Content like this answers the question that people in that niche ask. Most of my content is problem-solving content. The next type of content you can post is motivational content. You can post motivational content to motivate people. You can post inspirational content and you can also post relatable content. By relatable content, write about things people can relate to in your niche.

As a creative, talk about anything that has happened today. Creatives can relate to your laptop getting spoilt or not meeting a deadline. Issues with procrastinating or having problems with time management. Those are relatable content. Things that people in that niche can relate to. You can also write about lifestyle content, e.g., a day in your life as creative, and share things in your life.

Reach Your Target Audience

How can you reach your target audience? Know who your audience is first. For you to reach your target audience, you need to know who they are. So, if you want to reach your target audience, start by checking out where you can find them. To reach students that are creatives, you can check out pages like Zikoko Mag, and YabaLeftOnline. Sure you see people who are teenagers and creative. They may not even be creatives, but you will meet people of that age range. Go to pages where they hang out. Engage with their comments, go to their pages, and interact with them. If you like what they put up, follow their pages.

Learn To Collaborate

The next important thing is collaboration. To build your brand, learn to collaborate. Collaborations can bring you, customers, asides from the audience. It can help you make sales with your brand. Collaborate with someone in a similar niche as you. Don’t see them as your enemy. You can decide to share one post. Instagram has made it easier with its collaboration feature. So both of you can have the content on both your pages together. This means that the post will show on their pages and also show on yours. Their Followers are seeing the post. They see that list; they are seeing your brand.

It moves them to you because the person you’re collaborating with is in the same niche as you. Their audience is also the same audience you are looking for. They want the same thing your brand has to give. You can get followers and sales from there. Rather than collaborating with someone in another niche. Collaborating is the best deal.

Questions and Answers on How To Build A Brand on Social Media

Is there a need to separate my personal brand from my business brand?

There may be a need depending on what your business brand is about.

For example, Tohmeewrites has a business and lifestyle brand. Where she is a creative writer and focuses on lifestyle content. That is talking about what happened in her life, telling stories about what happened to her during the day or how her workday went. You can see that her business brand is like her personal brand. She can interrelate them with no problem. She focused her brand on lifestyle content, which is her personal life or happenings in her life.

Do I need over 1 social media account?

It depends on what your brand is about.