Today’s undisputed leader in social media, Facebook offers marketers and entrepreneurs direct branding contact in one of the largest pool of online users on the web. It has over 500 million members and growing.

Recently, Facebook introduced newly improved on-site tools that can be used to better market companies’ brands and businesses. Even one of the simplest tools such as the “Like” button and photos could be used for a viral network effect.

With all these helpful tools, let us see how this can be applied to your brand marketing purposes.

• Photo page enhancement. This photo upgrade will help brands and marketers in presenting clearer images of their products. Aside from the lightbox interface, Facebook also employed the cancellations of pagination wherein all albums can now appear on a single page.
• Closer Group Ties. Aside from photos, Facebook also introduced new features at their Group section, where marketers can now get in touch more with their fans through group chat, the event page, and document uploading. But remember to respect the online boundaries of your members. It’s highly recommended not to send mass group invites to fans.
• Question Applications. There is a new trend of application that many users are trying out: Facebook Questions. This social networking tool helps you market your products and brand while allowing customers to enjoy on a variety of questions about their personal life. The application can also help you gauge your target audience and gather information that will be helpful in developing your products in the future.

These are just few of the ways on marketing your brands on Facebook. Remember that in social marketing, the important factor is that you connect will with your customers. So be sure you serve them the best of what they can dig online and make sure they retain your brand in their minds in the end.

Credits:www.nationalbrandpower.com

Today, another request from the BSI Email Bag. Jon, a marketer from Baltimore, Maryland writes…

“Hi Brad and Derrick, I really enjoy reading Branding Strategy Insider, thanks for the resource. I have a question about the April 6, 2010 post “Brand Positioning And The Consumer Mind“. I understand that the consumer owns the brand. However, I am a bit confused as to what a brand really is. Is a brand just one word in the mind of the consumer? What is your definition of a brand? What brand is a company such as Disney?”

Jon, thanks for your question(s). First to the definition of a brand. A brand is a personification of an organization or its products and services. In this way, a brand can stand for something. It can make promises to its target audiences. It can possess a specific character and a personality and it can create an emotional connection with its customers. Having said that, most people will only associate one or two things with any given brand. So, people will likely associate Clorox with bleach and Bayer with aspirin and Sunkist with citrus fruits and McDonald’s with fast food. The key question of a brand’s manager is, “Does that primary brand association in people’s minds cause people to want to use our products or services?” Put another way, is it unique and purchase motivating? Or is it neutral? Or worse yet, is it negative? The purpose of brand positioning is to get people to primarily associate the one or two things that will most cause them to want to purchase and use your brand over competitive alternatives.

As or more important than making promises, brands should strive to deliver on those promises. They need to do that through their actions and the way they treat their customers.

Regarding the Disney brand, it stands for “fun family entertainment.” Family is a code word for wholesome, something you could feel comfortable doing with your children or your grandparents. Disney is able to deliver this brand promise through movies. theme parks, cruises and other types of products. For Disney to maintain brand coherence, it must make sure that all of its products and services deliver on the promise of “fun family entertainment.”

Have a question related to branding? Just Ask…

Sponsored by: The Brand Positioning Workshop

There are ten key benefits to licensing your brand. Brand Licensing enables:

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2.  The brand to obtain supplementary marketing support.  For the right to use the brand in their category, the manufacturer must agree to spend a percentage of their net sales on marketing.  This marketing commitment not only supports the category licensed, but can be significant to the overall brand.

3.  Trademark protection in the category.  For a brand to benefit from trademark protection in a particular category, it must be actively sold in that category.  If the category lies vacant, others may claim rights to use the mark.  Extending a brand into a category via licensing helps brand owners meet the commerce standard.

4.  Increased consumer connections and insights in the categories being licensed.  Extending a brand via licensing offers thousands of incremental opportunities to connect with consumers.  By inserting a survey inside the licensed package or a toll free number on the exterior, a brand owner can gain many additional insights about the brand.

5.  A brand to gain incremental shelf space.  If a brand owner chooses to extend a brand via licensing into a new category, the brand gains tremendous additional exposure in those categories in every retail store the product is sold.  When sold into major chain retailers, the brand can gain thousands of additional feet of brand exposure in each category.

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