Practice Smart Social Media Branding

There’s a joke that if you’re not on Facebook, you may not be a real person. And when it comes to promoting your brand, if you haven’t jumped onto the social media bandwagon yet, you’re passing up the opportunity to reach thousands or even millions of people who may be interested in exactly what you have to offer. These days, running a comprehensive and effective online marketing campaign means creating, optimizing, and maintaining accounts across a variety of social media platforms. And, as you may have guessed, it simply won’t suffice to post a few updates every week and hope for the best—that’s the bare minimum, not a serious campaign. If you’re serious about building a following—and it’s in your best interest to be!—you want social media pages that look awesome and engage users at first sight. How can you make an excellent first impression? Practice smart social media branding with these helpful ideas.

Check Out Real-World Examples

Website Magazine recently published this article by Amberly Dressler on 6 Cover Photos That Are Better Than Yours, with examples like the official Facebook pages of “The Simpsons” (appropriately zany, as you might guess) and designer label Michael Kors. The latter, for example, displays a photo that looks like it was torn right out of this month’s issue of Vogue, complete with prominent, visually appealing product placement. Dressler also cites popular chain restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill’s Facebook cover photo as successful, pairing a mouthwatering entrée with an appealing message about farm-fresh ingredients.

These are great, illustrative examples of matching your social media profiles to your brand, web site, and other marketing materials. And we can think of a few of our own. Here are some to check out:

• Bliss Spa’s branding is excellent on its Facebook and Twitter pages, with its signature font, lack of capitalization, and soothing pale blue and white color palette, paired with photos of relaxing spa treatment rooms and luxe products.
• Dunkin’ Donuts really puts the “social” in social media by highlighting a fan of the week in its Facebook cover photo, along with some refreshing iced coffee just in time for the warm weather. And anyone who takes pride in ordering a medium rather than a “grande” will instantly recognize that signature pink-and-orange DD logo.
• Retail giant Target is well known for its very specific branding: lots of bold red and white, that simple but instantly identifiable logo, concise “save big” verbiage, and lots of whimsical, lighthearted visual content. Its Twitter page is, well, right on target.
• You don’t have to be a major fashionista to recognize British luxury designer Burberry’s iconic tartan pattern—it’s become a calling card. If you follow the brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages, you’ll notice that they aren’t shy about including their signature design in the accompanying photos.

Major Elements of Social Media Branding

So when you’re putting together your company’s social media pages, what elements from your web site and other marketing materials should you be sure to include? Here are just a handful of important pieces of the social media branding puzzle:

• Company logo
• Signature font(s) and color palette(s)
• Representative visuals—your products, customers using your services, etc.
• Concise written content that communicates the same overall message as your page.

When you were putting your company’s web site together, you worked hard on web design—making your site easy to navigate and use while communicating your brand’s message effectively. When you’re building Facebook and Twitter profiles for your business, be sure to review the fundamentals of what makes your branding successful and uniquely you. They’re the basis for your social media branding as you prepare to reach countless new users.