Being consistent with your brand’s online image is a sign of a solid, professional company, that takes its appearance seriously. By developing a Social Media Style Guide your company will provide a cohesive experience across all of its social media profiles.
Why it matters:
- It gives your brand a personality;
- It can prevent mistakes;
- Helps new employees adjust better and faster.
A Social Media Style Guide generally consists of:
- All the social media profiles you currently own; aim to keep consistency across platforms in order to improve brand recognition and followers’ trust.
- Social media voice: a documentation of your social media voice, which is a reflection of your brands personality and how you want it to be perceived. List 2-3 traits that are definitory for your brand and give examples. Always give examples.
- Posting guidelines: in this section you should set guidelines with regard to the posts format, the type of content that you will publish, what percentage of your posts will be promotional.
- Visual guidelines: this is the section where you specify the logo, the positioning, image sizing, fonts and colors that are to be used. Using Photoshop templates can go a long way in saving time and preventing inconsistencies.
- Deciding how to respond in different situations: how will you handle questions, criticism, competitors, complaints? Will you ignore them, use humor or kindness? Consider your brand’s personality and goals and draw specific outlines on how your team will respond in public situations.
This style guide should be a living document that will be updated whenever necessarily. Its purpose is to define your brand’s personality, build trust with consumers and ultimately save time for your team so they can focus on creating engaging content.