If you are looking to build an audience-driven brand, it can be hard to know where to start and what the process should look like. Luckily, there’re plenty of bloggers and online personalities who had done this before for you and figured out their ways of doing it well, so it’s possible to learn from them and apply their tactics to your brand.
When you focus on creating strong relationships with your customers, they’ll go out of their way to help promote your business, turning them into business advocates and extending your reach beyond what it could ever be without them.
So, here in this post, I’m laying down the 7 ways to build an audience-driven brand that can help you achieve the same success as I have got.
1. Make sure your content is meaningful
- Create great content: A successful brand relies on its content. It needs to be fresh, engaging, and inspiring, without losing the spirit of your brand’s voice. So many people are all over the internet creating videos and posts, but only a few have created memorable experiences that their audience will remember long after the scroll ends. Creating great content requires some work, but if you make it happen consistently then you’re sure to grow your following.
- Engage your community: Any great brand starts with an engaged community, which is why it’s so important for you not only to interact with your followers but also to provide them the opportunity for commenting on the topics that interest them the most. The more they feel like they can contribute to the conversation, the more likely they’ll stay engaged.
- Develop Thought Leadership: In today’s world where there’re blogs and articles published every minute of every day, it takes something special to stand out from the crowd. When you create thought leadership by tackling issues in your industry head-on or providing high-quality insight into how things work for someone who has been there, others will start to notice.
- Invest in Technology: One of the best ways to get noticed on social media these days is through consistent engagement, and technology makes this easier than before. For example, Instagram stories give you a chance to share what happens behind the scenes at your company as well as some creative new ideas for what might come next; kind of transparency creates loyalty among your followers.
- Foster Dialogue: No matter what type of content you’re putting out there, fostering dialogue around it is one way to keep people coming back for more. Whether that means posting comments directly onto Facebook or opening up opportunities for discussion via Twitter chats, getting involved in conversations helps drive traffic and build a community around your brand.
2. Tell a story in each piece of content
Many people fear the idea of marketing. They picture themselves doing the hard sell, over and over again. They believe marketing is about pushing a product onto someone and making them do something they don’t want to do. The truth is, you’re probably closer than you think to finding success if you’re interested in building an audience-driven brand.
There’re ways of marketing your brand without being pushy or disingenuous. Here’s how you can get started:
- What problem does your business solve? By identifying what your products offer, you will know who you should target for advertising and how to best position your product. For example, you might offer eco-friendly cleaning products but identify the customer base as people with allergies who want natural cleaning products. You might also start by focusing on content related to health and wellness to reach their customer base.
- Why does it matter?
- How can I make it better?
- Who else cares about this issue besides me?
- How can I give back using my skills and resources?
- What other resources exist out there that I can connect with?
- How can I bring my product into my customers’ lives without being too intrusive?
3. Consider forming partnerships with relevant brands
The most obvious way brands can work with your business is through sponsorships. But sponsorship deals can be costly, especially for small companies. That’s why some brands have turned their attention to influencers instead.
Influencer marketing lets brands reach out directly to a large audience and connect with them on a personal level through exclusive offers and campaigns. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that has the potential for high ROI because of the loyal audience base many influencers have in place.
As a business owner, it’s important that you actively engage with your followers. Doing so helps establish an authentic connection between the customer and your brand. No, you don’t have to post every day and comment on each one of their posts back – but do check in from time to time!
Besides just interacting with your followers, be sure to post relevant content related to your industry. If they’re following you for your style of advice, don’t talk about what’s happening in politics – it’ll get lost in the mix.
On the other hand, if they’re following you for marketing advice, tweeting about how Coke needs new branding probably won’t be too popular! Above all else though? Make sure not to forget the grammar and the spelling when posting content on social media. I recommend you use the Grammarly tool extension for Chrome.
5. Leverage the power of Influencer Marketing
One of the best ways to cultivate a large audience is by engaging with influencers. There’re many ways to collaborate; ask them for a guest post, share content they’ve created with your audience, sponsor their blog or podcast, or utilize their expertise in your area of interest. The more time you invest in developing and cultivating a relationship with influencers, the more beneficial it will be for both parties.
6. Promote your brand through paid advertising
This isn’t just a numbers game though. It is much more important that you spend the time learning who your customers are and what they want than investing your money into targeting ads at them. So, here’re the seven ways you can invest in yourself and use paid advertising to market your brand content:
- Consider Facebook Ads: If you’re looking for a cost-effective option, Facebook ads may be the way to go. You can target your users through demographics (age range, gender, location), interests, and behavior on your site (ex. a person who looks at baby photos might be interested in maternity brands) or by data like past purchases.
- Invest in email marketing: Send email newsletters out regularly so potential customers know about your business and keep coming back for more.
- Reach out to influencers: One of the best ways to reach new audiences is through other people’s networks. Influencers are people with a large following on social media, YouTube channels, or blogs who have a lot of control over their audiences’ content consumption habits.
- Test Pay Per Click Advertising Campaigns: When it comes to online advertising, PPC campaigns provide advertisers with two advantages: they pay only when someone clicks on their ad, and they usually offer lower costs per click than most other digital marketing methods.
- Participate in Forums and Communities: Join conversations happening in relevant communities where your company’s product might be discussed so you can respond accordingly.
7. Take time to respond to each follower
Having a brand presence on social media is not just about posting content and getting likes from your followers. Think you don’t have time to respond to your social media followers? Think again.
Your followers on social media will trust your brand based on your responses. Not to mention, they can lose trust in your brand if you do not respond on time, and you can quickly lose business to your competitors.
Don’t just treat your followers as followers. Remember, each of your followers is your potential customer. It is just as important to respond to your prospects on social media as it is to respond to their phone calls and emails. When you don’t respond, you ignore your followers and this is a BAD sign when it comes to winning your brand audience and trust.
When someone comments on your post, it means they enjoy your content. And if they enjoy this content, hopefully, they will enjoy the next one, and the one after that. This is true for all social media platforms, including, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Wrapping Up…
Creating an audience-driven business allows you to cultivate an engaged, passionate following. It helps you build social capital and maintain your authenticity. While it may seem strange at first, it soon becomes difficult to imagine building a brand-driven business any other way.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post.
Let me know your thoughts or suggestions in the comments below.
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My name is Sujoy Mukherji. I am an Internet Marketer, Entrepreneur & Professional Blogger. Founder of the Affiliate Hub Blog.