Building a lasting brand requires more than just a great product or service. Consumers are increasingly becoming more conscious about what they purchase and the impact their decisions can have on socio-economic factors. They are looking at what brands value, and what actions the brand takes to align with their values.
At BeKonstructive, we specialise in content marketing – which means we know all about brand values… and we know that one of the best ways to communicate your brand values to consumers is through social media!
What are brand values?
Brand values play a key role in creating and establishing deep relationships with customers. They can be the difference between a one-time customer and a lifelong brand advocate. Brand values are part of your brand’s foundation and underpin your business.
Think of your brand’s mission/vision statements, only deeper and more personal. They represent your brand’s personality, what makes the brand unique, its moral values, and alignment. Brand values inform employees and consumers what you stand for and what is important to your business. They help funnel business decisions in a direction that aligns with the brand. That being said, it is important that brands set authentic yet realistic values.
Why are brand values important?
Realistic and authentic brand values are more important now than ever before. They have a significant influence on consumer buying behaviour and brand resonance. Outlining your values allows the brand to build deeper relationships with its audience and maintain consistency across all channels. With recent shifts in buyer trends, consumers are more willing to spend time researching and shopping around to find a brand that aligns with their values.
“Where are consumers researching brands?” you may ask. The answer is social media!
Why communicate your brand values on social media?
The majority of this brand research (or ‘due diligence’) happens via social media channels. Social media is one of the best digital platforms to deliver your brand value stories. Furthermore, there is value in brand values. That’s why it’s important to communicate them to your audience. It helps to emotionally invest them into your brand’s journey because your values align with theirs. Supporting brands with aligning values is a small yet impactful move consumers can make in the grand scheme of everything. They believe that you will have a bigger impact than they can have by themselves.
Communicating your brand values on social media is about building connections with the audience, forming relationships with relevant communities (examples: vegans) and being authentic. One way you can achieve this is by showing your audience what your brand is doing on a day to day basis.
For example: At BeKonstructive, we value continuous learning and development. We act on this value by providing professional development opportunities for our employees, as well as an established internship program for future marketing professionals. You won’t have to scroll very far on our Instagram feed to find a post where we’re talking about a workshop one of our team went to, or an introduction to our newest intern.
In addition to being the go-to place for brand research, communicating your brand values via social media has the following benefits:
Benefit 1: Brand Values Encourage Brand Loyalty
Communicating your brand values on social media instills your brand with the audience and builds connection and loyalty. Being genuine on social media is what’s going to set you apart from others. On platforms where people build followings on fake realities, and superficial lifestyles, hiding behind a bunch of filters or heavy editing, authenticity is rare and refreshing.
A brand’s ability to be ‘real’ online and create authentic content is a vital part of building strong, lasting relationships with its consumers and target audience. As the relationship grows stronger, the brand is able to secure a customer’s valuable attention and engagement.
This gradually builds brand resonance and ultimately results in customer retention. Consumers reward authenticity and transparency with loyalty. Authenticity when showcasing your product online demonstrates good faith in what you have to offer and your commitment to addressing a genuine need.
Being genuine is a vital part of connecting with followers as, now more than ever, consumers are seeking authentic experiences and holding brands accountable for their content. Brands need to be true to their values and brand voice, communicate openly and honestly with customers, and be responsible for their actions.
Benefit 2: Brand Values Help Guide Business Decisions
We’ve said before that brand values are important to guiding the flow of business and partnership decisions. They’re a great reference for assessing potential business opportunities – “does this opportunity align where we are heading as a brand?”. Brand values make it really easy to spot what does and doesn’t fit your brand. They keep brands true to themselves and their customers.
Opportunities may seem enticing but it’s important to align them against your brand values. At first glance, you think a partnership with a similar brand would be great, but upon further research, you discover this isn’t the case. For example, your brand creates a very wide range of size-inclusive jeans and your brand values are inclusivity and body positivity. A department store reaches out to you wanting to stock your jeans in their store. You’re excited, this is an amazing opportunity to build your brand. However…. This retailer only wants to stock a portion of your size range. Although the offer is enticing, it doesn’t resonate with your brand values.
The same could be said for influencer partnerships. On the surface, an influencer may seem to align with your brand and create great content. But it’s always important to do your research! You don’t want to get tangled up in any scandals or controversies and end up in a Twitter war.
Benefit 3: Boosts Company Culture
Articulating your brand values online can also help boost company culture. Brand values should radiate through every interaction anyone has with your brand – this includes your employees as well.
By communicating your values, prospective applicants for positions will see this when they’re researching. They will know what to expect when they join your team, and they won’t be surprised by anything. Furthermore, you may find that it actually acts a beacon, for people who’s personal values align with your brand values.
For Example: Keeping with BeKonstructive’s own experiences, we find that a lot of people who apply for positions with us reference our internship program and the fact that we have built our business model around employing young workers and recent graduates. When asked why they want to work with us, they often talk about the professional development opportunities we offer staff, and their desire to work somewhere that they will learn a lot.
Communicating Your Brand Values on Social Media
Your brand values are only as good as your ability to live up to them. But once they’ve been cemented into your brand, they ensure you stay true to your customers and yourself. They keep your brand’s integrity strong and help you stray from diluting your message. Things can only flow easier from here, especially with the support of your social media platforms.
The team at BeKonstructive Marketing know social media and they know branding. We live it, we breathe it, we post it, we love it. Get in touch today to organise a free consultation.
