Your branding is perfected. Your website, flawless. You take a step back and slowly exhale—those long months of planning and creating your dream business have finally come to fruition. And now it’s time to market that dream. You’ve set up a Facebook page, registered an Instagram account, perhaps signed up for Twitter. Posting is seemingly no issue for you, but garnering a following and interactive engagement is an increasing struggle. You post every day, perhaps several times a day. But still, something is missing.
So you take to the web—searching for similar companies to your own. Sifting through their social media channels you admire an array of pretty images, engaging graphics and clever hashtags. And then it hits you. Their feeds are not only cohesive, they’ve got A LOT of personality.
What they’ve created is a social media aesthetic and brand personality that not only represents their branding but the overall tone and value of their business. And now, you want to do it too.
WHERE TO START
First of all. What’s an aesthetic? It sounds sticky.
An aesthetic is concerned with beauty, or the appreciation of beauty. In regards to social media, an aesthetic refers to the tone and cohesiveness of a social feed, which stems directly from its brand identity. But the quest to establishing a purposeful aesthetic and personality is more than just high-quality pictures and clever copy. It’s taking the tone, value, and identity of your brand and creating an effectively curated feed.
Crafting this can be scary and overwhelming. So, to better execute your business’s social media personality, we’ve compiled a guide of how to identify, craft and rock the crap out of your social media channels.
Like a superhero, your business has an origin story. There’s a reason why you created your business, therefore, a unique story has yet to be told. Finding and honing in on the story itself may help set the tone of your channels and, in turn, create a defined personality for your brand. Perhaps it’s light and airy, or bold and daring. Maybe it’s fun and poppy, or dark and mysterious.
CRAFTING YOUR PERSONALITY
Thinking you’ll need the latest and greatest equipment for your social media is bogus. If you have a smartphone with space to download a few apps, you’re set. Having a good eye for photography is always a great asset, but if you’re having trouble crafting high-quality content, you can never go wrong seeking professional advice. Maybe you want more sarcastic and witty videos to post to your Facebook feed, or perhaps you need clean looking product photos for your Instagram account. But you’re just not sure where to start.
Seeking out a creative team like NMCO Media is crucial in bringing your personality to life. A professional team can take your branded elements such as tone, color, voice, font, and the overall appeal to craft content that not only makes you look slick, but leaves an unforgettable impression. It’s also important to remember uniformity and consistency help create an overall aesthetic and personality. But creating a variety of content is good, too. Mix up composed images with text graphics or videos for a dynamic feed.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?
…Or are you goofier? Whatever it may be, your personality will set you apart from the mundane posts that most people skim over. Having a personality that shines through your content and copy not only adds to your brand identity, it makes you more personable. It may make it easier for potential customers, clients or other businesses to approach you as well. But don’t take your personality for granted.
Stay professional. Sometimes personalities can be a bit brazen and aren’t received well by others. Carefully consider your brand’s personal boundaries and don’t step too far beyond the line of professionalism, or worse—offensiveness. It’s easy to tip-toe that line. So use your best judgment.
But of course, your voice is the most important component. Be yourself and don’t be afraid to let it shine. It’s also a great idea to share articles and content from larger brands or businesses that share a similar personality. Pull inspiration from the content they share. It’ll only help you grow.
