Introduction
A brand is what makes you different from your competition. It is what allows future customers to know your brand and understand your values as a company. With strong social media branding, you will be able to create a loyal fan base.
An effective brand strategy on social media is one of the reasons why some brands are able to position their names as reliable and expert resources in their respective industries. This article will show you some of the most successful brands on social media and how you can replicate their success for your own company.
The Goals of Social Media Marketing
Using social media for marketing can help any business increase brand awareness, build engaged communities, and ultimately sell products and services. More than these goals, it also allows the company to develop strategies to gain a better understanding of the consumers. Engaging in social media marketing campaigns is also one of the many ways to directly provide a stellar customer service experience. It is primarily a platform to advertise products and services but it can also be a useful data source for tracking your market performance so you can fine-tune your marketing campaigns and strategies.
What is the Influence of Social Media on Branding?
As of 2021, over 53% of the total world population is using social media. There is also a study that shows that people tend to spend an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes a day browsing through social networks and messaging apps. Among many social media apps, Facebook records 1.93 billion daily active users in the third quarter of 2021. What this means is that there is a massive audience on this platform that could potentially help grow businesses into infinite possibilities. This is also the foremost reason why brand marketing strategies usually have a dedicated campaign intended for social media.
Executing branding strategies on social media will enable you to help win new customers. Gaining and retaining followers on social media is a proven way to build a recognizable brand. Social media grows every day and you have to seriously consider it if you also want to see your brand grow along with it.
15 Amazing Examples of Brands on Social Media
With a reported 79% of marketers buying paid advertising on social media, you might have an idea by now just how important it is to shift your branding strategies to social media marketing. It is worth knowing, however, that not all social media users interact with these marketers. Only those who are able to create effective social media branding got to achieve real success in terms of achieving their brand goals in this marketing strategy.
Here are 15 brands that are notable for their success in social media brand marketing strategies:
Nike
Twitter: @nikestore
Instagram & Facebook: @nike
As a global brand, it can be pretty easy for Nike to amass about 150 followers on Instagram and 35 million on Facebook. This feat, however, is also attributed to the fact that the company is killing it on social media. They have mastered the craft of getting the right athletes to inspire people. With culture-sensitive posts, they are able to engage their followers. They also strengthened their communication channels by addressing pressing concerns and promoting timely campaigns.
Slack
Twitter: @SlackHQ
Instagram & Facebook: @slackhq
As a collaboration hub, Slack is quite known as the best tool to get things done. This is very evident with their branding strategy using their social media profiles. By simply highlighting their brand culture, they are able to maintain authenticity that radiates in every post.
Starbucks
Twitter: @Starbucks
Instagram & Facebook: @starbucks
What is striking the most on Starbucks’ social media pages are their colorful photos. These vibrant images and the company’s diligence to interact by answering questions and addressing concerns also show their caring nature. They also focus on diversity which is unmistakable in their inclusive content.
Shopify
Twitter: @Shopify
Instagram & Facebook: @shopify
The formula that Shopify uses to target every entrepreneur to use its platform is simple. They just combine uplifting, fun, and educational content for their followers. Both their written and video content are not only enlightening but are also entertaining.
GoPro
Twitter: @GoPro
Instagram & Facebook: @gopro
It is crucial to post unique and compelling photos and videos when you are known as the “world’s most versatile camera”. GoPro effectively channeled its proficiency by having quality and creative content on its social networks. Maximum engagement is achieved on its content, especially since the brand is also sharing tips, tricks, and tutorials on using GoPro products.
National Geographic
Twitter: @NatGeo
Instagram & Facebook: @natgeo
As the king of visual storytelling, National Geographic uses social media not only to showcase striking photos but also to raise awareness about nature and various social issues. The highly- educational and eye-opening content is the reason why it has over 160 million Instagram followers.
Johnnie Walker
Twitter: @johnniewalker_
Instagram & Facebook: @johnniewalkercu
Channeling its fame, Johnnie Walker chooses to have famous celebrities for their incredible videos that always go viral on social media. A huge amount of engagement is expected every time they publish such content.
Merriam-Webster
Twitter: @MerriamWebster
Instagram & Facebook: @merriamwebster
The Twitter account of Merriam-Webster shows that the brand is smart and informative but can also be funny. The brand appreciates the positive response from its followers and attributes its genius content as a team effort.
Fashion Nova
Twitter: @FashionNova
Instagram & Facebook: @fashionnova
As a top fashion company, Fashion Nova is quite impactful on social media. It uses a lot of marketing strategies to achieve its business goals, one of which is the use of Influencers. Having mega influencer endorsements to work with the brand gets them hundreds of thousands in extra sales in a few days. One feature that is distinct with Fashion Nova is their preference to use “unprofessional” photos, such as selfies, to promote their brand. Making the photos look un-staged gives their content authentic and more relatable vibes.
