Think about some of your favorite brands and how you came to know them. More than likely, they’ve done the work and established some kind of familiarity with you. We know McDonald’s when we’re traveling on the Interstate because we see the golden arches. We know that two back-to-back, intertwined C’s means we’re looking at a sweet Coco Chanel handbag. We’re able to go into stores like Target and spot our favorite products on the shelves right away (if we don’t get distracted by the dang Dollar Spot) because we’re familiar with their packaging.
All of these things combined— logos, packaging, and the use of particular typography — work together to establish brand awareness.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what brand awareness is but we like to be thorough around these parts. *Whips out ever-proper spectacles*
Brand awareness is the extent to which consumers are familiar with the distinctive qualities or image of a particular brand of goods or services. This is why friends, clients, and Aunt Carol send us pictures and snail mail containing items that have “Oh Snap!” on them.
Brand consistency leads to brand awareness and is established when you communicate a message to your target demographic that is the same across the board through logos, design elements (colors, typography), tag lines and phrases, and much more.
Now, keeping ALL of this in mind, let’s shift specifically to brand awareness online. How familiar is your target audience with your brand? Do you think you’ve done a good job of establishing brand awareness amongst them on social media? If not, I might be able to help!
When it comes to making your people aware of who you are and building brand awareness and consistency across all platforms, I have a few little tricks up my sleeve that will help make your brand a staple in the minds of your potential customers, whether they’re seeing you on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or anywhere else in the webiverse.
Use the same headshot across platforms
When you are the face of your brand, it’s important the people get familiar with that beautiful mugshot of yours across all of your social media platforms. Using the same headshot on all of your profiles allows people to quickly and easily identify your thumbnail. Everything down to the color of the shirt you’re wearing in your headshot becomes part of your branding strategy. This is something not everyone thinks about but it’s exactly why you’ll see me wearing a bright purple sweater in all of my business profiles across platforms AND on the about page right here on ohsnapsocial.com. Say it with me, everything is strategic!!
Use cover photos with consistent brand colors
Similar to the headshot, it’s important your cover photos reflect your brand identity at-a-glance. First, assuming that you’ve established colors for your brand, make sure those colors are represented in your cover photo across social platforms. Something as simple as the color being associated with your brand may not seem like a big deal, but it is indeed huge! Can you imagine how confused we would all be if we woke up one morning and there was no longer any orange associated with Home Depot? If you’re into color psychology and I present you with this epic color wheel.
Decide whether or not your logo will be part of your visual identity
Some brands choose to make their logo visible across the board. If you decide to use your logo, make sure it is everywhere! You want your logo to show up on your graphics across all platforms. This is important because in addition to establishing brand awareness, marking your content territory with your logo informs people that the particular piece of digital info they’re viewing originated with In a social sharing culture this is pretty stinkin’ important.
However, a lot of times, social media is meant to be share content in real-time which means if not every single piece of content at your upcoming live event or Instagram Stories doesn’t contain your logo, all is well in the world. Later on, if you decide to repurpose that piece of content, you can brand it with your logo.
Consistency is two-fold
In addition to being consistent with the look of your brand, you also need to be consistent with your efforts to put it out there. Nothing keeps you fresh in the minds of others like intentional repetition and showing up for your audience! Make it easy on yourself – create a content schedule you can stick to week-after-week. Give your audience branded content on the same day, at the same time, on the same platforms consistently, and don’t give up.
Going back to McDonald’s for example, (side note: I don’t frequent McDonald’s as much as I have in this post, but yo’ girl can’t turn down hot fries and milkshake on occasion) they became a brand in 1955, everyone knows them and they still run commercials, print ads, and online advertising as if they opened yesterday.
These four tips are very simple, easy to implement, and highly effective. Creating brand awareness by being consistent across all of your social media platforms can making an amazing impression on those who discover you online. I encourage you to take a step back and audit your social media platforms from brand awareness and consistency lens.
Pop the hood and get to work!
Establishing brand awareness has the ability to attract the attention of those who may have been on the fence for months about working with you, but because of your consistent efforts, you win them over! If you have more questions about how to turn your brand into a powerhouse presence, or what Oh Snap! to pop the hood on your social media platforms and do a social media audit which has a branding component book a call with us here.