The Ultimate Guide to Online Brand Management for Brand Managers
A brand is a set of elements that helps consumers distinguish it from other brands. Not only that, your brand must tell stories that resonate with your audience to evoke a certain emotion you are looking for.
An online brand is the shift from the physical realm to the digital one where you can get enormous brand awareness and recognition. This is where brand managers must remain vigilant and be able to adapt to the changing landscape.
Learn these valuable methods and tips to position your online brand to be the best among the rest.
Effective Online Brand Management Tips
Brand managers have the power to tell us how and what to feel just by seeing their brand logo, why do you think that is? It is because of the effort they put in to push what their brands stands for and why they came to be. Evoking emotion of belonging, because humans are like that. We need to be pushed emotionally to buy. Think of brand identity as the personality of a company or product. Just like people have their own unique characteristics that make them recognizable and memorable, brands have their own set of traits that make them stand out in the marketplace.
Here’s a breakdown of what goes into building a brand identity:
- Name: This is what people call the brand. It should be catchy, easy to remember, and reflect what the brand is all about.
- Logo: Imagine this as the face of the brand. It’s a symbol or design that instantly makes you think of that brand whenever you see it. It is usually presented as a symbol, emblem, or graphic mark that embodies the essence of the brand often used on packaging, marketing materials, and digital platforms.
- Colors: So many well-known brands have mastered the art of color association and theory. When you know the purpose of your brand, you can easily choose a color people will associate with how your brand benefits them. For example, Purple is for royalty, pink for compassion, green for health, blue for calmness and so forth. It is best used for consistency.
- Fonts: Just like handwriting, fonts have their own style. Brands choose fonts that match their vibe and use them in all their written materials for example, sophistication, friendliness, or professionalism. When using fonts, consider those that will be friendly on the eyes, avoid fonts such as Ransom note that will strain the eyes of your readers unless that’s what your organization wants.
- Visuals: These include things like images, illustrations, or even patterns that help reinforce the brand’s personality and message.
- Voice and Tone: This is how the brand speaks to people. Whether it’s friendly, professional, or quirky, the way a brand communicates should be consistent and reflect its personality. The most important stage of introducing a consistent tone and voice is the brand introduction phase because it will leave an impactful first impression.
- Mission and Values: The main reason of brand to exist is to fulfil a unique purpose that is left unattended by others. Therefore, you must outline why your brand exists, how it came to be and what makes it unique. This narrative provides depth and meaning to the brand, helping consumers connect with its purpose and ideals on a deeper level. Authenticity is key in communicating the brand’s story and values to build trust and loyalty among consumers
Just like how people stay true to themselves, all visual and verbal elements of a brand should align across different digital channels and touchpoints, including advertising, social media, packaging, website, and customer service. This does not mean posting the same image on all your social media pages, make it vary by opting to repurpose your content as there are different audience preference on different platforms. For example, a podcast audio you post on Facebook can be used as text for LinkedIn, from a text to an infographic that summarizes content for Instagram and so forth.
Consistency helps reinforce brand recognition and fosters trust and familiarity with an audience over time.
Search Engine Optimization plays a crucial role in the life-span and survival of a brand in this oversaturated realm of digital/online branding. Having a strong SEO strategy can provide a significant advantage over competitors. Brands that invest in SEO are more likely to outrank their competitors in search results, resulting in increased visibility, market share and a good digital brand management. By researching the right and relevant keywords considering consumer or audience behavior, creating quality and easily digestible content and building organic links will:
- Increased brand visibility: One of the primary benefits of SEO is that it enhances a brand’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). By optimizing website content and structure according to SEO best practices, brands can improve their rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find them online.
- Have credibility and trust: Websites that appear at the top of search results are often perceived as more credible and trustworthy by users. By consistently appearing in top positions, brands can build trust with their audience, which is essential for online brand management.
- Increase brand authority: SEO allows brands to establish themselves as authorities in their respective industries by consistently producing high-quality, relevant content that addresses the needs and interests of their target audience. Over time, this helps to strengthen brand authority and influence within the industry, resulting in brand consistency.
- Being adaptable: SEO has proven to be an evolving field, which means that brands must continuously adapt their strategies to keep up with changes in search engine algorithms and user behavior.
- Gain targeted traffic: By optimizing for specific keywords related to their products or services, brands can ensure that the people who visit their site are genuinely interested in what they have to offer, increasing the chances of conversion.
- Saves money: Compared to traditional advertising methods, SEO is often more cost-effective in the long run. Once a brand’s website achieves high rankings in search results, it can continue to attract organic traffic without the need for investment in paid advertising.
- Know Customer Behavior: SEO tools and analytics provide valuable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and search patterns. By analyzing this data, brands can gain a better understanding of their target audience and tailor their marketing efforts and messaging accordingly, leading to improved brand management and relevancy.
The role social media plays in online brand management
Social media is very impactful in online reputation management because that’s where a brand’s audience spend most of their time. A study by Hootsuite found that 96% of brand managers believe that social media is essential for building a positive brand image. So, let us look at the perks social media brings to the table:
- Brand awareness: When you’ve just launched a new brand, consider using social media platforms that your targeted audience use on a daily. People will always search for new finding on topics they are interested in, therefore, avoid repeating information that is already being shared by your competitors. Find creative ways to feed them better content so you can start gaining traction then they will spread the word.
- Audience engagement: People/clients find social media as a number one medium of directly engaging with the brands they support. However, brands must make the first move. Remember the brand voice and tone, that’s very important in driving engagement. Ensure to answer every question and concern in a way customers prefer; it will increase the trust your followers have in you and lead to recommendation for a good and timely response your brand has.
- Crisis Management: We all know that issues and crises are inevitable, brand managers know this by heart. Therefore, brands can use social media to identify their most affected and least affected customers so they can tailor their strategies accordingly and address them well. A consistent crisis response determines if their actions are helping calm the situation or rather making it worse.
Ways brand and marketing managers can use to monitor their brand's online reputation
Brand and marketing managers can monitor and maintain their brand’s online reputation through a combination of proactive strategies. Here’s an approach:
- Social media listening: Use social media monitoring tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and HARO to track brand mentions, sentiment analysis, and conversations related to the brand.
- Online reviews management: Monitor and respond to reviews on platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, Amazon, and industry-specific review sites. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and address any negative feedback professionally and quick before it gets out of hand. Research by Search Engine Land shows that 92% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchasing decision.
- Use Google Alerts: Set up Google Alerts for the brand name and relevant keywords to receive notifications whenever the brand is mentioned online. This helps in staying updated on discussions across various platforms, and maybe you can hop in to show your knowledge on the matter.
- Website feedback: Implement feedback systems on the brand’s website such as comment sections, contact forms, or surveys to gather insights from visitors. Address any issues raised promptly and transparently.
- Analyze competitors: Keep an eye on competitors’ online reputation to benchmark against industry standards and identify areas for improvement. Analyze competitor strategies for managing their online reputation effectively and strive to serve better.
- Employee Advocacy Programs: Train employees to be brand ambassadors and represent the brand positively online. Encouraging employees to share branded content and engage with customers in a professional manner on social media platforms will go a long way.
Online brand management has proven to be a challenge for many upcoming brands, but you can use these strategies to see the best results in online brand management and supplement your changes of growing an organic and loyal audience.
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