How to Build a Brand on Social Media for Sustainable Growth

By T. Leigh Buehler  |  10/15/2025

Social media has transformed from a mere communication tool to an essential platform for brand development. With approximately 5.17 billion social media users around the world (nearly two-thirds of the global population), social media sites offer unprecedented opportunities for brand visibility and engagement.

Whether for small businesses or global corporations, the strategic utilization of social media channels has become essential for organizations seeking to establish a robust brand presence in the marketplace. Research indicates that over 80% of marketers recognize increased exposure as a primary benefit of social media marketing. Social media sites not only enhance a brand’s visibility, but also its ability to foster meaningful connections with target audiences and create a strong brand identity.

Understanding Different Social Media Platforms

Each social platform offers distinct features, audience demographics, and content formats that shape its effectiveness for different brand goals. To build a successful strategy with social media accounts and increase brand recognition, marketers must align each platform’s strengths with their target audience’s behavior:

• Facebook® – Broad demographic reach and ideal for brand building and community engagement
• Instagram® – Visual storytelling hub with strong growth and appeal for creative brands
• X® (formerly Twitter) – Real-time updates and concise messaging; great for engagement and trends
• LinkedIn® – Best for B2B, thought leadership, and professional content
• TikTok® – Short-form video and viral potential; popular with younger audiences
• YouTube ® – Long-form video and searchability; excellent for tutorials and storytelling
• Pinterest ® – Visual inspiration with high purchase intent; strong in lifestyle and retail

Choosing the right platform requires an understanding of where your audience spends time and how they engage with content. Demographic differences across different platforms demand a tailored, data-informed approach as you are brand building.

Defining Your Brand Identity through Social Media Networks

Establishing a clear and compelling brand identity is the cornerstone of building a successful presence on social media. It goes beyond logos and color schemes to encompass:

• Your brand’s values
• Your brand’s personality
• The emotional connection you create with your audience

Core Values and Brand Positioning

Your brand’s core values are the guiding principles that shape its behavior, messaging, and relationships. These values should be authentic and actionable, and they need to align with the expectations of your target audience.

Your brand might prioritize:

• Sustainability
• Innovation
• Inclusivity
• Transparency

As a result, these values must be consistently reflected in your social media content.

Start by communicating your mission and vision. What does your brand stand for? What impact do you want to make?

Positioning is equally important. It defines how your brand is perceived relative to competitors. A strong positioning statement clarifies your unique value proposition and helps guide your messaging across platforms.

Visual Identity

Visual identity refers to the tangible elements that represent your brand, including your:

• Logo
• Color palette
• Typography
• Imagery

These elements should be consistent across all social media platforms to reinforce brand recognition.

You do not want to use one set of colors on Instagram, only to use another set of colors on Facebook. It causes confusion for your customers and weakens your social media presence.

Consistency in a company brand’s is also helpful in increasing revenue. Research from Marq shows that consistent branding can increase revenue by up to 23%, largely due to improved trust and familiarity with the brand.

Brand Voice and Tone

Your brand voice is the personality you express through your written and spoken communication. It should remain consistent across all social platforms, yet flexible enough to adapt to different contexts.

A well-defined voice helps humanize your brand and build emotional connections with your social media users. Consider these dimensions when you’re shaping your voice and producing great content:

• Formal vs. conversational
• Serious vs. playful
• Inspirational vs. pragmatic
• Warm vs. authoritative

For example, Wendy’s® is known for its witty and irreverent tone on X, frequently trolling others and providing laughs to millions. By contrast, Patagonia® maintains a serious and mission-driven voice focused on environmental activism.

Both brand voices are effective because they align with each company’s brand values and resonate with their audiences. Their regular posts are also more likely to attract the notice of search engines.

Consistency Across Platforms

Consistency is not about uniformity; it is about coherence. Each social media platform has its own culture and conventions, but your brand identity should remain recognizable across all social media channels.

According to a study by Demand Metric, consistent branding across platforms can lead to a 33% increase in revenue growth. To achieve this goal, consider these best practices:

• Use the same profile image and bio structure across platforms.
• Align your content themes and posting cadence with your brand strategy.
• Train your team and collaborators on brand guidelines to ensure unified execution.

Knowing Your Target Audience

Have you ever seen a random sponsored ad pop up on your social media feed and thought to yourself, “Why am I seeing this particular ad?” That’s what happens when you do not plan your target audience correctly.

