In recent years, brands have faced challenges with external communication, marketing, and public relations. Several geopolitical and social events and economic, health, and economic ones have triggered consumer activism. This has led to a growing emphasis on how companies communicate with their audiences to reflect these values.
A documented branding strategy, which incorporates core values, will help companies engage their audience regularly and respond to any unexpected events that may occur. Your brand values are essential for maintaining the public image of your company and your brand reputation.
This article outlines everything you need to learn about creating and sharing your brand values. We’ll also share Sprout’s journey in achieving the same goal a few years ago and examples of brands showcasing values on social media.
What is the brand value?
Brand values guide how a company does business and other elements like mission, vision, story, and voice. Brand values are important for their image and perception both internally and outside.
These principles can be used as an “authenticity meter” to help leaders make strategic choices and employees and clients gauge whether an organization is living up to its stated values. Deviation from these principles can quickly turn into a public relations disaster.
Why it is essential to share and have your brand values
For various reasons, a robust set of values for your brand is critical. Your brand values will help you to:
Attract employees with a similar culture and keep them.
Take aligned decisions.
Join forces with like-minded consumers.
Create goodwill with your audience.
Fostering a solid company culture is essential. Beyond that, your values are directly related to your bottom line.
What makes customers choose one brand above another? According to the Sprout Social Index 2022 (TM), trust and aligned value are at the top of this list (at 40 and 36 percent, respectively).
A Sprout survey found that 53% feel more connected with brands that share their values. This feeling of connection goes beyond warm fuzzy feelings. This is correlated with increased spending. 57% of consumers say they will spend more with brands to which they feel connected.
Brand values: Examples
To truly become a brand driven by values, you must first share your beliefs. Values-driven businesses don’t hesitate to put their standards in the spotlight, so employees and customers can see them. Transparency and trust are the cornerstones of their business.
You can get ideas for your brand values by looking at other brands. You can get started by looking at the following examples of brand value.
What are the values of your brand?
Sprout leaders went through a rigorous process to update our brand values. They knew it was vital that they were right. These steps outline how our team developed our current set of values.
Gathering feedback
The working group was also responsible for facilitating focus groups within departments to gather feedback from all areas of the company. The leadership team realized that employees must feel ownership of the values-development process to succeed.
Your facilitators will also need to collect input from different departments and individuals. You should have an extensive list of ideas at the end of this session.
Social Listening is also helpful in this area, as it details what customers like about your brand and how you can improve.
Themes to identify
Choosing your values can be difficult when there are so many to consider. Please begin by identifying common themes in the submissions. 10 or 15 ideas about employee growth are similar enough to be combined in a theme group. Focus on both your current culture and your future aspirations. What are your current goals? Where do you want to go?
Refine and communicate
After you have a more focused list of themes, it is time to share them with the executive team. This “small council” will reduce the pieces to a manageable list of values, reflecting the research and input gathered during the process. This exercise was the basis for Sprout’s seven core values. The leadership then communicates the final list of importance to the rest of the organization.
Social media is a great way to share your brand values with customers
Modern brands must connect with their audience via social media. No matter what platforms you use, maintaining a social media presence is essential to remaining relevant.
While sharing different types of content to show off your voice and personality is essential, you should also ensure that your brand values are regularly displayed. By incorporating your brand values into the content that you share, you can help your audience understand that your values are more than words on your site. They are a part of how you act, think, and engage.
Here are some ideas to help you get started.
Use them to enhance your website
This tactic isn’t technically social media, but we thought it was so important that we included it. The more your audience knows about your values and what makes your brand tick – the more connected they will feel. We understand that this leads to increased sales. Don’t just use social media to show off your values. Include them on your site as well.
Share your story
Stories are popular. We make sense of our world by telling stories. Brands that tell their stories well often have a large following. Brand storytelling is more than just facts. It highlights the “why” of your business. It helps your brand become more human. You can also share your values by putting them into action.
Influencers are a great way to partner with
If you want to maximize the impact of your social media content, it is essential to borrow the cachet of other brands and creators who share similar values. Find a common cause to promote and get in front of more people.
Join forces with nonprofits
Partnering with nonprofits who support causes that align with your values is another example of the “two accounts are always better than one.” It can help you authentically embody your brand’s importance on social media. You could collaborate on a specific project (as shown in the example below) or interact, such as sharing each other’s material. The symbiotic effect is beneficial in both cases.
