How to Create a Social Media Style Guide

Creating a social media style guide is the most effective method to do it . More than just their appearance and content, brands are things. They also have a personality and a tone. Therefore, having a set of standards in place can be very beneficial when a brand, whether it be an individual or an organization, is present on social media. This will assist to create some consistency and to establish a brand identity.  At Digital Marketing Lahore We’ll walk you through your alternatives for boosting website traffic and drawing in more visitors.

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This post will explain why you need one, and what you need to know in order to get started.

What is a social media style guide?

A document explaining the vocabulary, syntax, tone, and personality of your brand and how it translates across various social platforms is known as a style guide produced expressly for social media. And odds are good that the business you follow on social media has a style guide in place to ensure uniformity across all of its postings if you can quickly recognize its posts. She therefore adheres to a set of rules that are congruent with the look and feel of her brand.

Use your brand’s existing style guide as the foundation for developing your social media style guide.

Why do you need it ?

The consistency it fosters is one of the most significant and persuasive benefits of having a social media style guide. A person or organization runs the risk of turning off or confusing their audience by employing different styles, content, or tones across several platforms. As a result, they come across as disjointed and unprofessional. You will stand out and build a solid bond with your audience if you maintain your branding throughout all social media sites.

What do you need before you start?

It’s usually preferable to begin a project with research, as with any other. To create a social media style guide , Focus on the fundamentals.

Selecting a platform What platforms are you going to use? Will you use business platforms like LinkedIn or a visual one like Instagram? or both combined? Which do you believe best fits your audience and the image of your brand?

How do your competitors present themselves? How do they interact with the public about issues like refunds? Are they amusing?

Assemble visual examples: assemble graphic illustrations of the content you enjoy. Find a decent balance of content. It’s usually preferable to begin a project with research, as with any other. Focus on the fundamentals, including:

Your posts on each social networking platform, including text, photographs, videos, gifs, and b-types, as well as updates on how others are doing.

To guarantee consistency across other networks, keep in mind that if you already have a brand identity, it is definitely worth referring to it when developing your guide images and text. Even better, if your company already has a branded style guide, utilize it as a starting point for your social media guide. Included in it should be information on image and video format, color schemes, and styles. selection of fonts.

Create your social media style guide

Once you’ve done your research, start crafting your guide. Consider and define the language, communications and content of your social media pages.

Social media accounts

List every social media account you have. This will make it easier for you to remember your usernames and pages. Not only do your messaging need to be consistent; if your usernames are as well, users will have a simpler time finding you on any given platform.

Think about the possibility of using suffixes, for example @nom_de_la_marque_FR. Such suffixes can be useful for users if you have different accounts depending on the country. This allows you to adapt to a specific market, and your customers to interact with your brand, for example with customer service.

Define your content

Now that you know all the social media accounts you have, it’s time to define the content you are going to post on each of them. For example, job postings can be restricted to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. But behind-the-scenes posts about your business might just be for Instagram. Or, what you post on TikTok might not be what you want to post on Facebook or Twitter, for example.

This is also a good place to jot down any social media image sizes as well as how you want your images to look, for example, “use only bright brand colors as backgrounds for product photos for content that relates to giveaways,” or “use darker backgrounds when posting permanent content and products.”

Brand language

How do you talk about your brand? How do you refer to your staff? List key phrases or words that describe your brand and business. It can be how to write your business name. For example, at 99designs, the name is spelled with a lowercase “d”, not 99Designs or 99 designs. It can also be the phrase that succinctly describes your business: what is that phrase? When and where will it appear?

Spelling, grammar and punctuation

Do you typically use an Oxford comma when writing? Which spelling do you prefer—American or British? By establishing it in your social media style guide, you can maintain this consistency. Add the outlines and the infamous specifications; you don’t need to list all the spellings you like.

For grammar and punctuation, the same holds true. Select a style manual like the Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press Stylebook. If something in these style guidelines doesn’t agree with your preferences or doesn’t fit your brand, you may then make modifications or revisions to your style guide.

Emojis

Emojis are becoming more and more common and are frequently used by a large part of the brands. They are often used to illustrate or punctuate, and can be a useful tool to make your posts more visible.

In this example, Headspace, a meditation app, often uses emojis for its Instagram posts by incorporating them into what it talks about in its posts. This reflects the warm and friendly attitude of the brand. As with text, make sure the emojis you choose reflect your brand personality.

Hashtags

Using hashtags on social media is a given. They are practically required because they help users discover your business. If you use the hashtag #veganchocolate with your goods, individuals looking for that hashtag can come upon your business and product!

Additionally, it’s a terrific method to group postings about a specific campaign or product so that people can easily discover other endorsements or posts about your company or product.

A popular hashtag can also be used to your advantage. But be cautious; if they don’t fit your brand or product, don’t just use popular or trending hashtags. Your customers will avoid you because you will appear to be removed from reality.

You should always double-check the hashtags you use to advertise a cause or a product since you never really know who else is using them or why.

Create your social media style guide

Now that you’re prepared, create your own social media style manual! Keep in mind that this is only a preliminary list and not an exhaustive one. Edit your manual after which make necessary adjustments. It can be necessary to add, change, or even remove some components. Other platforms might need to be included as well. As your firm expands, keep improving your style manual.

This manual will ultimately prove to be a useful addition to your brand and visual identity as well as the key to ensuring brand consistency, which promotes client loyalty.