The Power of Cohesive Branding on Social Media and How to Do It
Have you ever walked into an older home and found each room was decorated and designed completely differently? The front room has green shag carpet with gold furniture, the kitchen has clean lines and gives modern farmhouse vibes, the bathroom houses mini chandeliers and looks like it was pulled from the Ritz Carlton while the TV room is filled with rustic, old western relics and the basement looks like a 50s diner. It’s as if you walked through each decade of the 20th century. Head reeling, you feel scattered, confused and have so. many. questions.
This is what incohesive branding feels like.
I get it. Some Canva templates are so cute, some color combos look really nice and some fonts are way fun, but if they don’t align with your branding they will do more harm than good. Why? Because confused people don’t buy. They also don’t find you, don’t think you’re legitimate, don’t volunteer, don’t donate, don’t make an appointment…you get the jist.
How many times have you researched a business or organization and their website looks one way, but their social media is totally different and you aren’t sure if it’s really them, so move on and don’t work with them. This is what we’re going to save you from by teaching you the importance of consistent and cohesive branding on social media.
Why Cohesive Branding is Important
Recognition and Recall:
When your branding is cohesive across all platforms, it becomes instantly recognizable. Think of what we just witnessed with the Barbie movie, all the sudden anything pink was an ad for Barbie because of how consistent they were in their branding. Consistent use of colors, imagery, and logos ensures that your audience recognizes your posts, products, or ads instantly, no matter where they encounter them.
Professionalism and Trustworthiness:
Consistency in design and messaging conveys professionalism. It shows that you've put thought into your brand's presentation. This can, in turn, make your brand appear more trustworthy. An inconsistent brand can look haphazard and may cause potential clients or customers to question its reliability.
Emotional Connection:
A consistent brand helps in building an emotional connection with your audience. That’s why we get excited and all nostalgic when our favorite brands bring back old logos. When your messaging, visuals, and values align, it becomes easier for the audience to understand what you stand for and develop a connection.
Clarity and Consistency:
With so much noise on social media, clarity is essential. When your branding is cohesive, your message becomes clearer. Whether it's a color palette that evokes specific emotions or imagery that reinforces your brand's ethos, consistency helps to amplify your message.
Increases Engagement:
Cohesive branding can lead to increased engagement. If your audience recognizes and trusts your content, they are more likely to interact with it. This can lead to higher engagement rates, which are favorable in algorithms of many social media platforms.
Streamlines Content Creation:
When you have a clear brand guideline that includes specific colors, fonts, and imagery styles, it streamlines the content creation process. It eliminates the guesswork and helps maintain consistency, thus speeding up your content creation process.
What Should Be Consistent:
Color palette
Typography
Imagery
Voice and tone
Design style
Examples
Below are a few accounts we love here at Branch Out Social that are SO good at keeping their branding consistent. Shout out to Sam Vander Wielen, National Park Service and Emma Barrera.
How Implement Your Branding
You paid good money for killer branding that truly encompasses your brand-so you better use it. This is sooooo very easy to do if you use Canva. (Tip: Canva offers free Canva Pro accounts to nonprofits, get on that here). Watch this quick video on how to input your brand kit into Canva and apply it to your templates with one click.
Watch how to do it with this video HERE.
If you’re still unsure on how to strategicallyimplement your branding across your organization’s social media-outsource it and leave it to me! Book a free consultation HERE.
