In my posts, I talk about the power of your personal brand on social media sites. More than any other factor, social media sites have forced a change in traditional branding and marketing. In this post, I will share the three main ingredients in the recipe called your Social Media Brand. Enjoy and prosper.
1. Your Personal Brand
In traditional marketing, you might get away with copy cat marketing. We know what is happening to traditional marketing! Use copy cat marketing on social media sites, you will be ignored.
The first step in social media branding is to uncover the personal qualities you bring to your business.
Who are you? You are a blend of the skills you possess; the training you have; and the experiences that make up your life. This combination makes you different from everyone else.
It takes effort to go beneath your business persona to uncover your personal brand. Dig deeper than labels, go beyond credentials, and share more than just experience. You want to touch the unique passion that drove you to create your business. You want to capture the juices that get you up every morning to work on your business.
Think of your personal brand as your business DNA. People want to get to know you, like you and trust you. Do not be afraid to express your personal business DNA on social media sites.
2. A Core Benefit
Traditional brand marketing hypes every feature of a product with the hopes that at least one of them will stick. Social media sites do not tolerate hard selling.
The second step in creating your social media brand is identifying a single benefit your customer will receive from your business.
A benefit is how you make your customer feel and make their life better. You are not describing the color or the shape, or the size of your product. You are not describing how it works or its price. Identify one outstanding way you make your customer’s life better. Lay claim to one place in the market that says, “This is how your life will be different as a result of my product or service.”
Your competition may offer many of the same benefits. That’s ok. You want to choose a specific benefit that you personally claim as your own in the market place that makes an emotional connection with your customer. No one can take this from you.
Which business brand would you buy? “I help people organize the clutter in their home offices”. Or. “I find the root cause of your clutter so it never comes back”.
You gain market power when you are absolutely clear about what you offer. You offer one thing and do it exceptionally well. Customers love how you make them feel.
3. The Right Group of Customers
The goal of traditional marketing is to catch as many prospects as possible. Social media marketing focuses on a group of ideal customers.
If you have done your homework, you know the characteristics of your ideal customers. You know why they brought from you. You know what is important to them. You know the emotional connection you made with them. They wanted exactly what you were offering and the way you offered it.
Your marketing aims at getting more of these ideal customers for your business. You do this by going where your ideal customers hang out. You attract customers to your business by offering the same rewarding experience your best customers have already had with you.
For every business, there is a group of customers that is a perfect match. They want exactly what you are offering.
Traditional marketing is dying. Mass marketing is all but dead. Social marketing is where you will find your ideal customers.
Conclusion
Social media sites call for a different form of business branding. Your social media brand should include the unique personal qualities you bring to the table; a single benefit that makes your customer’s life better with a focus on an ideal group of customers that are the perfect fit for your business.
To be continued, your comments and questions are welcomed…
Al Hanzal
