When most people talk about branding in a marketing context, their first thought is often of some big business that almost everyone knows, such as a major fast food chain or entertainment network. However, maintaining a brand isn’t just for big companies—it’s something that influencers on social media need to keep in mind as well.
Branded content for influencers can have a significant impact on their communities, and having a platform for that content is crucial for building/maintaining a personal brand.
How can branded content change your online influencer community? The answer to that depends on what kind of branded content you create and how you use it.
Increasing fan awareness of your brand
One of the most basic goals of any kind of branded content for your fan community is to increase awareness of your brand by giving them something to remember—preferably something that they’ll like.
Things like logos, color schemes for content, catch phrases, and more can all be associated with your brand and used to help make you easier to remember.
Also, if you’re on a large social media platform, such as Twitter or Facebook, where your fans will have to sift through large amounts of random posts and notifications, then branded images and thumbnails can make your posts more recognizable—increasing the likelihood fans will find and engage with those posts.
If you have your own, personally-branded app, then maintaining a consistent brand identity is still important for remaining recognizable across all of your outreach efforts with fans.
Altering community demographics
The way that you brand your content, on any channel, helps potential fans establish expectations for the type of content you’ll make, your tone of voice, and more.
So, when creating branding, it’s important to carefully pick the elements you use in your branding, whether they’re visual or auditory. Everything, from the logos you use to the way you speak, is a part of your brand identity, and different brand elements will attract different kinds of fans.
In this way, your branding can change the identity and demographic of your fan community as a whole.
Controlling what kinds of fans you attract requires detailed information on not only who your current fans are, but also on what kinds of content/branding they react to. Collecting such detailed data on most social media platforms is very difficult—however, if you have your own personal white-labeled app for managing fan interactions, collecting such data becomes easier.
Proceeding with caution
Using branded content can be a powerful way to draw attention and the new fans that come with it. However, it’s important to proceed with caution. It can be all too easy to put out a bit of branding or content that doesn’t mesh well with your audience, and actually drive down engagement.
So, when formulating branded content, it’s vital that you carefully review some specific data about your fanbase, what they love, and especially what they hate. Sometimes, it’s just as much about minimizing losses as it is about making gains—especially when you already have a large audience.
When done right, branded content can provide a huge boost to your online influencer community—attracting fans and earning devotion. Having your very own personally branded, white-label app can make it easier to get your branded content before your fans and collect the data you need to improve said branding.
