Speaker 1: Consistent branding on social media is important for many reasons, not least of which being that consistent presentation of a brand has seemed to increase revenue by 33%. But beyond revenue, branding is how you relate to your customers. It's how they perceive your business. And it's a collection of your business's values, goals and solutions all wrapped up into your name and logo. So what does branding on social media look like? How do you build a brand on social media? This is exactly what we're going to cover in today's video. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the channel. I'm Brandy with Life Marketing, the digital marketing agency with a mission to help small businesses grow. Before we get started, go ahead and like this video. Subscribe to the channel and hit that notification bell so that you don't miss out on any of the business growing videos that we put out weekly. OK, so let's start by defining what branding means. Investopedia says the term brand refers to a business and marketing concept that helps people identify a particular company, product or individual. Brands are intangible, which means you can't actually touch or see them. As such, they help shape people's perceptions of companies, their products or individuals. What I like about that definition is that it talks about your customers' perceptions. I think a lot of business owners get hung up on how they themselves view their brand, but your brand is really how the public perceives it. You may think you're putting off one thing, but in reality, people may think differently than that of your brand. That's why it's important to put some intentional thought and planning into your brand so that you can successfully shape people's perceptions into what you want them to be. When most people think of getting their branding together, they think of logo and colors, et cetera. But before you get into that aspect with your branding, you first need to determine your brand archetype and your values. So on that note, let's talk about the first thing you need to do when building your brand on social media, determine your archetype. Webster says an archetype is the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies, a prototype or the perfect example. So let's take a look at the common 12 archetypes to better understand. If you've ever Googled brand archetypes, you've probably seen these images before, but I've convinced them for you here so we can briefly go through all 12 and you can listen to see if any of these sound like your brand. Starting with the outlaw or the rebel, their goal is to overturn what isn't working or to shake things up. Common personality traits with this archetype are being blunt, allowing swear words in their marketing, speaking without fear and challenging the status quo. Some popular brands that exude this are Virgin, Harley Davidson and Diesel. The magician's goal is to make dreams come true, to create a vision and live by it. Common brand personality traits are charismatic, transformative and visionary. Popular examples of this archetype are Coke, Disney and Dyson. The hero's goal is to improve the world, to motivate, encourage and be brave. And this is actually our archetype here at Life Marketing. Common traits are motivating, encouraging, achievement oriented and competitive. And popular examples of this are Adidas, Nike and FedEx. The lover or the seducer's goal is to have loving and committed relationships to be desired. Personality traits include warm, welcoming, enticing, sultry and seductive. And popular brands that exude this are Alfa Romeo, Chanel and Victoria's Secret. The jester or the entertainer's goal is to bring laughter, fun and joy to the world, to be curious, funny and playful. Common brand traits are witty, humorous, entertaining, loud and exciting. And some popular brands like this are M&M's, Old Spice and Dollar Shave Club. The everyman's goal is to belong, to be down to earth and a straight shooter, to live a normal life that is not too flashy or extravagant. Some common traits or feelings this brand exudes are laid back, casual, empathetic, practical and straightforward. Some popular brands like this are IKEA, Target and Lynx. The caregiver's goal is to help and do things for others. Common personality traits are gentle, kind and nurturing. And some popular caregiver brands are UNICEF, WWF and TOMS. The ruler's goal is to be a role model, to create a prosperous community and to be strict on rules and policies. Common traits are sophisticated, very professional and structured. Some brand examples of this are Louis Vuitton, Mercedes-Benz and Rolex. The creator's goal is to turn ideas into reality, to brainstorm and use creative thinking to problem solve. Common traits are expressive, imaginative, original and poetic. And some creator brands are Lego, Apple and Adobe. The Innocence brand is to be happy, to do the right thing and to see the positive in any situation. Brand personality traits include being optimistic, happy, sweet and hopeful. Some brands that exude this are Aveeno, Dove and Innocent. Surprise, surprise. The Sage's goal is to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world seeking out information and knowledge. Common traits are logical, analytics and fact based. And popular Sage brands are Google, BBC and Oxford University. And then last but not least, the Explorer's goal is to live an exciting life full of adventure, to live the road less traveled and to be authentic. Common traits are energetic, enthusiastic, questioning and adventurous. Popular brands for this are the North Face, Jeep and Patagonia. So were there any that stood out to you, any that you heard and thought, oh, yeah, that's my brand? Maybe you have two that you're kind of going back and forth between. We at Life went back and forth between the hero and Sage because we do provide a lot of educational content and guidance to our followers. But we ultimately went with the hero archetype because beyond just educating you all, we know that being a small business owner takes a lot of heart, bravery, encouragement and sheer will to get stuff done just as much as education. So you'll want to sit with your team and really dive into the purpose of your brand and the feelings and tone you want your brand to portray and then select your archetype. What will naturally kind of happen as a result of that is narrowing down your values. What things are important to your business? Is it transparency? Is it giving back? Is it affordability? You need to list out your top three values as a company because a it will help guide you as a basis for content creation moving forward and be because customers care about what your values are. Ninety four percent of customers are likely to show loyalty to a brand that offers complete transparency, and 13 percent of consumers would pay 31 to 50 percent more for your products or services if they were under the impression that your business is making a positive impact on the world. In one study, they found that the top four qualities people use to describe why they are loyal to a brand are cost, quality, experience and consistency. So definitely something to think about as you nail down your top values. All right. Once you've got your archetype and values narrowed down, it's time to create a topic map. But before we get into that, here is a quick message from Sherman about our training course.

