by Miriam Hara | Nov 5, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Social Media
With so much of business communications today being in the written channel, and so much of it being immediate with Social Media, the tone in which a brand communicates with is increasingly important. We all know that so much of what we say really comes down to how we say it. The same choice of words can come across as either complimentary or insulting. Ultimately, it’s all in the delivery.
Deciphering communication tonality in the digital space isn’t easy. The handling and implementation of any social media initiative (especially when it deals with a brand) is fraught with potentially explosive minefields. Brands are complex entities, and as such a brand’s attitude, style and characteristics must be taken into account with every Facebook update, LinkedIn response or blog post.
So how can you make the most of your Brand’s social media initiatives and business communications? By ensuring that you strike the right cord and the proper stance in all your online communications. Here’s how:
- Take a page or two from your marketing plan… truthfully. We all can agree that the social media channel is relatively new, while Marketing is not. Go back to the basics. What makes your brand special to its audience? Look to how your brand communicates in the more classic channels, such as print ads, radio ads or even packaging. If it’s a product, how does the package look? If it’s a service, what does the name and logo represent? If you’ve advertised in community papers or created radio ads, you already have a good basis of understanding of what your tonality should be. Are you casual? Formal? Sophisticated? Friendly? Is your brand body language open, informative and approachable or at arm’s length? Regardless of style, your brand must always be honest, straightforward and truthful.
- Understand your audience. Knowing who your target audience is… well, not enough. Like everything else in branding or business, understanding your audience on a deeper level is essential to your brand’s success. What makes them purchase your brand? What’s their style? Do they enjoy extreme sports? Drive a sports car? Like fishing? Answering these and other questions will allow your brand to connect with its audience and meet their expectations. If your brand needs to put on a suit or dress business casual, then your writing tonality should follow the same line.
- Follow the Brand Guidelines. If your brand doesn’t have any, then you should seriously consider creating them. It use to be that brand guidelines spoke only to the visual treatment of a brand’s logo. (typesetting, font, colour, etc), However today’s guidelines also cover brand voice and brand persona which are very good indicators and references for brand tonality.
- Stay consistent with your brand’s persona. Is you brand premium priced? Made in Europe? American? Canada? Is it an innovative product, or just a better or cheaper version of an existing one? All of these factors play a significant role in determining what your brand’s social media tonality will be.
- Take the lead from your brand’s website. It is important to understand and address the digital channel in its entirety. Your brand’s social media efforts must be an extension of your brand’s website. The tonality for the brand must be holistic. Websites should always be created with a sound understanding of brand voice and brand persona. If this is the way your brand’s site was written, you already have a good foundation for developing your style with posts or blogging.
Your brand’s body language is determined by your brand’s tonality. Make sure you’ve got the right posture to make sure your brand’s success in your social media initiatives.
by Miriam Hara | Oct 22, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Social Media
In the fast paced world of Social Media, every bit of knowledge to maximize the exposure of your blog posts is gold!
I found this infographic very interesting and useful. Thank you LaunchGrowJoy.comfor sharing this.
by cassandr | Sep 7, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Social Media
In today’s day and age there are tons and thousands of blogs and growing. So how do you drive traffic to your blog? This is the million-dollar question that everyone asks.
Many people think that all you need is a catchy title about a popular topic, add in some popular search engine keywords and there you have it.
Well, it’s not that simple. Below are a few tips in building traffic to your blog.
Before getting started let’s begin stating the two basic reasons as to why regular readers follow blogs. Firstly, useful information is key in attaining followers and secondly highly engaging entertainment. If your blog substantially lacks either one of these don’t expect to get many followers because you won’t. You will need a different approach and a lot more brainstorming before reaching the next stage of building traffic.
Another key element in building traffic is you must be an expert in the particular topic you are talking about. There’s no sense in writing a blog if there’s no main focus. If too many unrelated topics are posted you will likely have an audience that will be very fragmented.
If your blog lacks expertise you’re just calling for trouble so, don’t expect to have an audience at all. But most importantly, have a focused direction.
If your blog offers valuable information, has a key focus then continue reading on about the tips and tricks of building traffic to your website.
1. Write Posts That People Will Want To Read
This sounds like a no brainer, but you would be surprised how many people forget to provide headlines and copy that will be interesting to your audience. If you write posts that the reader will find interesting they will likely come back and visit your blog regularly. That is only if you write often and regularly.
2. Use Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to Share Your Posts & Find New Connections
All three social networks attract a vast range of internet users around the world.
These networks which also be referred as “content distributors” meaning they can help you spread the word about your blog. Taking advantage of putting these networks will surely lead you on the path to success. Here’s how!
- Firstly, if you’re not already registered on these accounts I suggest you do so.
- Make sure you fill as much of these profiles as you can otherwise they will not look credible.
- Remember to connect with users on these sites whom already share a professional relationship, and begin following industry luminaries, and influencers.
- Share content with your peers especially anything that you feel is interesting enough to possibly go viral.
3. Optimize Your Posts for Search Engines
It is important when writing blog posts that you remember to optimize your pages for search engines to find them. I can’t stress this enough but you must include relevant keywords. A rule of thumb is to not overload your post with too many keywords or words that have not relevancy with what your talking about.
4. Tag Your Posts
It takes literally a few seconds to do yet people still don’t spend the time doing so. Adding tags to your blog posts is worth the time in terms of building additional traffic to your blog. They’re also key to helping readers find your blog when they are specifically searching for a topic, and can be easily picked up by search engines.
There are plenty other tips and tricks for building traffic to your blog. These four tips mentioned above are simply a good place to start and by no means the only ones. The blogging world is constantly changing and if you want to get to the top you must continue to read up on these trends.
