There is a post that has come to my attention at BlogHer, titled “How to Brand Yourself on Social Media Immediately.” After reading through the author’s advice regarding Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, one thing stands out to me about the article: it is horribly mis-titled.
Presumably the piece generates clicks by promising insight into how to get “immediate” results from the brand you develop on each of those platforms. But it is generating clicks from people who are pursuing a false promise. The truth is that social media branding is simply not an instantaneous process. And a look at the content of the BlogHer post will make that clear.
To be fair, there are some pointers there that can be put into immediate effect, such as using two fonts on Instagram and including a URL and just the right mix of information on a Twitter profile. But the vast majority of the advice deals with a long term learning process that involves either a lot of trial and error or the expert input of a local social media company, or both.
And that’s just the way it has to be. Even if you are working with a local social media company – even if it’s the biggest social media company in Los Angeles – you ought to run away as fast as you can if they promise you immediate results. Immediacy isn’t of much importance when you compare it with lasting impact. And to generate that, you and your local social media company will need to subject yourselves to the long, hard slog of constant consumer engagement, pursuit of major influencers, and discovery of where you fit in the social media landscape and exactly how your brand can stand out.