Speaker 2: Hey, we just helped a small business make over one point five million dollars through Facebook advertising. And after managing millions of dollars in ad spend for thousands of different small businesses, we have decided to give away everything we learned to you in a special program. If you want to learn the blueprint to success, the best practices from some of the fastest growing companies in the world and all of the different tools you will need, then sign up for our social ads training program today.

Speaker 1: All right. So let's go over how to create a topic map. These are the five general topics you'll create social media content around. You may already have some ideas in your head. And if you do, that's great. Jot those down real quick and we'll come back to them in a little bit. For now, I want you to do two things. Number one, I want you to make a list of your target market's goals and pain points as they relate to your business or industry. Why do they seek out the products and services you provide? What problems are they trying to solve or what goals are they trying to achieve? And then number two, I want you to look at the content your competitors post. Do their social media posts get good engagement from your shared target audience? If so, take note of what's working well for them. If not, take note of what your customers are not engaging with. I want you to then take those two sources of information and write out the top five content topics you think your customers will be interested in seeing on social media. If you jotted down a list of content ideas earlier, cross analyze and compare. Were you spot on or a little far off in what you thought your audience wanted to see before doing the research? You'll want to use your topic map as a guide and content creation so that you can be confident that your social media accounts are providing value to your audience while simultaneously exuding your brand archetype and values. All right. So once you've got your archetype values and topic map nailed down, it's time to tackle your brand guide. A brand guide is like a style guide that communicates how all of your content should look. This includes your logo and any variations of it and when or where to use those variations. It includes all of your logo colors and any secondary colors that are fair game to use along with their hex codes. And side note, if you need help creating a logo, I will link Jelly's video on that for you in the description. Your brand guide also should include your fonts dictating which are able to be used in headlines, sub headlines and regular text. Some other things your brand guide can include are notes on your brand voice as well as any don'ts like if you don't want this secondary color used if a different secondary color is already in use on a graphic. Depending on how small your small business is, you may be a one man show right now, but as your business and team grows, you'll want things to remain consistent across your social media, no matter who is working on what. Having a brand guide allows everyone to be on the same page. And beyond just being useful internally, your customers will appreciate it as well. Using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80 percent. For us, a lot of you guys recognize our content when you see our life blue flame. And don't forget what I said at the beginning of this video, which was that consistent presentation of a brand has been known to increase revenue by 33 percent. Having a brand guide allows your business to remain consistent across all social media platforms. All right. So at this point, you're ready to start posting on social media. But before we wrap up, I'm going to leave you with three key tips to remember to drive optimal results. Number one, start with social platforms that your audience is the most prevalent on. If you need help determining this, you can check out my social media platforms video. I'll link it in the description. But if you're a little short on manpower or you're not at a stage where you can yet outsource your social media to an agency like Life, you don't want to stretch yourself too thin by posting on all the platforms right out of the gates. I would advise starting with the platform your audience uses the most, mastering that and then continuing on from there. Number two, make a content schedule so that in addition to your branding being consistent, your audience can regularly expect content from you as well. For instance, our audience knows they're going to get new YouTube videos from us every week and social media posts from us every weekday. Your audience is more likely to stay in tune with your brand if they're seeing your posts regularly, as opposed to only hearing from your brand every once in a while. And lastly, number three, engage with your followers. It's not enough to just post. You've got to be interactive with your followers to ensure that they're actually seeing your posts. The ways you can be interactive will vary by platform, which is why it's important to determine which platforms you're working with in step number one. Quick question for you guys. Where are you at in building your brand? Is there a certain stage you're getting hung up on? Let me know down in the comments and we can chat about it. Otherwise, that's about all I had for you guys today. Don't forget to like this video, subscribe to the channel and hit that notification bell before you go. And I will see you in the next episode.