Pop-Tarts
Twitter: @PopTartsUS
Instagram & Facebook: @poptartsus
Comedic tweets are quite handy in catching the attention of the youth, Pop-Tarts’ target market. By finding a way to connect with a younger audience, they are able to keep a huge following of engaged and highly interactive users.
Mailchimp
Twitter: @Mailchimp
Instagram & Facebook: @mailchimp
Variety and diversity of content are what makes Mailchimp the champ when it comes to social media content. They use fun graphics and engaging video content together with helpful articles. They also create short films and podcasts to engage and educate at the same time.
The Futur
Twitter: @thefuturishere
Instagram & Facebook: @thefuturishere
As one of the most influential brands in the art and design industry, The Futur shows how exciting, engaging, and eye-catching content makes a difference when it comes to social media branding. The quality of their content made their followers easily identify and connect with their brand.
Booooooom
Twitter: @Booooooom
Instagram & Facebook: @booooooom
This art community is powered and nurtured by its own community. What drives their social media campaigns are not only their posts. It thrives on the interactions that the members try to strike up as much as possible. They start conversations; tag and share content, and also engage with other artists to keep their community alive.
Salesforce
Twitter: @salesforceapac
Instagram & Facebook: @salesforceapac
As a B2B software to help organizations manage, maintain, and grow their income, Salesforce uses their social media accounts, not for heavy self-promotion but more on helping and educating their followers. They were able to win a massive social media following because of their branded video content that shows tips on solving problems, how to master sales, and getting the most out of their software.
Herbivore
Pinterest: Herbivore Botanicals
Instagram & Facebook: @herbivorebotanicals
The visually-stimulating content on Herbivore’s Instagram account is proof of how stunning product images make a brand stand out on social media. The social media team has made it a point to fascinating the audience with spectacular photos. They get to mesmerize the users and have them want to gain more insight about the featured products on their website.
As you can see on these brands, there is no particular formula used to achieve tremendous success on their social media channels. There are a lot of ways to capture attention and to somehow “click” with the audience.
Build an Amazing Social Media Branding
Branding using social media is more than just posting content. The competition is very fierce in this type of strategic branding. It is essential that, when diving into this strategy, you have to be armed with enough knowledge to do it the right way. Excited to do it?
Then you better get started with these tips:
Cover the Key Aspects of Social Media Branding.
Brand Identity, Audience, and Objectives are the key aspects of social media branding. You need to be consistent in your brand messaging to establish a solid brand identity. The audience must be able to identify your brand according to the tone of your content. They must be able to recognize all your branding assets in one look.
Knowing your target audience will let you direct all your marketing efforts to success. You have to identify what content they will like, comment on, and share.
Above all, you have to set clear goals in order to monitor the progress of your campaign. Your goals should be the focus on designing a winning social media branding strategy.
Be Active and Consistent.
The social media environment is fast-paced. It is easy to get lost in a sea of content so you need to be consistent in offering fresh and relevant posts. You have to be smart and organize your posts by having a content calendar so that no time is ever wasted. Having a content plan in place will give you the maximum impact that you need to promote your brand and keep the audience engaged.
Use Automation Tools But Stay Human.
Having quality content can be easy using social media automation tools. Removal.AI, a background remover tool, for example, lets you prepare stunning product photos in a breeze. Some tools give you an insight into important stats to monitor. On top of using these tools, you also have to acknowledge the need to apply a human touch to your content. You have to engage your audience by interacting directly through comments, polls, and even by playing some games. You will be able to understand the audience this way rather than just relying on tools to show what their needs and wants are.
Create Communities and Participate in Them.
One simple way to connect and easily monitor loyal followers is by spearheading social media communities. Create groups and engage the members by introducing topics for open discussions. You can have polls or organize contests to generate buzz around your brand. This does not only gives you plenty of opportunities for data mining but also furthers your branding efforts.
Choose the Right Platform for Your Brand.
Social media branding does not have a one-for-all formula. Different strategies have to be used for each platform in order to gain the most favorable results for your brand. On top of this, you also need to put in the effort, time, and money to do social media campaigns.
It is essential that you find a platform that best fits your brand in order not to waste these resources. You have to focus on your chosen platform and study the related demographics so you can design a campaign that will be a hit among your target audience. Do remember though that there are also instances where you need to be on two, three, or even more social media platforms at the same time. It really depends on where your audiences are, what platforms they use, and how far and wide you want your brand’s reach is going to be.
As an ultimate tool to increase brand awareness and engagement, using social media branding is one of the most relevant ways to grow your business to success. As your following on social media grows, it will be easier for you to develop a powerful and branded social presence that is recognized by your audience.
It is important that you take a look at the ocean of opportunities that this strategy offers so that you will be able to build a unique reputation that resonates with your brand.
About the Author
Miguel Davao is a graduate of literature and linguistics and has been writing content for about 5 years now. He particularly writes content on social media, design, photo-editing tools, and content writing tips.
Currently, he works as a full-time writer at Removal.AI – a fast-growing start-up that offers image processing and AI background remover for marketing, web, app development, and marketing automation.
