Your brand is like a name tag. Without it, people may have a hard time remembering who you are. And, just like a name tag, a consistent brand will help people identify and connect to your business.
On social media, it is important that your brand is consistent and clearly communicated. Without recognizability, you may fail to make a memorable impression with consumers; your brand can become forgettable and hard to connect to. To put it simply, when you don’t maintain a uniform brand on social media, you confuse consumers about who you are.
Luckily, it is fairly simple to effectively communicate your brand on social media. It just comes down to three principles: consistent content, consistent brand voice, and consistent posting.
To learn more about these three social media golden rules, keep reading.
Read also: How to Implement Social Media Marketing into Your Business Strategy
Phone open to an Instagram Profile against city background.
1. Consistent Content
When interacting with your content, people should know what to expect. Matching expectations shows that your business is dependable. It creates recognition. It makes you easier to remember.
Being consistent in the content you post is essential when strengthening your brand on social media.
There are various considerations when creating uniform content.
Visual Branding
On social media, your visuals may consist of any photo, video, or story that contributes to the look of your profile.
Make sure your imagery fits a general aesthetic. Photos and posts should be a reflection of your brand, whether that be through a set color palette, typography, or layout.
If you don’t know where to start, look at your logo. What color is it? What does it say about your company? Is there a specific style? All of your visuals should fit a similar aesthetic.
Pro tip: if you want to maintain visual consistency, use templates. This can especially be helpful when creating announcement posts, carousels (those swipe through slide-show posts), or really anything with a background and text. A great tool for creating and using templates is Canva — a graphic design platform that is easy to use no matter your skillset.
Recurring Posts
Another way to ensure the consistency of your social media content is by creating recurring posts.
I’m sure you’ve heard of #MotivationMonday or #ThrowbackThursday. Hop on to one of these trends or create your own tradition! By making these “ritual” posts, your company sets an expectation with followers to post similar content. At a later date, some may find themselves coming back to your page to see if you post something similar. However, just make sure to keep it routine. Posting random, irregular day-of-the-week hashtags may confuse followers and appear excessive.
And, if you decide to use the livestream feature, don’t do so spontaneously. Maximize your viewership by posting about the event beforehand. Make sure your “lives” follow a consistent outline. This ensures that followers know what to look forward to and don’t get restless.
Screenshot of Wendy’s Twitter Account and Bio.
2. Consistent Brand Voice
Brand voice is the language that your company uses on your platforms. This communication should be imbued with personality and emotion that captures the essence of your brand.
Key, Brand-Oriented Messaging
The language that you use on social media, whether in captions, live streams, or carousels, should align with your brand image. What makes your product or service special? Why should consumers follow you? Who should follow you? Once you have a sense of your brand image and target audience, you can better determine the specific messaging you use on your platforms.
The most effective way to craft your social media messaging is by using “buzzwords”. Buzzwords are words or phrases that capture what makes your brand special and get your target audience itching to know more about you. Examples of these are anything from descriptive words like “affordable” and “eco-friendly” to informative/location-related phrases such as “NYC restaurant”.
On platforms like Twitter and Instagram, there’s little space to communicate information about your brand. By streamlining your use of buzzwords in most, if not all captions, hashtags, and bios, you’ll ensure that you maximize your messaging.
Need an example? Check out The Girlfriend Collective, one of our Brands We Love.
Hashtags and Discoverability
Hashtags are great tools for boosting your visibility on social media. On platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, using hashtags will increase engagement (thanks to these sites’ algorithms). And, on Instagram and LinkedIn, users have the option to follow their favorite hashtags; this makes them very useful in reaching audiences in specific segments.
Rather than coming up with your hashtags on the spot, make a list that you can refer to later. This will ensure that you don’t overuse a hashtag (which some platform algorithms will penalize you for) and save time for the future.
Read also: What is Branding?
Need ideas?
Instagram specifies that there are 9 types of hashtags businesses can use:
- Hashtags stating product/service (#marketing, #bracelets, #bookstore)
- Hashtags relating to a niche in an industry (#medicalmarketer, #eventcaterer)
- Hashtags describing a community (#marketersofinstagram, #cityfoodtrucks)
- Hashtags for events, holidays, or seasons (#nationalchurroday, #halloween)
- Hashtags with location (#dallasmarketing, #nycbookstore)
- Hashtags for daily posts (#throwbackthurday, #motivationmonday)
- Hashtags with relevant phrases (#marketingfun, #readaholic)
- Hashtags with acronyms (#fomo, #mcm)
- Hashtags with emojis (#🍔, #📓)
When breaking your hashtags down into these categories, it is helpful to also classify them by popularity. General hashtags, like #marketing, are very popular to use. As there are many more posts under these hashtags, it might be more difficult to gain visibility.
Meanwhile, hashtags that are more specific, like #medicalmarketing or #medicalmarketingindallas, will reach a more niche, yet smaller, group of people. Adding a location in one or two of your hashtags can be useful; even though your post will have less visibility, it will be more likely to be seen by users in your area.
Choosing the Right Platforms
Carefully choosing the platforms your business uses is key to maintaining a consistent brand voice. If your brand is more casual and targets a Gen Z audience, LinkedIn would not be the best choice of social network.
Focus on the platforms that are relevant to your ideal audience. Looking to reach Gen Xers who are family-oriented? Facebook might be a good place to start. Want to reach college students that are looking for tutoring in STEM? Try making a few videos on YouTube!
Photo of Buffer, a Social Media Scheduling Tool. [Image Source: Buffer.com]
3. Consistent Posting
When it comes to spreading brand awareness, posting consistently is key to making your effort count. Think about it this way: on social media, you never see the content of accounts that barely post. If your business only posts once a year, that makes 364 days that your followers aren’t interacting with your brand.
Maintaining a consistent posting schedule will guarantee that you stay at the front of customers’ minds. Each time someone sees a post, story, or notification with your username on it, they are reminded of your brand. If followers see your content more frequently, they are more likely to think of your business the next time they make a purchase.
Ideal Posting Frequency
Deciding how frequently to post on social media means finding the balance of being engaging without annoying your followers. You want to post enough that users don’t forget about you. But, you also don’t want to post so much that they get annoyed and unfollow you.
Ideally, here’s how frequently you should post, based on each platform:
- Instagram: 5-7 posts per week (don’t post more than once per day)
- Facebook: 2-5 posts per week
- LinkedIn: 2-5 posts per week
- Twitter: 3-30 tweets per day
- YouTube: 1-2 videos per week
- Pinterest: 5-30 pins per day
Of course, quality is just as important as quantity. So, if trying to post more frequently means jeopardizing the quality of your content, cut back on this amount.
Social Media Scheduling Tools
When you’re posting almost daily, it can be a hassle to step away from what you’re doing to post content. Fortunately, social media scheduling tools solve this problem by allowing you to create and schedule posts ahead of time and then posting for you.
Some great tools to check out are:
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
- Later.com
- Sprout Social
- SocialPilot
Hand holding a phone open to Instagram.
Conclusion
When it comes to sharing your brand on social media, consistency is key. By creating uniform content, maintaining a sound brand voice, and keeping a frequent posting schedule, you can ensure that you maximize your brand’s reach, and capitalize on the benefits of brand equity.
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