The “Feel” – Developing Your Brand

Just the other day I began one of my internships for the summer as a Social Media Coordinator for a company that holds an annual technology conference in central Pennsylvania. Last summer I had this very same internship, but was somewhat new to  the social media scene, especially for business gains. However, this year I have grown to learn so many new tactics about social media that I am pushing forward with ideas to make this year’s social media campaign even better than last!

No matter what platform you are using, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. it is important to develop your company and its brand through social media sites. I believe social media is one of the best platforms to do this. Through social media you have the ability to communicate with current and potential consumers as well as really show your company’s image and personality. As I thought long and hard about how I was going to utilize my new knowledge to work best for the company, I thought to myself that the more you can relate to a brand the more likely you are to want to have a relationship with that brand. By developing your brand’s image and personality I believe you can have effective communication with consumers and really develop a “feel” for you company and how consumers view your it and your brand.

Although this can turn into a complicated task, I have developed a few simple strategies that anyone apply to can make their social media platforms portray their company’s brand image and personality.

The first aspect of this job to improve on is to have a better organizational plan to develop a brand and/or “feel” for the online presence. To do this, I first needed to, in my head, on paper and eventually online, develop their online presence for the conference as a brand. I have discussed in earlier posts about allocating a name to your audience as a stereotype, of the audience your product/service is most likely going to attract. My first point of a new organizational plan for this internship is to answer this question, who is looking at your social media content? The importance of this is to pinpoint a key member of the audience so we can create content that is worthy of posting and we can be certain that our audience will be interested in.  From a marketing standpoint we can consider this the brand image or brand personality through our online presence.

The next step to take to develop the brand personality and image for the social media presence is consistency in content. Once that name and/or stereotype has been chosen for the brand, one must remember to stay consistent with the type of content that is posted. Although it is always important to shed some light and provide light-hearted posts that will provide a smile on a viewer’s face, it is important that one determines the “feel” they want  for the brand’s presence on social media. For instance, it would be difficult to have a good grasp on the feel of the brand if one post is goofy and silly while the very next is serious and technical. While I understand that in some cases it just may be like that, we should always strive for balance. After you create a post, read over it and rate it 1 to 10, 1 being very silly and 10 being very serious. If the previous post is a 10 it may not be a good idea is the next is a 2. However, creating a post rating at a 8 and the next at a 5 would be just fine. Remember develop a “feel” or personality for online presence and keep it as consistent as possible.

Once the overall brand image and personality have been established it is important to brainstorm how the content will portray each. Jotting down campaign ideas and other interesting content is important just to get your creative juices flowing. When I am planning out strategies and content to post I also remember to use different forms of media to get ideas and points across. Almost all post are text based, but adding visual may be a great touch. But, again remember to try to maintain balance, in all that you do, including visual and text based post.

Although these are just a few simple strategies, I believe with social media that these few steps can help establish a great base for your company as a brand. As you maintain these sites and stay consistent with what and how you are posting, a brand image will be developed. Not only, will an image be developed but a “personality” for your brand. These aspects of you brand are extremely important so consumers can remember and recall your brand. And with the amount of competition, no matter what industry you are in, remember and recalling a brand could be a great deciding factor.

I always like to think of a consumer and a brand as a relationship. Developing a brand image and personality that is likable and relatable to your audience should always keep them coming back for more.

“The Next Big Thing” – Vine

Have you tried it? The newest, most explosive app on the market, Vine. Tech Crunch posted yesterday that “Twitter’s Vine Hits #1”! But, let’s take a few steps back to when I got my first glimpse of this #1 app.

I can recall it was exactly two and a half months ago that I first discovered this app because I posted my first video that same day. I was waiting to enter my Consumer Behavior class when I came across a tweet from Lilly Pulitzer. It looked like a normal link to click to view a video on Twitter, however I saw the word ‘vine’. I clicked the link watched the video and immediately downloaded the application and explored it even more. At this point of time there were very few people that already had access to the application, so only people I had the ability to follow were large companies like Lilly Pulitzer and Birchbox.

I was totally intrigued by the application the minute I first looked at it, however, it took quite a while until people really got into it. Like I mentioned, I initially followed large companies and brands but when I got the notification from my first follower that actually knew who I was, it really blew up.

Ever since its initial “blow up’ I have been able to do greater research on it, because all the blogs and tech news I read were continually posting articles about the application. According to Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo Vine is “the next big thing”. And just like we saw Facebook purchase Instagram and it take off as the newest and best app, I believe Vine will do the same, but with the help of Twitter.

As I read more articles about the new app, I realized that thanks to Jack Dorsey, one of the co-founders of Twitter, that Vine was purchased because Dorsey wanted Twitter to purchase it. With the constant pushing and “‘the know” that Vine was going to be a hit, Dorsey got the purchase he wanted.

The application is a video sharing app that allows users to share brief (about six seconds) videos that are produced onto a feed, just like we see on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. There is no better explanation then that, a video sharing application in the same format as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Just like Costolo said, “it is the next big thing”. To my knowledge, that is all this generation is about. We always talk about how this generation is totally intrigued about what is coming next and always looking to develop and/or create a new great idea. In the year 2013, here it is, Vine. We are seeing what everyone talks about play out right in front of our eyes.

Once Vine got the startup help that they needed from Twitter, the application sold itself. It brings two great features that all people like to see in social communication; accessibility and community. The Vine app is as simple as it gets when to it comes to recording and sharing videos. Hold down on the screen to record, lift your finger to stop. Not only is it simple, but it brings the community feel we get from other social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. With Vine’s direct connection with Twitter it makes it even easier to connect with friends we already have a social connection with.

I am receiving new friend notifications daily and have been noticing myself urging to post more videos. The application brings a whole new element to social media and social connections, one that can now be considered “the next big thing”.