Indeed, there’s going to be a hot debate as to when social media really took off as a major force to contend with. One thing’s certain though, the social experiment that a Harvard dropout started while he’s in the prestigious Ivy school has grown global. It certainly is unbelievable. What used to be a hacker’s program started from the dormitory in 2003 has amassed a following of over two billion users monthly these days.
That of course, is the story of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, which gives us an idea of how powerful social media today is.
Before, social media was just in the background, being outplayed by traditional media – print, TV, and radio. But, no more. Indeed, social media’s power is overwhelming. While old school tri-media has audiences with limited participation and reach, the social media audience is active and ever-powerful.
It’s important therefore that you maintain consistent branding to have a shot at marketing success. Plus, you need to constantly engage your target market on various social media platforms where they thrive.
Fortunately, leveraging the enormous power of social media isn’t actually an impossible dream. Of course, everything starts with perception and how you make your customers feel. Below is an essential guide to help you uncover essential strategies and unleash consistent branding in social media.
Cover the Basics
The more consistent you are in your branding, the better. When you see a big G in four colors, it’s highly likely you’d think of Google. Nobody else uses that kind of G. The same goes true for the small “a” with a bent arrow underneath; it’s Amazon.
It’s elementary but you should be consistent with your branding basics. So make sure you have a consistent logo, bio, boilerplate, color palette, and handle. That should be settled right from the onset. It’s important that you put a consistent mental imprint in people’s minds, so they know your brand the moment they see it.
In this regard, you should carry a similar logo for your pertinent social media accounts. Usually, this is Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Of course, the social media platform should reflect your audience and where they’re usually at.
To this end, you should perform a needed social media audit on all your accounts to check for brand consistency. That should mean your branding (logos, bios, etc.) is consistent.
This is where brand health research and tracking can help. By looking into the bigger picture online (social media, website data, online reviews), experts can measure how well your target market is responding to your brand strategy. Even better, these professionals can prescribe a better branding strategy through such a timely assessment.
Widen Your Visual Branding
The trick here is consistency. Now that you’ve made your branding basics consistent, you can extend beyond these basics and increase your branding even more.
You can do this by making sure the same fonts and colors are reflected in those images you use on social media. And that should include your videos and your graphics. When you observe such consistent branding, people will be able to identify your blog even when your logo is not apparent.
So go on ahead, check your posts. Is there color consistency? How about the fonts? Is there something that your readers can identify as your and yours alone?
A good example is Anthropologie. You can see how airy and light their branding is as reflected in their clothing lines.
Cultivate Your Marketing Personas
There’s a good chance you may be stuck on a generic marketing persona for your brand. While that may sound reasonable, that can actually be a bomb waiting to explode in your face.
Know that each social media platform attracts different markets. TikTok audiences, for one, are younger than that of Facebook. What that means is your content that is relevant on Facebook may not be on TikTok. To solve this puzzle, create multiple personas in accordance with how you want your marketing to proceed.
So to grow a bigger audience, you may have to target business owners for your LinkedIn account and young millennials for your Instagram ones.
Set Your Sights on a Brand Voice and Tone
How do you want to appeal to your audience? Will you be a happy restaurant wanting to spread joy to your market? Or a serious professional focused on helping businesses move their products? Check your social media personality. You can trumpet these in your company catchphrases and brand persona.
All this needs to be done with due diligence. The implementation is just one part of the game. If you do your homework right, your branding should be as stellar as you desire it to be.