How to Establish Your Brand Identity on Social Media

Brand identity includes the visible elements of your brand – the name and slogan, overall design, colors, logo, and all other aspects that help brands build their look. It’s the visible result of your branding. Your brand identity may appear in the real world like billboards, physical stores, packaging, staff uniforms, and others or it may only exist in the digital space – on your website, online ads, and social media.

Your brand identity is your company’s “personality”. Just like the personality of someone we meet can determine whether or not we want to do business with them, a brand identity can make or break your relationship with your potential and existing clients.

Building trust

No one would risk doing business with someone they don’t trust. One of the goals of brand identity is to build trust and recognition in consumers. That means that the message and tone that your brand projects need to be unchangeable and authentic. Making people trust you doesn’t happen overnight – it is the result of a systemic effort and consistent work.

Distinction

Making your organization stand out from the crowd is another objective that your brand identity needs to fulfill. With so many companies fighting for our attention, a cohesive and distinctive visual look allows brands to cut through the noise and make a lasting impression. Having a unique brand identity can also help you target your ideal buyer and thus make your marketing efforts more efficient.

Memorability

Consumers tend to buy from brands they can recall. Just like in the example with your favorite clothing brand, a successful identity should pop up effortlessly in clients’ minds as soon as the brand is mentioned. The opposite is also true – just by seeing a certain logo or color palette, you have to be able to name the brand it represents.

Social media is one of the places where you need to let your brand ID shine. Unlike your website or your emails, this digital space is visited by everyone – from people who might be interested in what you’re selling to those who would never use your product. So the main goal of your brand identity on social media is to distinguish your ideal buyer from the rest and move them toward your sales funnel.

Define your brand ID

Start by outlining your brand identity in a concise guideline that is available to all your employees and systematize it into a document that includes the following:

• Your logo
• The typeface that your brand uses in all marketing materials
• Brand colors
• The tone and mood you want to invoke

Make sure to refer to this guide anytime you create social media content. 

Create Templates

A great way to ensure your social media content has visual consistency is to create templates for your most regular types of posts. For instance, if your preferred platform is Instagram and you often post carousels, you might want to create carousel templates that include your brand’s logo, colors, and fonts. This will also save you and your team a ton of time as you won’t have to create each post from scratch. 

Make sure all your templates include your logo – don’t make it too big but definitely make it noticeable. This serves two functions – on one hand, the more your audience sees your logo within your social media posts, the higher the chance it would recognize it elsewhere. On the other, if anyone wants to repost your content, your brand will be instantly credited.

Something you can include in your description templates is brand hashtags. These are great if you want to establish your brand name, improve recognition, and help people find your posts faster.

Post consistently

Coming up with a brand identity is one thing but establishing it in front of your audience is a different story. Pro marketers know that being forgotten is the worst thing that can happen to a brand, so avoid it at all costs! Consistency is key – our brains tend to remember things we see on a regular basis and the more we remember the more likely we are to buy. On top of that, consistent posting makes your brand appear stable and reliable to consumers, which contributes to building trust.

And as the goal of every single social media platform is to keep users longer, platforms will reward regular content by showing it to more people. So make sure you keep a tight schedule and never miss a post. 

Use video

Videos are the most popular form of digital content today – people just can’t get enough of them. In fact, stats show that 9 out of 10 viewers want to see more videos from brands and businesses. So give the people what they want! Whether you create short reels for Instagram or long-form podcasts for Youtube, make sure that all your video content is consistent with the brand ID you’re looking to establish. Here are a few things to look out for:

• Always use a short intro, a short outro, or both.
• Include elements of your brand ID – your logo, brand colors, etc.
• Be consistent with additional media – subtitles, thumbnails, and music. 
• Apply the same editing style to all your videos

Remember that video is instrumental in building brand awareness so don’t miss the opportunity to establish your brand identity through this powerful tool.

With so many new businesses trying to find their place on social media, having a strong and effective brand identity can help you attract the buyers you want and stand out from the competition. Another useful resource is to outline your sales funnel and how your ideal buyer moves from being a visitor to a loyal client. We have prepared a free guide to help you with this process that you can download below.

If you’re serious about video marketing but still unsure how to get started, there is a free ebook that you can download for free. It will give you amazing insight into the dos and don’t, as well as a detailed example of a winning strategy that we created for a client that brought amazing results. Download below!