How to Make Your Brand Stand Out With A Social Media Style Guide (Special Offer)
Social media has become an integral part of our lives. It has changed how we communicate and interact with each other and how we operate our businesses. With millions of users on various social media platforms, it can be challenging for small business owners to stand out and connect with their target audience.
One way to make your business stand out on social media is to showcase your brand personality. Doing so can build a strong connection with your audience and differentiate you from your competitors.
If you feel that your brand’s social media presence is a bit scattered, or you’re posting content but lack cohesion, preventing you from building a solid and engaged audience, this guide is for you. Today, we will discuss what a social media style guide is, the benefits of having one, and the resources to create one for your business today. Let’s jump in!
Content Overview
🔹What is a Social Media Style Guide
🔹Why Does Your Brand Need a Social Media Style Guide?
🔹What are the Benefits of a Social Media Style Guide
🔹What to Understand Before You Create a Social Media Style Guide
🔹Define Your Brand Identity
🔹Define Your Target Audience
🔹Ask Super Specific Questions
🔹Define Your Keywords and Messaging
🔹Understanding the Social Media Post Requirements
🔹Examples of Great Social Media Style Guides
🔹Make Your Social Media Guide Work for You
What is a Social Media Style Guide
Your social media style guide is your brand’s playbook for your online stage (social media!). It lays out everything, from your brand voice and tone to how you use visuals, videos, and hashtags. It’s a set of rules determining your brand’s social media activity.
Why Does Your Brand Need a Social Media Style Guide?
So, what is the most important thing to consumers regarding social media? Authenticity! Why? Because consumers want to be able to support brands that they like and trust. If you want your brand to be seen as authentic, your social media style guide can help you shine. It will ensure that you stay on brand and showcase your brand in the best light possible. A social media style guide can boost your brand awareness and increase revenue by up to 23%!
What are the Benefits of a Social Media Style Guide
There are many advantages to having a social media style guide. Here are some of my favorites:
· Brand Identity: Do you know your brand personality? Like your personality, you want your brand’s style to reflect your business’s overall identity. You want to ensure that everything you put out through your brand identity is consistent with your brand values. A social media style guide ensures all your content is on brand.
· Consistency: Like most things in life, consistency is critical. Of course, it’s vital to your social media marketing as well. You want your brand personality to be consistent, authentic, and relatable. A social media style guide ensures that your content is consistent across platforms, which aids in creating brand awareness and trust among your audience.
· Collaboration: Hopefully, you aren’t doing all of your social media marketing yourself! Right? Having a team to help manage your social media is like having a blueprint for your home construction team. You want to ensure that everyone working on your social media or any content for your brand is on the same page.
What to Understand Before You Create a Social Media Style Guide
Creating a social media style guide is much easier than you think. Here is my step-by-step process for getting started.
Define Your Brand Identity
It’s time to dig in and ask the critical questions. Complete our questionnaire and save or print it out!
Define Your Target Audience
If I said this every week, you’d be right! For any marketing to be successful, you need to know your target audience. Who are they? What do they love? What content speaks to them? The more information you have about your target audience, your content can be more personalized. How will you interact and engage with your social media community?
FREE RESOURCE: Find your Ideal Customer Avatar
Ask Super Specific Questions
Your social media style guide should be concrete. Who will create your social media content, schedule it, and engage with your community? Copy and design? How often will you post on social media? What are the guidelines for collecting and processing your social media analytics?
Define Your Keywords and Messaging
Your keywords are the breadcrumbs that lead your audience to your content. Make sure to use keywords in your content that are written in your brand voice and tone. Here are some places to make sure you are using your keywords:
· Social media bios
Example
· Social media hashtags
Example
Understanding the Social Media Post Requirements
Once you have your brand identity and target audience, it’s time to work on your social media style guide. Start by outlining each social media platform your brand will have a presence on, then use the following guidelines for each platform.
- Use high-quality video and images in square or vertical format
- Size 1080px by 1080px square or 1080px by 1350px for vertical
- Use ALL the relevant hashtags that you can for each post
- Make your captions shorter
- How often will you post
- Respond to comments and likes promptly
- Is your content product or company focused or a mixture of both
- Share a mix of short and long-form content
- Mix it up with blogs, videos, links, etc.
- Use high-quality images and videos
- Size 1200px by 630px
- Share long-form content such as blogs, case studies, white papers
- Use high-quality images and video
- Size 1200px by 627px
- Please include a clear call to action on every single post that drives your audience to a clear action you want them to take
TikTok
- Video, of course!
- Use trending sounds
- Try TikTok challenges
- Use high-quality video
- Size 1080px by 1920px
FREE RESOURCE: Making the Most of Social Media
Examples of Great Social Media Style Guides
Make Your Social Media Style Guide Work for You
Social media is noisy, making it hard for your brand to stand out. Whether your goals are to increase brand awareness or sales conversions, your posts need to be thoughtful, valuable, and resonate with your audience. Share your social media style guide with everyone on your team, most notably those creating content for your social media.
This Week’s Creating a Social Media Style Guide Homework:
- Does your business have a social media style guide?
- Complete our social media style guide questionnaire, then print it out for your reference.
- Define your social media bios, descriptions, posts, and hashtags with your keywords.
- Check out our samples of excellent social media style guides for inspiration.
- Understand the different guidelines for social media platforms.
- Make your social media style guide work for your business by sharing it with anyone on your team who creates social media content.
If you’d like help creating a social media style guide, we can create one for $27; please email us at hello@jennielyon.com to get started!
A carefully curated social media style guide will ensure that everything you post is high-quality and on-brand. It will also ensure that your content works hard for your brand and supports your audience in the best possible ways!
Links for This Episode on Creating a Social Media Style Guide
- Making the Most of Social Media Workbook
- $27 Social Media Style Guide Offer – email hello@jennielyon.com
- Social Media Questionnaire
https://jennielyon.com/182survey - Social Media Calendar Template
https://jennielyon.com/socialmediacalendar - Weekly Social Media Checklist
- Holiday Hashtag Calendar
https://jennielyon.com/hashtags - Schedule a free call with Jennie today!
https://jennielyon.com/chatwithjennie - How to Use our Digital Marketing Team
Get in touch with Jennie:
🔹Free Consultation
https://jennielyon.com/chatwithjennie
🔹Jennielyon.com
🔹Social Media @jennielyonmarketing
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