The risk with social media brand inconsistency
Inconsistent branding across social media platforms can cause people to become confused, lose trust, and even wonder if they’ve found the right organization (or not). That means you need to be intentional about the image your organization presents online.
Let’s look at some ways to make your social media branding consistent across all the platforms you use.
1. Know your audience
As with any other form of marketing, it’s important to know who your audience is. What social media platform would they most likely be found on? If your target audience is other professional businesses, maybe LinkedIn is a platform you should put more focus on.
If your audience is a young, fast-paced crowd, Twitter or Facebook may make more sense. Make sure you are communicating with your audience in the way they want to be communicated with. The level of casualness, frequency of content, or general atmosphere of your social media platform can all be affected by these details.
2. Share your voice
Once you know who your audience is, you have a better idea of how you can (or should) be interacting with them. Your brand’s voice is a direct reflection of your company.
If your organization is more casual and laid-back, your content should reflect that. Maybe you’ll include more jokes and humor in your posts, with elements of each staff member who is posting shining through.
The most important factor to consider when conveying your brand’s voice is to simply be consistent with how you present your content.
3. Create a consistent look and feel
Although each social media platform is set up a little different, and has slightly varying layouts, you should make sure that your graphics all give a cohesive look and feel. When you can, use similar graphics, descriptions, and profile pictures so that it is easy to tell when someone is at your official page.
Your logo, fonts, colors, and other elements of your branding all add to the consistent appearance of your social media platforms.
4. Repurpose graphics and content
Often times, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel. You’ve already designed a Facebook cover, so use a similar design when creating your Google+ cover. And you’ve already written content for your blog, so perhaps you could share links to those posts on your social media.
Use the graphics and even content that you’ve already created to your advantage by finding other ways you can share it.
5. Update consistently
One thing that will throw your audience off quickly is a lack of updates. If you haven’t tweeted since 2012, they may think they’re not looking at the right organization. Or maybe they’ll think you aren’t in business anymore.
When it comes to posting updates on social media, you should create an easy-to-follow schedule that keeps you on track. Here at T&S, we recommend working a month ahead on content. Set aside a day or two each month to write out all of your social media updates, blogs, and newsletters, and you’ll find it way easier to stay consistent with your updates.
Need help?
This definitely isn’t a skill that comes naturally to everyone. You may need help setting up graphics on social media, or even need help with ongoing social media management. While we’re not a good fit for everyone, we’d love to have a conversation to see if we can help.