Businesses, in their quest to leverage social media and influencers to sell their brands, must ensure that contents of the message speak to the values and needs of the establishment.
This, according to panellists at the maiden Brand-CON Africa organised by the Business and Financial Times (B&FT) under the theme ‘Celebrating Versatility and innovative in the midst of a pandemic’, is necessary to the success of any brand campaign and the company at large. More importantly, they said, this is the surest way to create fruitful partnership with a brand and its brand ambassadors or influencers.
They spoke on the topic ‘Influencers rising; the art and science of digital branding in a digital world’, and said the growth in social media is opening up new and innovative ways of marketing and selling; and the successful ones will be those which engage the right professionals to create content that speaks aptly about the needs, value and culture of the brand while appealing to the interests and needs of its customers and partners.
“It is not just having people or influencers connecting brands but also connecting brands to influencers to come up with the right content that speaks to the needs of the brands. That is crucial,” says Israel Laryea, a broadcast journalist and Executive Head, Influencer Africa.
He mentioned innovation and the ability to create subtle and indirect brand messages as some of the keys to success in the emerging brand influencer space of Ghana and Africa.
On her part, Founder and Chief Executive Officer-KonneKt World, Phyllis Kuenyehia said: “On every level of the branding journey, you always find somebody that has an idea of what you are trying to do and has done it before, so it is important to learn the structures of the growth process. It is important to learn from a professional in the field, an institution and read related books that will enlighten the brand on how others grew, the challenges and how they navigated failure, as well as the opportunities among others.”
She further highlighted that mentorship can be a holistic approach to tackling growth, relationships, connection, emotional wellbeing, finance and any other thing that brings the brand to life.
The panel included Bernard Kelvin Clive of BKC Consulting; Eli Daniel-Wilson, Group Head of Digital Innovation, Global Media Alliance; and Rhoda N. Y. Odoi of HypeNet Digital Ghana and Huge Studios Creative Agency, who took turns explaining how to manage a personal and company brand and the need for consistency, authenticity in building a brand that leaves a lasting impression on customers and stakeholders alike.
“When you are putting out a brand or product, you need to make sure that everything is consistent with the perception people have of you; and the part you control is what you use to project that,” adds Mr. Daniel-Wilson.
The panel further explained that after successfully building a brand, no matter how small it may be, one can ride on the success of it to introduce new lines of products and services which offer on its promise and are also consistent with already established perceptions people have of the brand.
