Business on Twitter Because Twitter’s not just for twits ;)

How to benefit from branding on Twitter, a guest post by Ces Loftus of Creatively Minded Design

There’s lots of potential to raise your brand awareness using twitter.

You can :

• Generate interest and get the attention of potential clients.
• Create a positive buzz for your business.
• Inspire new advocates to recommend you.

With plenty of good advice out there about how to get the most from using twitter, how exactly does branding fit in?

Well in order to answer that question it is important to make sure you understandwhat I mean by ‘branding’.

Your branding is the sum of all that contributes to how your business is perceived
and recognised by the outside world and most importantly your clients.

It is a good idea to go back to basics and write down :

• Your brand promise and ethics.
• The core benefits of your product or service.
• What problem you resolve for your clients.
• How your business is of value to your clients.
• Your USP or angle.
• Your ideal / niche target market.

All of these core values should be reflected in your branding.

Being a global corporation like CocaCola, Virgin or McDonalds is not the criteria for having brand power. Small businesses can maximise their branding too.

Strong brand power is built and established through the impression a brand gives when the audience :

• Comes into contact with it.
• Hears about it.
• Sees it.
• Experiences it.

Basically it is about how the brand makes the audience feel. A whole sensory package of brand triggers. How we feel when we hear or see something is what sticks with us and helps determine our opinion of its value to us.

Take a fresh green apple for example. We recognise an apple by :

• The way it feels when we touch it (come into contact with it).
• The way it is described either audibly or in written language (hear about it).
• The way it looks either in physical presence,
as a photo or illustration or even just by the ‘apple green’ colour (see it).
• The way it crunches, smells and tastes when we eat the fresh juicy sweet fruit
(experience it).

Every time we remember having seen, heard about or eaten an apple all of these thoughts come together to define how we perceive it’s value to us.

Similarly every time an audience remembers having seen, heard about or experienced your brand it will evoke thoughts (brand triggers) which define their perception of the value and benefit of your business.

A brand image is a very powerful thing. As humans we react to and act upon strong feelings (such as those evoked by brand triggers).

A well designed brand image and strategic branding will :

• Evoke emotion (how the audience feels about and desires the brand).
and furthermore,
• Provoke a reaction (a call to action to buy into the benefits of and experience
the brand).

That means a result of increased sales, now that’s something worth paying attention to.

Now bear with me, we are getting to the part where you can benefit from branding on twitter.

There is just one more important point I want to make first. Back to the delicious fruit comparison. If we repeatedly see a fresh apple green colour along with key word phrases about ripe juicy green apples then powerful emotive brand triggers will be created and we may find that we would quite like to eat a fresh green apple so much so that we may just actually go and buy one next time we are in the shops. That is the sort of call to action you want to achieve with your business branding.

However, what happens if the branding is not consistent?

By this I mean what if the fresh apple key word phrases were accompanied by the colour orange. This would give out mixed brand triggers. Still relating to fruit, but you might want to go and buy an orange instead of an apple. What about if the colour used was brown or grey? This would give conflicting messages too as they are not ‘fresh colours’ and on a subliminal level would make you think of rotten fruit not fresh fruit which would dampen your desire to go out and buy an apple.

Of course branding and developing a great brand image for any key target market is a lot more complex than that, but this just demonstrates how important consistency in branding is.

Ok so now the twitter bit. How can you translate all of these things over to the ever
popular twitter experience?

Well, you can :

• Have a bespoke branded twitter Profile background.
• Use your logo, slogan and brand name in full or in part.
• Have your brand colours as a border or tint for your profile pic.
• Use twit pic to link to things that will promote your brand (+use your brand colours).
• Use humour, lyrics, tag lines that all build up a consistent brand image.
• If you write a blog or article somewhere include you brand colours for headers.
• Include images that will positively build on your brand image in your blogs or articles.
• Tweet links on to your own branded site.
• Tweet links to your branded profiles on other sites.
• Tweet links to show examples of how your business has benefited existing clients.
• Ensure consistency in the way you promote your business either audibly, visually
or in written language.
• Build credibility through giving tips, useful links, and promoting your brand in a
memorable way.

As you continue to build you brand presence on twitter, your branding will pro-actively
raise brand awareness and start selling your product or service for you.

Getting your brand image right is about connecting with and inspiring your audience.

The more your audience see and hear about your business in a positive light and get a good impression about your credibility and ability to deliver an authentic and beneficial brand experience, the more they will want to know and share with others.

That in mind, branding on twitter is essential, what are you waiting for?

Remember, on twitter, good news travels fast!

Ces is part of Creatively Minded Design, an agency offering tips on high quality lead generation through great branding. You can follow her on Twitter here.

Tags: branding, ces, creatively, minded, tips

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Guest Blogs, Twitter for Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.