Brand Me Please!

Create A Knockout Brand:

Social media has leveled the playing field for the entertainment industry, making it so ALL artists have the ability to build an audience, it has also leveled the playing field for every business within every industry as well.

In the eyes of the average social media user (your potential audience), your presence is the same as any and every other audience, company and organization out there… and only those who establish an effective Brand will be able to keep their attention and loyalty.
So how do you establish an effective brand?
 
CONSISTENCY!

Create consistency across all platforms.
If you have a defined look and feel on one platform, it is important that the look and feel remain the same on other platforms so your current audience (and new audience) can identify you easily everywhere else.
The stronger your Brand becomes, the easier it will be for your audience to identify you through the social media clutter.

Here are 4 different elements of Digital branding that you must ensure are consistent across all of your platforms:

Fan Page Images:  Profiles pictures, timeline banners, logos, album covers, etc. should all be of the highest quality (i.e. no fuzzy or grainy images taken from an iPhone) and should be the same on all platforms. Your profile picture on Facebook Fan Page  should be the same as your profile picture on Twitter, Youtube, Google +, Soundcloud, etc.

Color: Be consistent about color palette.  

Bio: Who you are should be on every social media platform you use.
There is no better example of a wasted opportunity than one where a new potential audience stumbles upon your Facebook page (or your website!) and wants to know more about you but there is no bio available there.Your bio gives you the opportunity to control YOUR story, telling new and existing audiences what you want them to know about you.

Content: Social Media is all about content.The look, feel, style and frequency of the content you publish (images, music, videos, blog posts, etc.) must be consistent on every platform in order to stay relevant and keep your existing audience interested. If you change your content style too often, your audience may grow to not know what to expect and will be far less likely to come back or look for you on other platforms.

CONSISTENCY! 

 

Building a Strong Online Brand: Commitment Is Not for the Weak

At First Your Commitment to Engagement Will Be Greater Than That Of Your Audience 

Let’s face it, it is human nature to avoid disrupting the status quo. Very few people are willing to put themselves out on a limb, for the fear of being judged as being too great. It is this simple reason that studies show people fear public speaking more than death.

Now, let’s take the idea of putting yourself out on a limb, and add in the fact that through social media you’re now doing this in a VERY public forum where anyone and everyone can judge you.
If you consider this, it makes all the sense in the world why your blog posts aren’t being commented on, or your questions on Facebook aren’t being

answered.

People are afraid to be the first to speak up.
Because of this, it is normal that your commitment to engaging your fans be far greater than their commitment to engaging with you.

It is only once you establish yourself with the trustworthy reputation that any ideas, comments and responses will be heard, validated and valued, that your audience will start to match your commitment to engagement.
As an example; I didn’t receive my first comment on my blog until about 6 months into my blogging.

However, once I started engaging with people through OTHER forums (i.e. other blogs where I had guest posted that already had an existing, engaged reader base), by responding to all comments, joining conversations that were good or bad about my ideas, and simply letting others be heard, the reputation started to build. It was this that lead to the same level of engagement I was achieving elsewhere to happen on my own blog, ultimately helping me to establish and providing credibility to my brand.

Building a Strong Online Brand: The Tipping Point

Often There Is No Discernible Tipping Point

However, all the small successes that are discussed previously will, as Malcolm Gladwell once again famously outlined, help you to reach your ‘Tipping Point’. That is, the point in which all of these small successes finally barrel over into your one major moment… in this case it would be the moment that your brand becomes established.


To use my own experience as the example; after a year or so of working day-in-and-day-out of blogging, tweeting consistently and building conversations, my personal brand as a blogger had developed.
I still had the same lingering doubt that I felt from the beginning.

It wasn’t until one day when I was secured to be a judge for Talent Quest Florida (held position for three years) that I realized my Brand was there and it had been experienced.

Building a Strong Online Brand: Doubtful Beginnings

You Will Doubt Yourself… And Then You’ll Doubt Yourself Again.

Doubt HAS to be the number one killer of brands. I can say from personal experience that this was the hardest obstacle to overcome. And yet, I had to work to over come my own doubt about my brand on a regular basis (if not more often).
Because building a brand is so abstract, and can take such a long time to establish, you’ll often feel like you’re just treading water.
This is normal!

The audience will usually trickle in: one-by-one or two-by-twos.
Your family and friends are not your true audience. Do not count them.
Because of this, it is important to find any successes, even if they are small, that you can not only rejoice in on a regular basis, but can use to keep you motivated:

• A couple of Facebook ‘likes’ on a status update
• A comment left on a blog post
• A Re-Tweet or an inclusion in a #FF (Follow Friday) tweet

These are all successes. Use them as indicators of your growth and realize that with each small success, you’re working towards your brand-goal of creating compelling content, a unique voice and a trustworthy reputation.

Building a Strong Online Brand: Rome was not built in a day

Defining Your Voice Can Take A LONG Time
Whenever branding is discussed, one of the first components to be included is the idea of establishing a ‘voice’. This ‘voice’ must combine a powerful mission statement with a unique approach.

It won’t work with just one or the other.
This voice may not come to you right away. In fact, it is normal for this to take a VERY long time to fully realize.

As Malcolm Gladwell has said in his book ‘Outliers’, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a craft.
Once you do fully realize this voice, your focus and ability to create compelling content will be likely to become prolific.
When I created Bay Area Studios Foundation Blog, it took me over a year’s worth of daily blogging before I found my voice. I was all over the place under my company name. It was tragic.

I knew I wanted my mission to launch young people’s careers and help kids to advance their careers through performing. But it wasn’t until I found the right approach of creating quick and actionable posts inspired by social media marketing tactics, that my voice became truly defined.

Martina Sykes - Broadway Rocks Divas Acoustic

Building a Strong Online Brand: The Foundation

The key to establishing yourself online is building a strong brand. It is easier said than done. The method of designing, building and nurturing a new brand means you have established:

• A unique voice
• Consistent convincing content
• A trustworthy reputation

The challenge for most comes down to the fact that there is no single path to achieving any one of these things. And yet, you need to achieve them all in order for your brand to flourish.
What works for some, may not work for others.
What seems to be an obvious indicator of success for some, it may be hidden for others.
A ‘brand’ is such an elusive, flexible concept and it may be difficult to know if you’re heading on the right track. In fact, it is often wearisome.