Are you consistent with your social media strategy?

January 15, 2014. By Donovan Craig in

As a business owner establishing your brand is an important component of an effective marketing strategy. So how does social media branding fit into your plans? And how do you maintain your brand consistency across so many different social media channels?

What is brand consistency?

Many businesses have both a physical and an online presence. Brand consistency means that you provide the same information to your customers, regardless of the medium or social media channel. For example, customers will expect the same prices, information, expertise and discounts whether they are buying from your physical store or from your online shop.

And since 62% of mobile users tend to use a mobile device to check out product information and prices – whilst they are in your physical store – brand consistency is important to your bottom line.

Inconsistent information across different channels can cause customers to mistrust your brand – whereas brand consistency helps engage customers and promotes a positive brand experience. So what you say to customers must be consistent, whereas how you say it can be different depending on which social media channel you are using.

Here are some ways to maintain your brand consistency:

  1. You can post the same information across different social media but in different ways – if you use Twitter you only have 140 characters so you need to be concise and on-point, you can expand on your content in Facebook or include lots of photos in Pinterest and add lots more content in Tumblr.
  2. Your brand is not simply your product or service – it is how the world sees you. So everything you post or tweet, all of your images on Pinterest, your Linkedlin account – all of this information contributes to your brand image. Consistency is key. Know your brand and create a social media strategy that promotes trust in your brand.
  3. Make sure you update your product information online and keep it consistent with what is in your physical store. Customers become frustrated when prices are not consistent across channels and even more so when prices or information are not updated.
  4. Engage your customers and encourage them to Like posts and Share your content. Answer customer queries online so that all your viewers can benefit from the information. You want to encourage communication between your business and your customers.
  5. Offer free shipping on products bought online – so that their price remains consistent with those in-store, or offer in-store pickup of online purchases.
  6. Building a brand takes time, so ensuring consistency in your messages is paramount to creating good brand awareness.
  7. Consistent does not mean boring – your message must remain the same but you can brain-storm fresh, new marketing ideas for your campaigns.
  8. Get help to determine what types of messages work best on the different social media channels for your brand.
  9. Try and incorporate an emotional message or a lifestyle approach in your messages – people that have an emotional attachment to your brand are great ambassadors for your brand.
  10. Make sure that your logos and visual marketing strategies are also consistent across different channels.

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Part 1: 10 Tips to Boost Your Social Media Presence

Part 2: Are you promoting Facebook, or your business?

If you want to discuss your branding strategy – contact the experts at SnapFrozen – digital experts of the future.