How To Build A Brand And Influence On Social Media – Henshaw Jacobson

If you missed my interview with Deon on Cool FM 95.9 PH on Saturday 16, 2018, this is for you especially if you are looking to use social media to grow your business.

Sharing my marketing knowledge and experience either through writing, speaking or training is one thing I enjoy doing the most these days.

They say knowledge is power, but I have learned through my experience as a digital marketer that knowledge can only be power when put into practice and shared with others. That was why the Rivers State LGA election couldn’t stop me from making it to the Cool FM station before 3pm for the social media marketing interview.

It was indeed a great time on radio with Deon. Amazing guy!

We had a very interesting conversation about social media marketing both on air and off air and I can’t share everything in this post as I must respect your psychology and play by the rule of this platform.

Below is the summary of the actionable insights I shared:

To build a strong brand and influence with lots of following on social media you don’t only need to have your brand registered on all the social media platforms that your audiences are active on, you have to:

1- Set up and optimize your social media pages properly

I have reviewed over 30 Instagram pages and more than 40 Facebook pages and I can tell you that 8 out of 10 social media pages are not properly optimized.

If you are like me, chances are you have tried connecting with somebody on social media just search for his account forever.

When your page is not properly optimized, you make it hard for search engine to collect your data, people struggle to find you, you suffer the most from algorithm changes and platforms like Instagram and Twitter might ignore you when suggesting accounts to your potential followers, and even when they do, they will likely suggest your account to people who may not be interesting in your brand.

But when hen you optimize your pages, you:

Strengthen your brand
Generate leads
Get more visibility online
Connect with your audience

2- Define your brand

Defining your brand and staying true to it helps you stand out from the social media noise.

You cannot market well without paying premium attention to branding.

I cannot count how many times I have struggled to remember a friend’s Instagram and Twitter handle. Now what if I wanted to give that friend a business? Well, I wee not go and kii myself, I will go to the nearest option.

Your brand identity is very important. My username is “Henshawjacobson” everywhere.

If you are a girl and your username is something like, “mhizsexyjane”, I wouldn’t wait for the angel to come and tell me that you are a wannabe slay mama.

So your name is Jane, your business name is Janny’s Cakes, meanwhile your social media username and activities depict a science student on a codien diet yet you are blaming the devil and Buhari’s government for not making sales. I pray sense fall on you today.

3- Know your target audience

Not knowing your target audience and not focusing all your social media marketing efforts on your target market is the easiest way to waste your time and marketing budget online. You only market when you are targeting.

4- Have a message, tell a story.

Here I’m talking about contents, I’m talking about storytelling. Your message is your story, your story is what is unique to your brand. Your competitors can copy your style but nobody can copy your story.

People will follow you because of your valuable contents, they will support you because of your story.

5- Make sure your target audience see your message

It’s not enough to create contents, you need a community to share your contents with.

You have to constantly grow your following and take advantage of Facebook and Instagram ad to amplify your voice so more people can hear your story. If you produce more of visual contents, you should treat Youtube advert like fuel in Nigeria during Christmas.

6- Motivate your target audience to take actions

Everybody on social media needs to be motivated in one way or the other to take actions. Give people more reasons to follow you, support you and buy from you.

Use freebies, lead magnets, anything that will encourage them to take actions that add value to your brand.

Think like a typical Nigerian pastor when it’s offering time.

7- Measure your efforts and review your strategy

I know some expert will tell you to be consistent. I tell you to be consistent with your brand, be consistent with what is giving you results.

Take time to analyze your effort and treat any strategies and tactics that’s not helping you to reach your goal like EBOLA.

8- Don’t try to do it all yourself, involve an expert.

Needless to remind you that Buhari has 156k followers on IG but he probably does not know his account password.

What am I saying? You don’t need to be a social media pro to build a strong brand on social media, just have a budget and hire an expert to work with you.

Outsourcing your social media management will allow you to focus on other aspect of your business.

Henshaw Jacobson has worked in leadership positions in sales and marketing with three different companies, helping them achieve their business goals. Today, Henshaw helps businesses and individuals gain visibility, grow influence and make money using creative strategies and digital tools. He is a digital marketing professional, social media consultant and Instagram specialist. He is the founder of Qliqmedia, a digital marketing agency in Port Harcourt on a mission to help brands connect with their target audience on social media and sell online without struggle.

Connect with him on Twitter, IG and Facebook @henshawjacobson

to access his social media marketing TIPS, free TRAINING and hard to find marketing strategies.