Nothing epitomizes the art of personality like social media. It’s as if social media is a place for people to be themselves and let their personalities shine, which is no different for businesses. Businesses that use their social media platforms to allow their business persona to shine are the ones that use this marketing tool as intended. As of January 2024, there were 56.2 million active social media accounts in the United Kingdom, representing 82.8% of the population. Meanwhile, 76% of businesses in the UK use social media to market their business.
Marketing your business on social media is marketing your brand persona. It’s a way to introduce your brand to your audience through this marketing outlet or channel. Social media is a profitable channel, too. Considering that 28% of small businesses generate more sales from social media than any other marketing channel, this shows that personalizing your approach is not only strategic but how to elevate your brand above the competition.
Personalizing your business’s social media personality is essentially being authentic. Every brand has a style, a rhyme, a voice, and a personality. Businesses need to understand their voice, their culture, and what makes them unique, and know how to package that up and share it with the world and their audience to build a connection and humanize your business’s product or service. Consumers need to relate to your brand to connect emotionally, which is how brands have long-term success. Here are three simple ways we advise our clients to show the human side of their brand via technology.
Introduce your brand
When meeting someone for the first time, making an introduction is essential. Sharing information about yourself allows others to understand who you are and what experiences and interests have shaped you. Businesses can share their origin story and create content highlighting their mission and vision statements. When brands introduce themselves to their audience, it’s like a virtual handshake that fosters a connection between you and your audience. This introduction lets the audience learn about your brand’s history and identify shared interests or experiences. Similarly, when brands introduce themselves, it’s like saying, “Hi, my name is… would you like to be friends?” Because loyal customers are, in essence, friends of a brand.
Highlight the people behind the scenes
There’s nothing like personalizing the personalities and people that make up your brand’s culture. Did you know that behind-the-scenes (BTS) content is becoming the leading marketing strategy for businesses? As a matter of fact, it’s revolutionizing how brands and consumers see each other, which has been a complicated marketing riddle businesses have been trying to solve for decades.
The BTS content bridges the gap of understanding and connection, de-mystifies a business as brick-and-mortar, and presents it as a culture or a vital source for humanity. It builds connection and allows your brand to showcase its uniqueness. Highlighting the people who work with your brand, no matter how diverse, allows your customer base to see themselves as affiliated with your product or service.
Doing this both humanizes your brand and makes your brand an easy transition from an object to an integral part of one’s daily life.
Share human-interest stories
Connect your brand with real customer stories. BTS stories show the heart of your brand, while human-interest stories show the value. Testimonial stories are, in essence, what human-interest content is but more heartfelt and intentional. Businesses are created by learning how your product or service made all the difference in your customer’s life. Keeping those stories to yourself is bad for business because the market and consumers deserve to understand how your product can somehow enhance their lives. When executed well, these stories personalize your brand and elevate it from just another ordinary product to something that genuinely fulfills a need.
While 21% of entrepreneurs feel they are behind the times regarding social media and 16% feel that trying to navigate it is stressful, the key to using this profitable form of marketing is simply being yourself. No formula to success can beat authenticity. When businesses show up online as themselves, highlighting the uniqueness of their culture, sharing stories from customers who benefit from their product, and letting their audience members discover them or follow who they are and why they do what they do, it’s not just a win for your brand but for the world at large. Because the people who make up any business are part of a community, and we all need each other. And when we realize a business is just a person or people with a dream and a plan to create a product that not only generates money but helps people live better lives, in whatever way your product does, add to the quality of life for all of us.