By | Charlie Fletcher
There is no denying that social media content reigns king in today’s digital-centric society. Social media is like the central hub that connects us all. It’s where we socialize, it’s where we get our news, it’s where we share our interests, and it’s even where we shop and learn about new products and services.
As such, social media is a powerful tool that can be wielded in many ways to benefit a business.
One such way is using social media to boost a company’s culture and brand identity.
What a company culture is like can affect a company’s brand image and can therefore affect how the public perceives that company. And public perception can then play a critical role in how successful a company is as a good public image will attract more customers, while a bad brand image will put customers off.
In this article, we’ll dive into understanding company culture a bit more, how company culture plays a role in business, and how social media specifically can be used to improve company culture and brand identity, thereby improving business.
What is Company Culture?
Company culture is what you might call the “vibe” that a company gives off internally. It is a reflection of the behaviors, practices, and attitudes or ideals that a company portrays, which govern the experience that employees within the company have.
Specific things that can play a part in company culture are company policies, dress codes, management practices and behaviors, office design, employee incentives and benefits, the company philosophy or code, and work schedules. These are all things that play a role in an employee’s overall experience when working for a company.
How Can Improving Company Culture Boost Business?
So, how can company culture affect a company’s business? Or in other words, how is the internal employee experience linked to the external customer experience?
An employee’s day-to-day experience can have a considerable effect on the customers or how a company is perceived. Your employees are the backbone of your company. Without them, you wouldn’t have a product or service to provide to your customers in the first place.
So, if an employee regularly has a bad experience because of poor company culture, this will negatively affect the product, service, or even the direct communication with the customer, which can then affect the success of the business.
In contrast, if a company works on improving company culture, its employees will have better experiences, which means the customers will have better experiences. And if the customers have consistently good experiences, they are more likely to become loyal customers and recommend your business to others.
Company culture also plays a role in the general perception that the public has of a company. For example, if it gets out that a company is unethical and not inclusive in how they treat their employees, people will stop supporting that business.
As such, it’s crucial that companies work on creating a better company culture, not only to improve the experiences that their employees are having but to improve the company’s brand image and how it is perceived by the public. If people like what they see, if they think you are a good company that treats its employees well, they will be more likely to support your business.
Using Social Media to Improve Company Culture and Brand Identity
So, how does social media tie into all of this?
Well, social media is often the main source of information about a brand for customers. Social media is where consumers learn about brands through ads and influencers, it’s where they directly engage with brands by commenting on their posts and videos, and it’s even where they go to make purchases directly through the app.
Everything about your company is out in the open on social media—including your company culture and brand image. Thus, you can use social media to portray a certain image or social identity, if you will, to attract more customers.
Your company culture is a major part of the identity of your company, and social media can be used to essentially broadcast that identity to the world. This allows you to attract and retain more loyal customers whose values align with your own company values.
For example, if your company culture is all about being inclusive of all people, you can show this in the content you create and post on social media. You can show that you are proud to employ and support a diverse group of employees, which will then enable you to expand your reach to more diverse audiences.
Wrapping Up
Again, social media is a powerful tool that can be wielded in many ways—ads, posts, live videos, stories, engaging in the comments—and if used in the right way, it can help you create a better image and portrayal of your company culture, which can then enable you to increase brand awareness and attract more business.
