Differentiate yourself from the rest! Your character and values are reflected in every aspect of your digital presence. By leveraging social media, brands have ample opportunities to reinforce their social identity and increase brand engagement through interaction with fans and followers in social communities across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and so many more.
The type of messages being sent are beyond crucial to be successful in harnessing the power of social media channels to promote your brand. The time factor is also vital; you only have a few seconds to convince your audience to stay on board, grasp your message or watch your video. In fact, you’ve only got around 5 seconds.
The power of social media in your marketing efforts is emphasised in the latest research, which also identifies a transition in the nature of posts: from TEXT to VISUAL.
The facts speak for themselves:
In the socio-digital context, it’s all about visually spectacular branded content in the form of storytelling. Hey, we’ve been telling stories forever and marketers know that their power lies in how a strong narrative can connect emotionally with audiences. Stories can make people fall in love with your brand – beyond why people should buy a product; it is more about conveying your brand’s personality. Make your brand the protagonist!
Your audience self-selects what to engage in, decides whether or not they press play, pause or skip your videos, or even completely run past your message (visual or not). It’s evident you must make the effort to become what interests them, to evoke emotions, to build rapport… better yet, to present branded content that they will want to look at or watch over and over again, and of course, share it!
Enter visual storytelling: the power of visuals can no longer be disputed.
Brand engagement and advertising via social media channels got a little more complicated considering you only have a couple of seconds to grab an audience’s attention. You must not interrupt the user experience. You’re probably thinking “how can I manage to be non-invasive yet entertaining and useful all in a matter of seconds?”
The best way to do this is through visual storytelling – harnessing the power of visuals to get your message across, creating a social media visual vernacular around your brand’s identity.
Whether you want to sell products, gain subscribers, persuade followers, or sway the hearts and minds of readers to your cause, they’ve got to know who you are in the first place. Social media platforms allow brands to do this perfectly so there’s no doubt your top priority should be to narrate your story visually. Your social media visual presence must be awesome! From eye-catching photos, engaging videos (YouTube stands alone being the world’s second largest search engine), interesting data visualisations, infographics, quote cards and more. The visual content you employ must accurately reflect your brand’s values and vision, becoming your Visual Brand Identity. Go beyond a logo!
“Stories in text bore, stories told visually engage — and sell”
And yes there is a way your Visual Brand Identity can be created to ensure your brand’s social representation is trustworthy, memorable and consistent and that’s through design thinking: going beyond just aesthetically pleasing by considering overall experience. Together all the visual elements should tell a story; a story which can re-affirm your values.
At Medialink, we implement a tried and tested process when it comes to shaping or even redefining a brand’s visual identity.
Our initial audit involves identifying and understanding your audience, who they are, what they’re interested in and how your brand can offer them value. Taking it from there, we’ll work together to see how you visualise your brand identity, how we can input strong emotion into this, and come up with a narrative which we’ll be distributing across social media platforms. We like to keep it simple and consistent, ensuring your brand’s message is understandable yet tailored to the social vernacular of each social media channel. Above all, you’ve got to be a human brand, and that’s a value we never compromise.
Enough talking though, let’s get visual!