How do you build traffic for your blog?
by cassie | Aug 8, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative, Events, Social Media
The internet and social media have created a venue for open marketing. It’s called the Blog. No longer are “readers” designated to print alone. Reading is now accessible to anyone that has connection to the web. Social Media has enabled more people to read up on their points of interests. People are turning to the views of bloggers for information on a specific topic and because they are seen as a trusted source. Added to that, bloggers are perceived as everyday people – one of “us” – and essentially they are. Bloggers tend to be very upfront about the experience they have with various products, stating whether or not they were paid or if they are acting as a brand ambassador. Transparency is what makes them trustworthy. Knowing that that there is no hidden agenda helps bloggers create a very loyal following. The beauty of blogging is that anyone, anywhere can do it; but, it must be done well, especially when we are speaking about brands and brand voice.
So why are blogs worth considering?
That’s an easy one… and is part of Marketing 101: Bloggers are another channel through which brands can reach their target markets based on psychographics. That in itself is exciting. Bloggers are a great way to reach a niche target market that may not be accessible with traditional media. There are blogs on everything, from cooking to parenting and even someone chronicling their journey in the Himalayan Mountains. Marketers can make use of bloggers by having them write reviews for products and services, promote contests and events, or even establish the forum themselves and engage with their audience one on one.
So why aren’t bloggers included in more marketing campaigns?
Much like traditional PR, there is no guarantee that a blogger will be interested in your product or service and if they do agree to a review, you can’t control what they’ll say. However, there is a way to overcome this obstacle. You can buy advertising space on blogs that garner attention from your target audience. Although, the most effective outreach happens when bloggers write review posts of their own accord. You have to EARN that review by convincing the blogger that your product or service is worth writing about.
How to identify appropriate bloggers?
Social Media isn’t easy and it isn’t inexpensive, there is a significant amount of time and energy involved when doing research. The first step is to identify influential bloggers. This can prove to be difficult depending on how specific your target audience is. There are a few different methods a brand can take when trying to locate bloggers:
- Look within: Brands may already be connected to bloggers and not even know it. Checking Twitter and Facebook followers and looking through website comment sections is one way brands can find bloggers that may already be tuned in to them. If a blogger has already engaged with a brand, they are more likely to get on board.
- Simply search: Running a search of brand keywords and images can be a good way for brands to identify bloggers. If a brand has been mentioned on top influencing blogs chances are it will come up in a search. Searching competitors is also a good idea. If the competition has been mentioned on any blogs, it may be a good idea to approach those blogs.
- Turn to tools: Online tools that rank and organize websites and blogs are everywhere. Turning to sites such as Bloglovin, Technorati, BlogCatalog and Alexa can prove helpful in finding influential bloggers. Tools that specialize in blogger outreach are also great to take advantage of. There are a number of tools out there such as BlogDash and GoupHigh that help brands find, research, and track blogger outreach efforts.
5 things you should know to help you fine tune and optimize your results on your blog:
- Where is the blog located? This one can be tricky, most bloggers don’t include a physical address in their profile description. But it is worth knowing, if you are trying to get a product promoted that is only available in certain locations, you want to avoid blogs that are outside those area. For example if a product is only available in Canada, you don’t want to reach out to bloggers from the States. If it isn’t mentioned on the site, email and ask.
- What topics do they cover? Make sure that the topics featured within the blog are relevant to your brand or its target audience.
- Are they PR/marketing friendly? Not all blogs accept product from PR or marketing firms. Look at some of their previous posts and see if any reviews or promotions have been included, if not, reaching out to them may be a waste of time.
- Is your product or service a good “fit”? Blogs can fall into a general category, but take a specific stance. For example, there are a lot of food blogs, but some cater to a vegan-organic-gluten free audience. Be sure to determine the bloggers point-of-view and make sure your brand falls within it.
- What is their audience reach? If a blog is PR/marketing friendly or accepts advertising, they usually have a media kit with site stats such as audience reach, demographics etc. This is important to know, because you want to create as much awareness as possible. Try targeting those with a high number of unique visitors per month. If there isn’t a media kit available to download, just ask.
Once you have all the required information, put it to use and tailor your pitch to the individual blog: mention past posts, say why you think your product is a good fit for their blog and why their readers need to know about it. Also be sure to mention what’s in it for them, whether it be free product (because who doesn’t love free stuff!) or some sort of kick back.
Blogger outreach doesn’t have to be difficult, you just need to pay attention to the details and put yourself out there. How do you successfully integrate blogs into your marketing campaign? We’d like to hear about it here!
by Miriam Hara | Feb 25, 2011 | Branding
It may be a market warrior’s dream to make the brand they develop for a company into an icon. Chanel, Coca-Cola, Nike, Michelin – all brand names that have become synonymous with their symbolism. Brands that became more than commodity culture, they became pop culture. When you have strong visual cue, brands are conduits. People relate to them on a personal level because good brands, ones that survive, have personality and wit. Going beyond the brand mechanics, they position themselves. They never follow a trend… they should encourage one.
Image provided courtesy of the Nike, under the creative commons license.
Iconic brands might be an industry brass ring, but brands don’t fail if they fail to become cultural icons—many widely respected brands still maintain a name within a designate community, such as Sick Kids and Anne Taylor.
Brands aren’t just for corporations either. Personal brands come by way of blogging, podcasts and other new media-driven personalities. Whether it is creating a personality for a product, or a person, the key is conveying that character to the market. The human element, in all forms of art, is the one that resonates. So get to know your brand, and perhaps in the future, everyone will know it too.
