Keeping your brand consistent

Keeping your brand consistent on Social Media 

It’s incredibly important to focus on keeping your brand's voice and content quality consistent on social media. This is how small businesses are able to cultivate a loyal following of customers. If customers are getting inconsistent messages, differing levels of content quality, or aren’t getting a steady flow of new content they can be confused and your social media presence could damage your brand as a whole. 

The key is to be consistent, but not repetitive or boring

Some tips:

· Don’t bombard users with the same content over and over again

· Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram users expect different kinds of content and differing posting frequencies

· Do not consistently advertise to fans. Promoting a product is a great thing to do in a post, but shouldn’t be the only thing you do- guests will find this boring. We go on social media for funny content, interesting content, or anything that elicits an emotional response; we do not go on social media for commercials. Keep in mind that this selective content needs to be linked to the overall theme and identity of your business.

· Get creative and utilize the power of social media. There’s no one way to use social channels;

show off your company culture, get your crew involved and make the most of everyone’s unique personalities, or explore different aspects of the guest experience.

A great example of someone who keeps things consistent but not repetitive: Google

Google has always used the same typeface and design elements across all of their marketing platforms. Keeping their design consistent has helped them resonate with users and has made them the household name in search engines. Although the “Google” design stays consistent, they often switch up their homepage logo, making it interactive and reflecting an important part of history or pop culture that takes place on a given day. These changes are called Google “Doodles” and they’ve become part of their brand identity. They invite users to submit ideas for new Doodles at proposals@google.com and they even have a verified Twitter account with 127,000 followers just to keep people in the loop on new Doodles. 

Google Pac Man Logo for the game’s 30th anniversary:

So how can you apply this principle of "consistent but not repetitive" to your small businesses social media presence?

On your social channels, you want your voice to remain consistent. This is your identity: how customers see and engage with your brand is dependent on this consistency. This does not mean that all of your posts have to convey the same aspects of your company. For example, last week we spoke with Castle Island Brewing Company. They do an amazing job of keeping their fun, humorous, not-taking-themselves-too-seriously voice evident in every post. Although they rarely post the same kind of content, their personality remains the same across the board. So first, define your voice on social: who you are and what you’re all about. Then, mix it up with the content and experiment with different posts across all your channels.