Without a clear picture of your audience, even the most creative content can fall flat. Knowing your audience allows you to:

• Tailor your messaging
• Choose the right platforms
• Create content that resonates deeply and engage authentically with like-minded people

Defining Your Audience

Your target audience consists of like-minded people who are the most likely to be interested in your product, service, or message. These customers can be segmented by shared characteristics, such as:

• Age
• Location
• Interests
• Values
• Purchasing behavior

According to HubSpot, defining your audience improves message relevance, advertising efficiency, and overall return on investment.

Developing Audience Personas

Once you have collected data, the next step is to create audience personas, which are semi-fictional profiles that represent key segments of your audience. A persona typically includes:

• Demographic details – age, gender, location, and income
• Psychographics – values, interests, and lifestyle
• Behavioral traits – buying habits and content preferences
• Pain points – problems your customers want to solve
• Motivations – the motives driving your audience to want or buy what you offer

For example, a brand selling eco-friendly home goods might create a persona like “Sustainable Sarah.” Sustainable Sarah could be a 34-year-old urban professional who values ethical consumption and follows green living influencers.

Crafting a Content Strategy for Posts

A strong content strategy ensures every post aligns with your brand, engages your audience, and supports business objectives. Without it, your content risks becoming inconsistent and ineffective.

To build a strategy, define clear goals using the SMART framework:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Some goals for your content strategy might include:

• Boosting engagement
• Driving traffic to your website
• Increasing brand awareness

Once goals are set, structure your strategy around core themes and preferred formats. This approach keeps your messaging focused, timely, and impactful across platforms.

The Content Pillars of Your Social Media Management

Content pillars are the foundational themes that guide your social media posts. They help maintain consistency, ensure relevance, and make planning easier.

Most brands benefit from having three to five content pillars that reflect their values, expertise, and audience interests. These pillars should be tailored to your brand and audience with up to five key themes, such as:

• Educational tips
• Behind-the-scenes insights
• Product highlights
• Customer stories
• Trend-based or entertaining posts

Content Formats

The format of your content plays a significant role in how it is received. Different platforms favor different formats, and audience preferences for interacting with your content can vary widely.

In 2025, short-form video continues to dominate engagement across social media platforms. For instance:

• Short-form videos – TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube® Shorts
• Long-form videos – YouTube

Other content for attracting the interest of an audience can consist of:

• Carousel ads
• Memes
• Live streams
• Polls
• Text posts

Creating a Content Calendar

Plan ahead with a content calendar to keep your messaging timely, organized, and aligned with seasonal or campaign goals. Your calendar should include:

• Post dates and times so that you post regularly
• Platform and format details
• Captions, hashtags, and calls to action
• Visual assets or links
• Notes on performance or engagement

Incorporating User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) – engaging content created by your customers or community members – is valuable content because it is social content gold. Curating content can involve anything that features your brand and encourages a response, such as:

• Photos
• Videos
• Reviews
• Testimonials

User-generated content is powerful because it is authentic, relatable, and often more trusted than branded content. The benefits of this type of content include:

• Increased engagement and reach
• Enhanced social proof and credibility
• Cost-effective content creation
• Stronger community connection

Engaging and Building a Community

Building a brand on social media is about cultivating a community where people feel seen, heard, and valued. Engagement is the bridge between visibility and loyalty. When done well, it transforms passive followers into active participants and brand advocates.

Timely, thoughtful responses to comments and messages build trust and show your brand is attentive. With most consumers expecting replies within 24 hours, personalized engagement can strengthen loyalty. Also, be sure to:

• Avoid generic replies
• Respond constructively to criticism
• Only remove comments that violate platform guidelines

Interactive content like polls, contests, live Q&As, and branded hashtags invites participation and boosts engagement. Also, collaborating with well-known influencers can expand reach and add authenticity. Focus on co-created content, giveaways, and account takeovers that align with your brand values.

Fostering a sense of belonging means celebrating the members of your community. Feature user-generated content, share customer stories, and create exclusive spaces for your loyal followers. Behind-the-scenes posts and open feedback channels also help humanize your brand.

Social media commonly serves as a customer service hub. Ensure that your social media managers:

• Share valuable content
• Monitor mentions
• Respond with empathy
• Offer practical solutions to customer problems or complaints
• Follow up to ensure satisfaction

Consistent, genuine interaction with customers lays a foundation for lasting brand affinity.

Influencer Marketing

A powerful way to build brand presence on social media and developing consumer trust is through the use of influencer marketing. Instead of relying on paid ads or self-promotion, partnering with influencers allows brands to use established communities of influencers, where authenticity already exists.

