If you've started utilizing Social Media for your business and you're seeing results, congratulations! You're one of the many people who have figured out a way to engage an audience, reach out and be a part of the community, and penetrate the market with your Brand.

"With my what?"

    If you asked that particular question, you might be missing an opportunity to increase awareness about your business even more so than with your current Social Media tactics. Or, if you're not using Social Media yet and you aren't sure what your Brand is, depending on what your business is, you're probably overdue for some marketing basics. Utilize these basic steps properly and you'll make the right impact.


    Have you developed a Brand strategy for your business? Look at whatever branding your company currently has. Is it unified? Do all roads lead back to Rome? What I mean is: does everything look as if it belongs together? Will it all point the way to the door (or website) of your profit machine? Is your logo on every piece of collateral you print? Is it on every email that goes out, or do you at least have a signature with your tagline and information? Do your advertisements have the same "tone" as your webpage, Facebook page, and twitter profile? If one site has a trendy tone and looks like your place of business is where the young crowd comes in to shop and another site has a more conservative tone and looks as though senior citizens play checkers on the sidewalk, you've got a conflict.

    Every piece of print material or promotional item that has your company name on it should be able to stand on its own, perhaps even without your name on it, and be recognizable as something from your company. Your unique logo (Brand), tagline (mine is "Bringing Words to Life!), website address, phone number, and twitter handle should be on everything you hand out. If it won't all fit, make sure at least your logo and, if possible, your website are always present. 


    Your brand identity is YOU, or it is your COMPANY and it represents what your company is. One might say it's a symbol. The brand is or will be repeatedly communicated, in many of the ways listed above and within other ways, such as your audience's blogs or other posts. This will continue throughout the life of your business.


    If you are in the process of igniting all of these various fires and you're not sure where to start, take it one step at a time. Keep in mind almost everyone has to start with nothing: no website, no logo, no ideas for taglines, and no clue as to how to begin tweeting and Facebooking. When you stop and consider the fact that people who have utilized your services or visited your place of business are already talking about you to one another, whether or not you have a brand, you might very well be better off starting with Social Media while you are in the process of developing your Brand identity.


    Set up a Facebook page first and a twitter account second. Why invest in an expensive website that will have to be overhauled after you create a color palette, background, logo design, and signature style? Get involved with the community that is out there talking about you now, let them know "things are in the works" if you must, but just get active somehow in letting people know you exist…no, not just the ones who already know you exist, others. 


    If all of this is new to you, find someone who will come to you and explain it all. Get some help. You'll have to pay for it if you want GOOD help, but in order to build a business that will PAY you long-term dividends, you must invest. This is the identity of your business, it's public perception, and you want to make a great impression. This is not the place to cut corners and budget. Invest in someone other than your cousin's college friend who is trying to make a few bucks or get a grade by building a website. Would you leave the removal of your appendix to an amateur? Why would you leave the fate of your business's image to an amateur? 


    A professional marketer or Social Media strategist will help you develop your brand identity. Once you have unified your brand properly, get active on the Social Media platforms, and you'll penetrate the market. You can make the right impact if you simply start with the basics and do them properly!