Quick tips for getting it right
Ok, you’ve got you handle on Twitter, readied your Facebook timeline, got your YouTube channel up, dabbled with Pinterest, Quora and LinkedIn, surely that’s enough, not more work?
Why is social media branding important?
Well, thinking about branding across your social media footprint deserves a little attention. Don’t worry, it’s not something that will take up a lot of time once the initial work is done.
And it is an investment in time. Once the ‘Next Big Thing’ comes along (resurgent MySpace, Vine anyone?), setting it up will be all the easier if you’ve got your branding sorted. So it will save time as well as enhancing your online presence, making it more effective.
What are we talking about, exactly?
We’re talking about taking some time, and perhaps engaging some professional help, to develop a brand look and feel that’s consistent across your digital footprint.
When someone moves from a tweet to your Facebook page or LinkedIn profile, you want them to realise subconsciously that it’s all about the same person – you or your brand identity.
You should think about some or all of the following:
- Logo (and no, your company name in a fancy font is not a logo!)
- A colour scheme for web and social media pages that unites your various chunks of digital real estate
- Photos of yourself to post when appropriate
You might also want to expand the exercise to defining some straplines to represent your service the way you want it to be represented
It’s obvious that if you have all of that easily available you can respond quickly whenever a social media task becomes apparent. No more digging around to find that half-decent photo of yourself or trying to remember your strapline.
How much work do you need to do?
If you work completely online, you don’t need much more than that. You might want to expand the work to defining standard fonts to use in places where you get the choice, for example your website, blogs, maybe an about.me page.
Logos ‘r’ us
Your logo is probably your most important tool. If a full-blown branding exercise is beyond you, at least get a professional logo drawn up. You’d be amazed at what goes into logo design and you can use colours from it to tie your social media profile pages together.
Try the logo at different sizes – make sure it scales well or has an abbreviated option that works in places where it will be very small, or only part of it is used. Get versions that work in square, portrait and landscape orientations.
Photos
Professional photos are a must, unless you have friends or family who are really good photographers. The difference between professional portraits and amateur ones can be phenomenal. Get versions in all the different sizes and shapes you might need.
Again the idea is to use the same photos, or ones from the same set, across the various different social media platforms, enhancing your overall presence, making you more recognisable.
Fig.1 Example of consistent branding across twitter, facebook and blog
Banners
Facebook’s timeline banner has been around for a while, Google+ had it from the beginning and LinkedIn has now joined in.
This is another chance to enhance your identity; whether you use a photo, logo, or graphic, make sure it’s the same or complementary across all three.
So when you think social media, think branding to make your identity stand out!
Shaun Fagan
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4 Responses to Your Social Media Brand: What It Says About You
Logos and brands and synchronised colour schemes are all very well…but I see senior PR executives (company owners even) misspelling the names of famous people or guilty of typos and appalling grammar errors in Tweets and status updates. A few even make similar errors in blogs they are using Twitter to publicise. And when someone points these things out they just laugh it off. I wonder anyone gives them work but they do.
Twitter: george_dearsley
You’re right George, its always amazed and baffled me at the same time!
Twitter: BlackDogMedia
Hey Shaun,
Brand is the image which the company desires of imparting to the audience. Many of the users often associate the quality and characteristics of the product with the brand and logo to which it belongs. Thus branding and logo designing is a crucial decision. The post provides a great set of tips. Thanks for the share.
Well, building the right image is an obligatory part of any successful brand. People usually make their first opinion when they only have a look at the name of a brand. That’s why much attention should be paid to it.
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