This type of marketing can provide:

• Exposure
• Social proof
• Higher engagement with your brand
• Meaningful conversations and UGC
• Organic expansion

For long-term growth, the key is to focus on relationships, not just transactions. Collaborating with influencers whose values align with your brand helps build credibility and fosters a sense of community.

Staying Current and Adapting to Trends

Social media evolves quickly. Algorithms shift, new features roll out on platforms, and audience preferences change over time. Staying current is essential for maintaining visibility and showing your brand is responsive and culturally aware.

Monitoring Platform Changes

Platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn frequently update their algorithms, affecting how content is prioritized. For example, Instagram now favors original content and Reels, while LinkedIn promotes knowledge-sharing posts. Stay ahead by:

• Following official platform blogs and updates that could affect how you share content
• Subscribing to trusted newsletters, such as Hootsuite® and Social Media Examiner
• Using tools like Sprout Social to track performance and algorithm shifts

Being proactive helps you adjust your content strategy before customer engagement drops.

Engaging with Trends

Trends can boost your reach and relevance but be sure that you choose those trends wisely. Focus on the trends that align with your brand’s values and audience. Effective participation means:

• Acting quickly while the trend is fresh
• Ensuring relevance to your message
• Adding a creative twist to stand out

Thoughtful trend engagement keeps your brand timely without compromising authenticity.

Embracing Agile Social Media Strategy

Agility in social media means being able to pivot quickly based on performance data, audience behavior, and platform changes. Many brands are now applying principles from Agile methodology to their marketing efforts, which includes working in short cycles, frequent testing, and collaborative planning.

The key elements of an agile strategy include:

• Weekly or biweekly content reviews
• Rapid iteration based on analytics
• Cross-functional collaboration between content, design, and analytics teams
• Flexibility to pause or shift campaigns based on feedback

Companies like Dell® and Coca-Cola® have successfully implemented agile marketing to stay responsive and innovative in their digital efforts.

Managing Brand Reputation and Crisis Response

Social media shapes brand perception instantly. One viral post or unresolved complaint can impact trust, making reputation management and crisis preparedness essential.

Monitoring and Sentiment Analysis

Brands must track mentions, whether they are tagged or not, across platforms to catch issues early. There are various tools that offer real-time alerts and sentiment analysis to guide responses, such as

• Statusbrew
• Brand24
• Sprout Social

Companies like Nike® and JetBlue® actively engage with online conversations to strengthen brand image.

Handling Negative Feedback

Responding promptly and respectfully to criticism builds credibility. Treat this feedback as an opportunity for transparency and growth.

Best practices include:

• Acknowledging concerns
• Assessing the validity of complaints
• Offering solutions
• Moving detailed discussions to private channels

Crisis Planning

In the event that a major crisis occurs, it helps to have a solid crisis plan. A solid crisis plan includes:

• Scenario mapping
• A response team
• Pre-approved messaging
• Clear communication protocols

Speed and honesty are key. Brands that own their mistakes, like KFC® during its UK chicken shortage, often recover faster and retain loyalty.

Social media can shape a brand’s reputation in real time. One viral post, one misstep, or one unresolved complaint can influence public perception dramatically.

Managing your brand’s reputation and preparing for crisis response are not optional; it is essential. The goal is to build trust consistently as well as respond with clarity and empathy when challenges arise.

The Marketing Degree at APU

For students who want to study more effective ways of marketing, American Public University (APU) provides an online Bachelor of Arts in Marketing. Taught by experienced marketing professionals, courses taught in this degree program include social media marketing, marketing strategy, and branding. Other courses include marketing research, the principles of supervision, and the foundations of financial management.

This B.A. in marketing has also been awarded specialty accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP®). This accreditation ensures that both programs have been thoroughly evaluated for high academic quality.

For more information about this degree, visit APU's business and management degree program page.

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TikTok is a registered trademark of TikTok, Ltd.
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Patagonia is a registered trademark of Patagonia, Inc.
Hootsuite is a registered trademark of Hootsuite, Inc.
Dell is a registered trademark of Dell, Inc.
Coca-Cola is a registered trademark of the Coca-Cola Company.
Nike is a registered trademark of Nike, Inc.
JetBlue is a registered trademark of the JetBlue Airways Corporation.
KFC is a registered trademark of the KFC Corporation.
ACBSP is a registered trademark of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs.