The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 4: Summer 2017 | Page 23

CREATIVE THINKING

WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA & BRANDS CLASH

David Mclean of Geometry PR discusses the challenges of raising the profile of your brand in the social media age .
While the digital revolution of the last few decades has provided wonderous new ways to reach out to markets , it also consistently throws up new challenges , many of which cannot be predicted . In some cases , these challenges are considerable and are a serious speedbump to effective business development .
Social media has been perhaps one of the most problematic areas . It ’ s not the actual process of reaching out to audiences via Twitter , LinkedIn etc that ’ s the problem , rather , it ’ s the constraints and rules of these platforms that are the issues , and the ways in which they are not able to easily accommodate often essential processes such as rebranding .
Take LinkedIn as an example . As the most businessorientated social media platform , LinkedIn is proving increasingly important for many businesses as the best social media platform to reach the high-value audience that matters . However , issues arise if you need to rebrand , or if you expand into new markets .
If you are a business that has spent years building up a robust and attentive LinkedIn following , yet you need to change your branding to reflect a fundamental change in your business structure ( for example branching into a new market ), you will find it very hard to apply those changes to LinkedIn , which only allows minor branding changes to business pages . What this means in practice is that you either have to stick with your old branding , which is counter-productive , or you will need to go through the tortuous process of trying to get your existing following to migrate to a new business page while you attract new followers .
Of course , this might not be an issue for the majority of businesses that do not feel the need to rebrand , or which are unlikely to branch into new markets . In those cases , social media is a much simpler animal to control ; you simply build and maintain your following .
Yet the fundamental issue remains that social media has changed the way we need to view corporate branding .
Prior to the internet age and particularly the social media age ( Web 2.0 ), it wasn ’ t so much of an issue if your name or branding was uncomfortably close to another business on a different continent . But the online world is truly global , so these issues become serious when you are trying to build online profile or fight for search engine visibility .
For established businesses , these are inconvenient issues that all-too-often need to be addressed . However , for new businesses , or those planning on starting a business , it cannot be overstated how important these issues are
when you start to think about naming and branding your business . They need to be your starting point if you are to avoid future problems as your business grows and evolves .
You need to take the emotion and the ‘ gut instinct ’ out of the process , and take a far more scientific approach to developing your name and your brand . You need to think about a brand that not only allows for easy expansion in respect to the online world , but one that does not throw up challenges or conflicts that impede your ability to build audiences and visibility
For more info : www . geometrypr . co . uk
@ geometrypr

CREATING REELS FOR ROYALTY

The team behind Bath video production agency Jooka are proud to be providing local businesses with production services fit for royalty .
Based at Glove Factory Studios , Jooka has been collaborating with design and brand consultancy Rednine to produce video content for His Royal Highness the Duke of York ’ s Pitch @ Palace enterprise . An initiative designed to give entrepreneurs the chance to get their tech business idea in front of a global audience of influencers .
James Stapleton of Jooka said , “ It is a huge privilege to be filming at venues such as Buckingham Palace and St James ’ s Palace , and to rub shoulders with today ’ s business elite at these events .”
Increasing demand from companies using video content for marketing on social media and YouTube has seen Jooka open a second office in Bristol this year . Just two years after the company was set up in 2015 . They were also recently selected as a finalist in the Creative Bath Awards .
Jooka ’ s Matt Paish said , “ For a young company we ’ re really proud of how far we ’ ve come in such a short amount of time and we ’ re working on some really interesting local projects too .
“ Whether the aim is brand engagement , product exposure , explaining how a service works or simply a need for regular rich content , our team can advise you on what will work best . Our goal is to produce films that drive an emotional connection between your brand and its audience .
“ Short form video content in particular is really popular at the moment as it ’ s snappy , engaging and has proven to be really effective for companies using social media .”
Jooka ’ s in-house services include filming , animation , motion graphics , aerial filming , stop motion and time-lapse .
For more info : www . wearejooka . co . uk
@ wearejooka
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017 23