Webinar recap: Building a brand on social media

A recent Marketing Club webinar, led by marketing expert Will Francis, focused on building a brand on social media. During the session, he emphasised the importance of social media for both B2C and B2B brands, highlighting the need for meaningful connections with audiences. He also discussed the role of video content, user-generated content, and the significance of SEO in social media strategies.

Will Francis is a marketing expert with over 25 years of experience working online as a creator and also a marketer. He has worked with lots of big-name brands, helping them have more meaningful connections with their audiences.

Why is social media important for brands?

Brands are interested in social media because it allows them to reach audiences where their attention is. TV, radio, print and outdoor are the traditional channels brands have historically used to advertise and connect with consumers, but we've become less reachable through these traditional channels. And of course, brands noticed that. They say that people started spending more time on the internet and social media platforms, so naturally, brands followed.

Francis explained the shift from traditional marketing to social media was great for brands, it meant they could have more interaction with their audience, and he also highlighted the increased time people spend on social media platforms.

He also described the customer journey and the importance of building awareness at the top of the funnel, where social media is most effective, while paid advertising is more effective at the bottom of the funnel.

How do you build a brand on social media?

The goal of social media marketing is to build affinity and trust with the audience, making them more likely to become customers in the future.

Francis recommended using free video editing tools like CapCut and emphasised the importance of creating content that is in service of the audience, checking comments and DMs to see what people liked, and what they want more of.

The main goal for any social media content is to go viral and get lots of views, comments, saves and shares. Having creative, original ideas is always a great place to start when trying to go viral, but there are lots of ways you can get your brand talked about on social media. Using other videos that have gone viral is a good starting place too as you can use what has worked well as a template to create your own content. He also spoke about the importance of human-centric content and the role of creators in driving engagement.

Successful social media strategies

Francis noted that many brands still struggle with social media, often appearing awkward and out of touch. Throughout the webinar, he shared a few simple, successful social media strategies to help you get started making content for your brand:

• Video is everything 

The role of video content in social media is massive; video is essential and human-centric content always performs better than purely text-based or animated posts. People are looking for connection on social media, and that primarily comes from humans.

• Brands are the creator 

Brands need to think like creators and focus on providing value to the audience if they want their content to be seen. The personification of brands makes them appear more approachable and relatable, and this will help brands stick in customers’ minds.

• Everyone’s an influencer 

User-generated content (UCG), employee generated content, or working with small influencers are great ways to get started even if you have a small budget. Francis suggested using small influencers and focusing on the quality of the content rather than the size of the audience, someone with 500 followers will have a much more engaged audience than someone with 500,000.

Social SEO 

Francis discussed the concept of social SEO, where social media platforms are used as search engines, which is a growing trend in the social media space. It is important to create content that responds to what people are searching for and answers the questions they have.

Poor engagement often happens because no one has stopped to ask themselves: would anybody actually want this in their feeds? So, what do people want? What earns attention? Most people use social media as entertainment, or to learn something. Every piece of content must provide value; there must be a reason to stop people scrolling. So, one of the easiest things that a brand can do is to stop talking about itself and start talking about its audience and what they want.

Final thoughts 

This webinar explored how brands can use social media strategically to build awareness and engagement with their audiences. Understanding the customer journey and focusing content on what audiences genuinely value using formats like short-form video is how brands succeed. Going viral comes from studying what already works, leveraging social SEO and playing to the platforms’ algorithms. 

If you want to hear real-life examples of brands doing well on social media, or learn more about the practical frameworks Will Francis shared, catch up on the webinar on-demand now.