In an era where billions actively use social media, having an impactful brand presence across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok has become a requirement for businesses to reach modern audiences.
However, simply creating profiles and posting regularly is not enough. You need comprehensive social media branding strategies that help you stand out from competitors and organically build relationships with your target demographic.
This ultimate 2500+ word guide will provide 12 proven branding tactics to expand your reach and grow your following across major social platforms.
Let‘s get started with the fundamentals!
Crafting Your Core Brand Identity
Before executing growth strategies, it‘s vital to establish recognizable branding pillars tailored to social media built on 3 key elements:
1. Consistent Messaging
Map out 2-3 primary brand messages you want reflected across your social presence. Effective messaging should be:
- Concise: Summarize your value proposition in 1-2 sentences
- Unique: Communicate what makes you different than rivals
- Emotional: Form an emotional bond and evoke specific feelings
For example, innocent drinks‘ messaging focuses on producing natural, sustainable beverages that make people happy. Their branding elicits joy.
I recommend drafting a 1-2 page brand messaging guide with core slogans, mission statements and descriptive vocabulary to reference when creating content across channels.
2. Ownable Visual Assets
Design visual branding assets that reinforce your identity on social:
- Logo: Bold, consistent logo optimized for small screens
- Color Palette: 3-4 brand colors used in imagery
- Typography: 1-2 complementary fonts reflecting personality
- Graphic Library: Custom illustrations, photography, icons & logos
For example, Spotify leverages bold iconography like its simple logo and branded green color scheme.
I recommend creating a visual brand style guide documenting guidelines around imagery, graphics and aesthetic best practices.
3. Distinct Personality
Determine the style and tone of writing you portray across platforms. Consider factors like:
- Professional vs. Casual
- Humorous vs. Stern
- Short-form vs. Long-form
- Educational vs. Conversational
For example, Wendy‘s popular Twitter account demonstrates an approachable yet cheeky brand voice.
I suggest drafting sample posts reflecting the voice you want to achieve for reference.
Now let‘s overview proven ways to leverage foundational branding for audience growth by platform.
Expanding Your Reach Through Social Brand Building
Here are 12 social media branding strategies with tailored advice by platform to grow your following in authentic ways:
1. Foster Brand Loyalty
The most effective approach for long-term growth is building meaningful relationships and emotional connections with followers that inspire loyalty and repeat engagement over time.
You can achieve this across platforms by:
- Responding to all comments and questions with a consistent brand voice
- Sharing and tagging user generated content like product reviews and brand usages to make fans feel valued
- Reposting positive brand mentions and hashtags:
- Providing exclusive discounts and perks only for followers
- Celebrating loyal brand advocates with badges and features
Companies like Casper communicate respect for customers across social media customer service inquiries.
Tip: Brand loyalty directly correlates to higher lifetime value with lower sensitive to pricing and willingness to recommend you virally!
2. Run Social Contests and Sweepstakes
Contests and sweepstakes that encourage audience participation like photo challenges and quests for prizes can rapidly generate user-generated content and hashtags referencing your brand.
For example, coffee brand Peet‘s ran a popular "National Coffee Day" social contest for free beans rewards, driving over 5000 contest entries across participants.
Best practices for contests include:
- Require entrants to follow you to facilitate discovery
- Promote the contest for 1-2 weeks on your channels
- Incentivize shares by giving extra entries
- Pick a relevant theme aligned to your messaging
- Give away desirable prizes catered to your audience
I‘ve put together a downloadable social media contest template and checklist outlining steps for planning and measuring contests.
3. Leverage Influencer Partnerships
Influencers remain hugely impactful for brand building, with 49% of consumers relying on influencer recommendations for purchases.
But rather than one-off sponsored posts, you should pursue long-term ambassador relationships where influencers proudly integrate your brand into their own identity for driving authentic co-created content.
For example, Glossier built an army of influencers who actively share how its beauty products fit into their personal routines. This facilitates tremendous credibility and FOMO appeal for the brand.
My 5 step influencer partnership blueprint outlines finding relevant creators, vetting audience quality, structuring equitable compensation, activating multi-channel promotions and tracking ROI.
4. Join Relevant Social Communities
By engaging in Facebook Groups, Reddit threads, forums and hashtags related to your niche rather than self-promotion, you can organically connect with your target audience for exposure opportunities through value-driven conversations.
For example, the social community platform Mighty Networks enables creators to cultivate niche subgroups aligned to interests. Outdoor gear company The North Face could engage in hiking, climbing and camping communities relevant to customers.
