Understanding Brand Development

Brand development extends beyond visuals like logos; it encompasses creating a distinct identity that resonates with the audience at every touch point. It’s a compilation of all the visual, narrative, and emotive attributes that the brand communicates to create a perception of the brand in the consumer’s mind.

A unique brand can be broken into four main components: identity, personality, messaging, and experience.

Brand identity includes visual elements such as a company name, logo, tagline, and other visuals that help customers easily identify a brand.

Brand personality refers to the human characteristics and traits your brand embodies, which should be reflected in all touchpoints, from website content to social media platforms.

Brand messaging involves the defined company values, mission, and tone to ensure all communication with audiences conveys what the brand stands for and its purpose.

Ultimately, these aspects boil down to the most essential element: Brand experience. How audiences experience your brand starts from the moment they discover it and continues through their final purchase, repeat business, and advocacy.

These four key areas of brand development are not one-and-done jobs. Brand development is a continuous process of enhancement, reinforcement, and communication with audiences. And it’s a two-way street. Whether companies like it or not, brands are built with their customers—it’s as much about what a company thinks about itself as it is about what its audiences feel about the company. This is why it’s essential to consistently represent brand identity, personality, and messaging across all touchpoints.

The Role of Social Media in Brand Identity

People spend more and more time on social media each year, so it should be no surprise that social media platforms play a significant role in shaping a brand's identity. About a third of users use social media to learn about new products, services, or brands. On top of that, for one in three users, social media is their preferred method to discover new brands, and customers are more likely to buy from brands they follow. These numbers will only continue to grow as social media platforms do and as younger generations age.

It’s logical to see social media's extreme importance in brand development if we know users are on these platforms to research and discover new brands, follow and engage with them, and then make purchasing decisions based on what they see on social media. Furthermore, more and more social media platforms also have in-app purchasing capabilities, encouraging and enabling users to purchase, share, and become brand advocates quickly. Social media platforms can fulfill the entire marketing lifecycle, from awareness and consideration to conversion and loyalty.

Consistent Brand Voice Across Platforms

For years, companies have spent a lot of time and money trying to create and promote a brand identity. However, now that consumers directly view and interact with brands on social media, audiences form their own opinions and play a huge role in contributing to brand perceptions. That’s why it’s vital for businesses to consistently represent brand identity, personality, and messaging across all social touchpoints to build a coherent presentation that is an overall positive and memorable experience for consumers. This helps do three things: 1) builds trust, credibility, and recognition among the audience; 2) makes them more likely to choose a product or service they’re confident in and admire; and 3) motivates them to spread good word of mouth.

Visual Branding and Engagement

Visual branding is crucial for engaging the audience on social media. High-quality visuals attract attention and simplify the communication of complex ideas. Crafted well, they break through the constant clutter, demanding attention and reinforcing brand attributes.

Tailoring Content for Different Platforms

Each social media platform has its unique characteristics and audience demographics. Tailoring content accordingly can enhance its effectiveness in brand development. LinkedIn content, for example, should be more informative, while Instagram content will be predominantly visual and inspirational. However, the ability to customize content will hinge on marketers’ bandwidth and the type of budget available.

Using Analytics to Track Brand Development

Analyzing metrics such as impressions, likes, shares, comments, clicks, and followers provides valuable insights into brand visibility and engagement levels on social media. Depending on a brand's goals, social media managers can develop posts geared toward different types of users to achieve specific outcomes. For example, if a brand is focused on awareness, they may assess post shares, or if they’re interested in consideration, post saves is a helpful metric.

Analytics can and should be used to optimize posts. Monitoring highly trafficked days of the week and windows of time enables marketers to deliver content when it will be most effective and will reach the largest audience.

Engaging with Your Audience

Effective engagement with the audience on social media involves listening, responding, and fostering a sense of community. This two-way communication is vital to building brand advocates. It also helps humanize the brand, which can pique interest, intrigue potential customers, and nurture loyalty among existing customers.

Authenticity and Transparency in Branding

Authenticity and transparency are fundamental aspects of branding. Brands that share values and demonstrate transparency tend to build trust and loyalty with their audience. Using actual quotes and imagery of the team or product development process can go a long way toward engendering long-term success on social media.

Managing Brand Reputation

92% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company again if they have a positive customer service experience, and 78% will forgive a company for its mistakes after receiving excellent customer service. Properly handling negative feedback is essential to maintaining a positive brand image. That’s why messaging on social media platforms has become an essential tool in the marketer’s toolkit. Social messaging allows for prompt and professional responses, demonstrating a commitment to customer satisfaction. Responsive, timely, and respectful feedback helps businesses maintain positive reputations and gives the company another touch point to communicate with existing and potential customers.

Influencer Partnerships and User-Generated Content

Influencer collaborations and user-generated content can significantly impact brand development by expanding reach and enhancing authenticity. A strategic approach to mobilizing users to do the work for you by expressing positive associations and messaging can go a long way toward driving valuable brand awareness and consideration.

Integrating Social Media with Overall Brand Development

Harmonizing social media efforts with the broader brand development strategy ensures consistency in messaging and effectiveness in achieving brand growth goals throughout the marketing funnel.

Brandmark’s Social Team Powers Client Success

Brandmark Studios excels in transforming clients’ simple to complex content and technical information into digestible and meaningful social content. From SaaS and biotech to healthcare, contractors, and restaurants, we work across diverse industries and deeply understand our clients' needs and unique audiences. We are particularly adept at managing social media remotely and with minimal direction or information. We understand the client’s business priorities and short- and long-term goals and seek to grow and evolve with you.

Our team prides itself on our adaptability and ability to pivot quickly, ensuring we deliver timely, consistent, and on-point content. Successful brand development is an ongoing process that requires strategic planning, execution, and evaluation, and we are disciplined at leveraging social media effectively to help brands enhance their visibility, engagement, and long-term growth goals.