Building a Social Network Brand Image for Your Company

The word “social” in social network can be a bit misleading when building an online brand for your company. Social networking was born out of the concept of sharing one’s personal life and not professional endeavors. Today, people as well as companies are using social media to drive personal and professional branding. Social networking is still a format that is deeply embedded in personal social experiences but can be manipulated as a corporate marketing media.

Look at your corporate website. You want to reinforce the images and wording on the website when creating your social media presence. This stance will also help to ensure you are also as protective and concerned for your corporate image in your social networks as you are on the website. Remember, this is still the World Wide Web. Also repeating the foundation of your website on your social media outlets will reinforce the brand recognition already in play and that your target audience is familiar with.

Once you have built out all of your social media outlets, it is time to connect all the dots. You will want to provide active links from your website to each social network. Each social network profile should have links to the other social networking profiles and your website as well. Think of it as a giant internet based spider web designed to catch traffic as it drifts by. All of this inter-linking also helps to establish your organization as a multi-social-network presence on the internet and helps to boost your SEO and SMO.

Now that you have built the foundation and all the pieces are connected, it is time to start posting. Post only relevant and current information that reflects and supports the brand image of your website, social network and corporate outlook. Focus on quality over quantity. Be sure to include keywords from your website and social media in your postings to boost your SEO and SMO. In doing so, your presence will be more cohesive to your corporate message and have the largest impact on your target audience. If you happen to find a motivational quote or a humor piece that is appropriate for your audience, post it as an unexpected treat for your readers. This type of posting creates a human factor to your interaction and transparency is important. When posting information, you want to make sure you post to all of your networks. Social Media Marketing is kind of like being the Lounge Lizard of the Internet, minus the sleaze and shinny suit) who plays the numbers game. Get your message out to various sites and opportunities, some is liable to say yes and pick you up. Most networks have tools that allow you to link posts to other networks. Take advantage of these tools, as they are great time savers. To learn more about content posting, see Opening the Lines of Communication through Social Media.

Review at least annually your website and social networks to make sure they are still in alignment with your corporate stance and voice. Make adjustments as needed, just make sure you update the entire spider web to reflect that changes made. Also, periodically test links to make sure they are working correctly and land on the pages that are intended to.

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Comment by Marsh Buice on June 30, 2011 at 3:08pm: @AJ, Lol, it took a minute for the elevator to get to the top floor (my mind) on that one :)

Comment by Stephanie Young on June 30, 2011 at 3:04pm: Tony, thank you. I am very humbled as I am in amazing company with some outstanding contributors. I wish I could say it was my idea to break it down into smaller bits of information, but the suggestion actually came from you guys here on DE. I just listened and took heed.

Comment by Tony Provost on June 30, 2011 at 3:00pm: Stephanie- dE members are getting the bit by bit. 3 BLOGS in the top 10, TOP contributor. CONGRATS!!

Comment by Stephanie Young on June 30, 2011 at 2:49pm: @BC: Thanks!!! It is good to be a human. (smile)

@AJ: It is good to be liked.

@Tony: Thanks. I am trying to keep the information short and sweet...bit size bits that are easy to digest.

@Carrie: I love that you send me great "tidbits" to post. Thank you!!!!

Comment by Tony Provost on June 30, 2011 at 2:20pm: Stephanie-Great information! Oustanding format.

Comment by A. J. Maida on June 30, 2011 at 2:19pm: @Marsh...the old say anything and say it often theory!!! I don't know what your talking about...no really!!! ;-)

@BC and Stephanie...right on the button...transparency and getting people to want to do business with you because of your human factor....there must be a reason they call it a like? Great post and responses

Comment by Stephanie Young on June 30, 2011 at 1:54pm: Thanks, BC. In today's market, so much exchange occurs in the e-commerce arena, with little human interaction. Social Media helps to put a virtual face on a company in which so many of us are engaged in e-commerce with. Transparency become that human factor that allows people to relate.

Comment by Stephanie Young on June 30, 2011 at 1:49pm: @Marsh: I am sure you are not the only guy to try that version of the dating game. So, when do you want to start summer school?

@AJ: I would not disagree with you if you are using your social media to sell cars. You want that done via the website. Social media is really not the right format for selling. It really is a format best manipulated to develop and grow brand management and reputation/relationship building. The Manus Group provides recruiting services and dealership training solutions nationwide. Our social media presence states that is what we do, invites the audience to do business with us at our website but the rest of our engagement with the audience is educational and reinforces our expertise as to why we are the company you want to do business with.

Comment by A. J. Maida on June 30, 2011 at 1:36pm: Stephanie, Wonderful points. Now everyone knows that I believe in the power of social media so what I am about to say may surprise some. The only part that I will disagree with is linking FROM your website to the social networks. Especially for us car dealers. We need to link inbound to our websites from social media not out. Do you think that Facebook and Twitter really need me to send people to their websites? We spend so much time attracting people to our sites why would we want to give them a chance to go somewhere else. I have share buttons on my individual VDP's but I do not have a like me or follow me button on my site. Find me, like me, follow me. Get to know me and decide you want to do business with me on the social networks. Then like me and follow me into my website where we can do some business.

Comment by Marsh Buice on June 30, 2011 at 1:26pm: @ Julie, thanx, I know Stephanie will school me on SEO and SMO, I am looking fwd to it