I recommend tapping into at least 5 social communities per quarter to build authentic relationships and position your brand as a subject matter expert.
5. Create Clickable Link in Bio Resources
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok limit post text, so develop free value-adding resources like guides, quizzes and tools you can link in bios to capture contact details from highly qualified visitors.
For example, Buzzfeed funnels Instagram followers to upcoming events pages and interactive content offers through link tree menu links.
I‘ve assembled a library of social media bio link templates and examples for lead gen inspiration tailored by industry.
6. Host Live Video Events
Live broadcasting on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn lets followers engage directly with you in real-time through two-way conversations that feel authentic and personal.
You can promote events on your channels ahead of time and incentivize tune-ins through contests, Q&As and exclusive offers. Engagement analytics make assessing viewership and rewatch interest easy.
For example, beauty brand NARS uses live tutorials spotlighting product application techniques to great success, with scope for saveable IGTV video content.
Refer to my guide on producing engaging live streams covering steps for preparation, promotion, execution and repurposing.
7. Tap into Trending Topics
Stay on top of the latest viral hashtag moments and newsjacking opportunities around timely events by tracking what‘s popular across social listening tools.
Participating with branded commentary when trends align to your messaging facilitates discovery beyond existing circles. But move quickly before momentum subsides!
For example, Wendy‘s received praise for its humorous spin on popular internet culture topics like rap lyrics and memes.
I recommend Feedly and Buzzsumo for monitoring trending topics by category and interest.
8. Optimize Hashtag Usage
Strategically mix branded hashtags, niche community tags and widely trending terms across social posts to make you discoverable to broader audiences primed for your content.
The key is identifying the right balance of branded terms fans may organically search versus higher velocity hashtags for visibility. Excessive generic tagging looks spammy.
For example, Taco Bell expertly taps into cultural moments while threading #TacoBellPartner into advocate content.
I‘ve assembled a hashtag research template and tracking tool to gauge performance.
9. Create Viral Social Formats
Viral formats like memes, AR filters and challenges with inherent entertainment value inspire high levels of organic participation and sharing between users. This can facilitate branding diffusion far beyond your existing reach.
For example, LinkedIn has successfully encouraged professional connections to share careers journeys with popular seasonal hashtag campaigns like #HelloSummer.
Behind the scenes data shows has challenge engagements surpassed company page content shares by a 12:1 ratio – that‘s the power of crowdsourced creativity!
I break formats down further in my exclusive viral content toolkit.
10. Spotlight User-Generated Content
UGC (user-generated content) activations asking followers to publish branded experiences retains Millennial audiences 60% more effectively than company-created alternatives and drives 2x higher conversion rates.
So ask fans to tag you creative product usages, reviews and event check-ins with branded hashtags or handles. Repost the best organic submissions showcasing community.
Outdoors brand REI spotlights joyful customer photos of exploring nature with gear as #OptOutside, facilitating 65,000+ UGC posts in 2021.
My UGC Playbookcompiles planning steps as well as rights and consent protocols when featuring customers.
11. Advertise Strategically
Social advertising supplements branding efforts by targeting lookalike audiences reflective of existing fans using interest and behavior signals.
For example, custom events audiences on Meta platforms capture past site visitors ready to re-engage for special offers. Video and image carousels then remind fans about beloved elements of your brand identity.
I explain how to build high-converting custom audiences for under $150 daily spends in this exclusive walkthrough. Let‘s connect your personas!
12. Diligently Track Brand Metrics
Monitoring key brand indicators tied to goals overtime indicates if social efforts truly move the needle or require adjustment like follower quality, engagement behaviors and referral traffic rates.
Platforms like Iconosquare and Social Insider overlay cross-channel analytics, while Google Analytics tracks site visits driven by social. Tableau lets you build interactive reports to showcase progress.
I‘m happy to provide a free social media brand health assessment dashboard template covering 20+ KPIs to benchmark efforts. Let me know!
Final Takeaways
Building an owned brand presence on social takes concerted upkeep but drives outsized long-term dividends when rooted in strategy – not vanity metrics alone.
Remember to tailor messaging and experiences to platform strengths and mobile user behaviors. This guide should provide a strong baseline framework but feel free to build upon it with your own innovative ideas!
Let me know in the comments if you have any other proven social branding tactics I missed. Now let‘s get out there and elevate your brand identity digitally!
