How to Improve your Brand Identity Across Social Media in 3 Simple Steps

Who isn't on Social Media today?

Take a look around, perhaps in your own home and what do you see? Kids even below the age of 2 years right up to senior citizens, with access to a digital device with at least a basic internet plan. Thus begging the question, “Who isn't on Social Media today?” 

Thanks to the internet's easy access to information and worldwide networking brands are able to directly communicate with their clients and prospective clients. So if you want to be known and remembered by your clients you most definitely have to have a social media presence. And one that your audience can connect with and relate to. However, this is not always as easy as it seems. And you’ve probably faced this issue and that’s perhaps what brought you here today.

So you have a brand, but your not exactly sure how to drive traffic to your social media and website and enhance your brand's awareness. Or perhaps you’ve been trying, but nothing you do seems to work and you just can't seem to figure out what you’re doing wrong. Brand consistency across all marketing touchpoints is a real challenge for every company, for some a nightmare even. And you know that if you don’t get it right, and soon you will be missing out. 

So then, how do you make a splash in the market? How do you connect with your potential clientele? How do you make sure that your brand stands out? What do you do to make your audience notice you and recognize you across platforms? How do you earn their trust? What tone do you take on each platform and how do you manage and maintain all these pointers across all platforms?

Pretty overwhelming isn’t it? Let’s start simple.

We’ve already established that social media plays a significant role in brand building. So the right move now is to use effective social media strategies. But before we jump ahead, you are going to need to start by learning how to build a Brand Identity for your business across social media channels.

Your Brand Identity is essentially the personality of your business and is not the same as ‘branding’ and ‘brand image’. It’s how you communicate your service or product. So you are going to need to start by figuring out how you would like your brand to come across. And have a plan to tailor the message for each social media channel.

Why do this you ask?

Each platform has a different demographic, and different audiences. If you want your brand's identity to resonate with them you are going to have to customize your message based on the social media channel. The kind of audience you will cater to on Facebook will vastly differentiate from your audiences on Twitter and Instagram. So understanding the customer/follower dynamics and then tapping in to this reservoir of information is crucial. This is where social media analytical tools are your best friend.

Step 1: The Visual - How to build a Brand Identity?

Let's start with the visual identity of your brand. Typography, color scheme, infographics, illustration design, and any other elements you utilize to create a visual association with your brand would all fall under this category of visuals.

What you now want to accomplish is to create a recognizable visual representation of your branding identity across all marketing channels. Now when someone sees your material, you want them to immediately connect the visuals with your brand.

Once you've got that down, make sure all of your social media efforts reflect that, on all channels. Keeping this visual uniform is essential for people to make the connection. You need to discover a way to make your brand stand out and get your audience to remember you, recognize you, and trust you. Trust can develop through familiarity over time.

Another great place to focus on when it comes to Brand Identity visuals is your logo. Check to see if your Logo is memorable. People are more likely to purchase a product or service if they recognize the brand. The next step is that they need to TRUST the brand. Branding visuals start with your brand logo.  So pay careful attention to the colors and fonts you use in your brand logo, making sure that every element connects with your audience and that they will come to easily recognize you no matter the platform.

Step 2: The Voice - Marketing your brand on social media

Does your brand have a personality yet? The voice of your brand pretty much characterizes the personality of your brand. That is portrayed through the type of verbiage and tone you use in your messaging. The tone of your copy and captions you use all through your social media posts will reinforce what your brand's personality is.

Make sure that the voice fits the face. And remember, consistency is key. You want to make sure that your brand is recognizable no matter where it is advertised, whether it is on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. When you have a consistent voice to your message coupled with consistent visuals the public begins to associate the patterns and message with your brand. This is a gradual process, but a crucial one. So take some time to think this one through. Another thing to keep in mind is that everyone on the (social media) team must adopt the brand's voice so that the communication is uniform.

Step 3: Templates

A great hack for maintaining consistency in your social media brand identity is Templates!

Templates help make content creation faster while keeping the general look and feel of the information consistent. Your primary template outlay uses the same colors, typography, and shapes, but your content is orientated toward each of your chosen platforms’ community demographic. If it works why fix it?

Conclusion

Once you have established your brand's voice, stay true to it. Use it for every piece of content you develop. And remember the golden rule, consistency is key! You don't want to confuse your audience by sending them mixed messages. Stick to these steps and that is how you will successfully build a strong brand identity.

Contact Codanto to help you with your brand identity.