Social Media Most Effective at Increasing and Influencing Brand Awareness

Marketing Sherpa recently released one their famous charts, this time summarizing the Most Effective Use of Social Media. The survey, which focused on B2B users, showed clearly that people are finding social media somewhat or very effective for both influencing brand reputation and increasing brand awareness.

If you’ve made the commitment to use social media as a brand building activity how can you make the most of your exposure?

• Use consistent names. Make sure you grab your company’s name on all the major social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, etc.) and keep abreast of other social networks that cover niche markets or are just emerging.
• Use a consistent avatar. Most social media channels represents each member with an avatar. This is the square icon that represents you, your company and your brand. Try to always use the same or similar photos or logo in these places. If you register through Gravatar it can be done automatically in many places (not sure what that’s about? read this post).
• Maintain a consistent look and feel across all channels. Each platform has it’s own interface, but control what you can to make it feel branded to your look. In Twitter, adjust the background and colors. In Facebook customize the sidebar and welcome tab. All of these elements should tie in with your core brand identity that is found on your business card and web site.
• Write in a consistent tone and keep content on target. Whether it’s your own blog, your Twitter stream or on Facebook think about what subjects you’ll cover and how you’ll present yourself. Some people present themselves in a very relaxed way and cover many personal topics; other people prefer to keep it all business.

Do you notice a pattern? Consistency is key. Consistency does not need to be boring. You can be consistently whimsical, for example.

As the chart shows, there is an incredible opportunity to increase brand awareness and promote a vision of yourself to others. This type of brand awareness benefits greatly from repetition, always using nuanced change, to create a mosaic of yourself or your company.