Building a brand with social media

Whether you are setting out as a designer, blogger, or trying to sell products, you will undoubtedly want to get your name out there and let everyone know who you are. Having the power to persuade an audience to connect with you comes from your brand's credibility.

Social media can help establish one's brand awareness and recognition online, including creating a human voice for your customers to interact with, simultaneously making your brand more accessible to new and existing customers.

Here are six strategies to follow, to help build a credible online brand.

01. Establish social media platforms

There are a multitude of social media platforms to interact with. But you need to be selective of which platform to take advantage of. Spreading yourself too thin can have the negative effect of your brand not reaching your potential audience and becoming lost in the noise.

Let's take a look at some of the most popular social media sites:

• Facebook is the social media boss, currently it has a whopping one billion-plus active users on a monthly basis. This makes it essential for any brand to promote themselves on.
• Twitter is an excellent platform to engage and influence through conversation. Twitter has proven to be the landmark social sphere for breaking news.
• Google+ is the ideal network for building relationships, based on interests, passion and profession. Google+ allows you to find relevant information and share it and allowing you to bring your brand closer to followers.
• LinkedIn is the social network for businesses and professionals targeted at B2B. LinkedIn is the ideal networking site for generating leads, connecting with businesses and finding new employees.

02. Consistant imagery

Branding is all about imagery. It is important your brand is instantly recognisable. Ensure your brand image is consistent on all your social media sites. Ensure your username is consistent with your brand name. Try to register the same brand name across all channels. You can use Knowem to check if your brand name is available, across 500 social media websites.

The design look is crucial to creating a unique identity for your online brand. Ensure the same profile image is used on all your social media accounts, this includes cover photos for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. The imagery you use should reflect the colour palette and style from your own logo and branding guidelines.

03. Join the discussion

Building your own audience and establishing your image at the beginning will take time. The best way to generate a fan base is to 'socialise'. Begin by proactively connecting with the community. Start by finding social influencers in your field or subject area, who already have an established audience. Mention the social influences' name and connect with them directly, so they may help share your own content with their followers.

Joining discussions groups on LinkedIn and Facebook and build relationships on Google+. Particulate in conversations on Twitter. By participating you build yourself as an expert in your field and sharing your knowledge can elevate your brand, so the community knows who you are.

Next page: three more social media strategy tips