Via Scoop.it – Being Your Brand
Community managers from different businesses & industries offer their insight on how to best increase your productivity & the best tools to do so.
Via mashable.com
Category: Brand Strategy
Why Wikipedia Is Important For Your Social Media Strategy
Many times Wikipedia is overlooked as a tool for both branding and social media. Wikipedia at its core is a collaborative information source and a social media. It is often one of the first listings that appears in search results, and is many people’s first choice when they want quick information.
A big reason that Wikipedia should not be overlooked is because Facebook pulls information and images directly from Wikipedia pages for the info sections of community pages. Community pages are Facebook-administered and auto-generated. Community pages were auto-generated from keywords Facebook users often used in reference to their “likes”, interests, and work. So, there is probably at least one (if not more) community pages out there with your company’s name.
Since community pages are Facebook-administered, it is important to keep content up-to-date on your company’s Wikipedia page, or create a Wikipedia page for your company so that the community page is not blank.
The majority of Facebook users are unaware that companies do not actually control community pages, so your brand can still be damaged by incorrect content pulled from Wikipedia. In addition, only a certain amount of content will be pulled from the Wikipedia page. (Approximately 250 words though this number varies greatly across pages)
Below are screen shots of the Macy’s Department Store Facebook Community page and the Macy’s Department Store Wikipedia page – Same content!
How to Brand Yourself Online and Offline
Brand strategy is not limited to businesses anymore; it is now expanding into the idea of branding yourself. I was introduced to the concept of branding yourself during my senior year at Tulane when everyone was getting ready to apply for jobs, specifically the idea of branding your online identity.
But, when I thought about it a personal brand does not exist solely online. Actually, a personal brand strategy can be applied to networking (online and offline), applying for jobs, and career goals.
It is important remember when you are developing a personal brand strategy, that it is just as important for you to monitor your online brand as it is for companies.
Also, don’t forget to keep your brand information up-to-date (job position, promotions, or new skills) and to build an active community around your brand (make sure your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook posts are relevant to your personal brand strategy).
If you are interested in developing your own personal brand strategy, check out this infographic about things to remember when creating your strategy.
How To Create Your Personal Branding Strategy? #infographic
Integrating Brand Strategy into Website Design
Now, more than ever, it is important that we stop treating a brand and a website as separate entities. Websites should be extensions of the brand, not separate.
A brand is more than a company’s logo, product, or tag line; it is the experience that customers associate with the company and the essence of the company.
A website is the online extension of a physical storefront, and there should be a seamless extension of brand identity between the physical store and the website homepage.
A bad website experience can affect sales and even permanently affect brand image the same way that a misdirected advertising message can.
Since customers are doing more and more of their shopping online, whether or not they are purchasing or researching, it is difficult to imagine separating brand strategy from your website strategy and design.
Below are examples of companies that I think are doing a great job of using their websites as direct extensions of their brand. Check out their websites to see more ways that they are extending their brand from in-store to online.
