Maintaining Consistency With Your Brand Across All Social Media 02.28.16

Today’s marketers are always juggling four to five (or sometimes even more) social media platforms - and making matters more complicated, new social channels pop up every now and then. Of course, it doesn’t make sense to waste time building your presence on every new platform. But, if your buyers and prospects are frequenting a new platform, it’s a sign you should be there too.

The problem is that the strategies required to succeed on each of these platforms are very different. How do you make sure your brand’s identity doesn’t get lost amidst all that action? Consistency is your answer.

Why Brand Consistency in Social Media Matters

To build your company’s reputation and credibility in the online space, it’s important that everything about your brand looks, sounds, and feels consistent across every social network you’re active on. Most companies struggle with this, and that’s understandable. They often send out different (and inconsistent) messages to see what works. Sadly, this approach only serves to confuse your target audience and gives rise to brand awareness and identity issues.

Greater message recall is another reason why brands must focus on maintaining a consistent drumbeat on social media. Simply put, when your target audience hears the same core message over and over again, they are more likely to remember it and spread the word in the way you want them to.

Plus, today’s consumers expect a consistent experience from brands. According to a global survey by SDL, factors like consistency and seamless interactions are high on the priority list of millennials (a coveted market that has an annual buying power of $200 million.) Clearly, failing to create a consistent identity across each of your social media channels can be a ticket to failure for your online marketing efforts. How do you remedy that? Below are our top three tips on how to maintain consistency across all your social media channels.

1) Choose Your Brand’s Voice and Stick to It

Who is your target audience? How do you want them to perceive your brand? What visual cues do you want them to associate with your brand? How do you want to interact with them? These are some important questions to consider before you zero in on what type of voice your brand should have. For instance, a brand that provides software solutions to enterprise-level organizations and one that sells baby products will have distinctly different brand voices.

Once you’ve chosen the voice that works for your brand, use it to communicate and interact with your audience across all channels. 

2) Create a Consistent Look

Does your brand look the same on all your social networks? Is your social presence aligned with your website? If your answer to these questions is “no”, you are doing a big disservice to your business.  

Granted, each social platform has a different layout but you can (and should) make sure things like profile and cover photos, bio, and the overall color scheme not only remain the same on all your social channels but they match your website as well. Remember, your brand’s overall look and feel determine how your audience will recognize you over time so don’t mess it up! Keep your look uniform on all platforms while leveraging the unique idiosyncrasies of each network.

3) Post Frequently and Consistently

For modern businesses, there’s perhaps only one thing worse than having no social media account - having an inactive account or one that sees activity once in a blue moon. Why is it so bad? Well, what image do you portray when potential customers find you on Facebook or Twitter and see that you haven’t posted in a while? They could easily assume you aren’t doing business anymore.

Plus, inconsistent posting habits will prompt your fans and followers to click unsubscribe or unfollow sooner than you could imagine. Using a social media management tool, or professional service, will enable you to schedule your posts ahead of time, helping your brand’s posting consistency and improving your engagement and retention.

What is your experience with brands that aren’t consistent across their social media properties?