How to Create Social Media Brand Guidelines
Wondering what social media brand guidelines are? The whole purpose of them is to help you know how your brand should look and the specific feel you are trying to get across. The guidelines should focus on the voice, tone, colours, words and imagery that represents your brand to your target audience.
With the brand guidelines, your brand develops a personality that you can portray in a variety of different ways. Not only are brand guidelines useful for your customers to recognise your content but it is a helpful resource for your members of staff to make sure that anything that is being published onto social media follows the specific branding rules so you can keep a consistent look throughout. No matter how small your company or what sector your business falls under, you should have a set of brand guidelines.
Logotype
The logotype is one of the main components when it comes to the recognition of the business. The logotype is created to represent the company as a whole and should be relatable to the services that you offer or the branding you choose. It must be used consistently throughout and follow guidelines on how to use it. Every company has a logo but in the guidelines, you must include aspects such as colours, alterations, attachments and any incorrect usage of the logo you want to avoid. Before the logotype can be discussed, you need to make sure your logo is fully designed and of high quality.
Typeface
As another main aspect of the branding, the typeface involves only recommended fonts. The fonts that are used are there to showcase the brand identity and personality of the company, working together with the logo. There are many different fonts to choose from including the wide selection on Google Fonts. Companies usually pick two fonts, one for headers and one for the body. Within the brand guidelines, you should go into detail on what fonts are used, the thickness of the fonts, lowercase or higher case and any other specifics.
Colours
The branding colours must be subjective to the colour scheme of the company. Colour schemes usually consist of 5 colours and will be complementary to each other. Once you have picked your colours, you then need to think about what colours you will predominantly be using on social media. You also need to include the hex of each colour. For example, we have the colours; grey, blue, black, gold and green but we mainly use grey, blue and black.
Imagery
When selecting images and shapes, there are various elements which need to be kept in mind. You need to think about what tone and feel you want to portray with the images you publish. Whether you are going for a professional outlook or more relaxed. Your audience will be able to recognise you for your images as well, especially if you include the branding on the photo. When looking into the guidelines, you need specific rules on what the photos should look like. Do they have bright lighting, are you going for a darker theme, do they include people, are they real life photos? By setting these imagery guidelines, your social media platforms should follow a consistent look.
Selling Your Brand Through Social Media
Once you have your brand guidelines, it’s time to start publishing the content. This takes a lot of focus and time to get it right which is why you might find it beneficial to work with a marketing agency. Here at Blue Whale Media, we have an expert team of social media gurus that can work with your brand guidelines and produce the content that’s right for your business and your message. Find out more by visiting our website!
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