A strong social media presence is essential for any business looking to build and maintain a successful brand identity, which can help you rise above your competitors. Social media platforms present unique challenges and opportunities, and a compelling brand presence can set your business apart in this crowded landscape in order to grow awareness and drive conversions. Surprisingly, many brands often have a disconnect on social compared to their brand identity on other channels. This can be due to a variety of reasons:

1. Utilizing a lot of user-generated content (UGC), creator content, and influencer content, which puts your brand identity in the hands of your audience and can reduce cohesion across your social posts and with other brand assets.
2. Leaning into trends that work on social, like memes and short-form video can feel off-brand compared to your more polished brand materials.
3. Trying to be everything to everyone without a focused content strategy.
4. Assuming that your audience knows you, and forgetting to highlight your brand attributes frequently.
5. Disconnected social teams that aren’t aligned with marketing and brand strategy, which might happen when social lives under PR or customer service in an organization, or is outsourced to a freelancer or agency that is siloed from other tactics.

Wondering how can you can cultivate a stronger brand identity across your social media channels while leaning into what works to drive results? Let’s dive into brand building on social media in 2024.

What is Brand Identity?

At its core, a brand identity must include the basics: a unique and memorable color palette, a well-designed logo, meticulously chosen fonts, a cohesive visual aesthetic made up of imagery and video, and an identifiable tone of voice. But a really well-defined brand identity becomes the personality of your brand and its promise to your customers. Hubspot defines brand identity as what your brand says, its values, how you communicate your product or service, and how you want people to feel when they interact with your brand. In short, a well-defined brand identity helps you stand out from the crowd while also building trust, fostering customer loyalty, and creating a strong emotional connection with your audience.

Brand Identity Examples 

• Nike: Known for its “Just Do It” slogan, Nike’s brand identity is all about empowerment, athleticism, and inspiration. Their consistent use of the swoosh logo, bold imagery, and motivational messaging reinforces this identity across all platforms.
• Apple: Apple’s brand identity revolves around innovation, simplicity, and premium quality. The minimalist design, clean lines, and sleek product presentations on their social media reflect these core values.
• Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola’s brand identity is built on happiness, friendship, and tradition. Their consistent use of the iconic red and white color scheme – along with feel-good advertising campaigns – helps maintain this identity.

7 Steps to Brand Building on Social Media 

In order to build s strong brand identity on social media, you need to first understand your brand and the appeal it has for consumers, and build everything around that. Here are 7 steps to help you define and activate your brand identity for successful brand building on social media.

1. Define Who You Are and Your Core Differentiators: Start by identifying and articulating your brand’s mission, key values, and competitive advantage. These should align with your target audience’s beliefs and aspirations. Ask yourself: What does my brand stand for? What do I want my customers to feel when they interact with my brand, particularly on social media? What are my competitors doing? How can I stand out?
2. Analyze Your Target Audience: Critically analyze every aspect of your audience. Delve into the analytics, as well as messages and comments to understand their preferences, behaviors, and pain points. This helps in crafting social media messages that resonate and engage effectively. Use tools like Instagram Insights and Sprout Social to help you analyze.
3. Develop Visual Consistency: Choose colors for social that reflect your overall brand colors and brand’s personality, and consistently use them across all visual content. This helps in creating a recognizable and cohesive brand image. Build an asset library of images, videos, graphics, colors, fonts, and tone that align with your brand image and ensure all team members understand the visual requirements. Use tools like Canva to help you centralize creative asset design among core team members.
4. Focus Your Efforts on the Right Platforms. Does TikTok feel off brand? Does Linkedin feel too formal? Is Instagram too visual for your business? You don’t have to be everywhere if it doesn’t align with who you are as a brand. Analyze social media platform demographics and identify where your target audience is most active. Focus your efforts on key platforms to maximize engagement and avoid spreading your brand too thin. If you’re already live on multiple channels, decide which you can lose and let your audience there know to follow you on your primary accounts.
5. Craft a Unique Voice and Activate with Storytelling: Is your brand an authority or thought leader? Are you funny or serious? Elevated or down to earth? Define your brand tone and create messaging guidelines for social media communication. Whether it’s witty, professional, or friendly, your voice should resonate with your audience so your brand comes alive and attracts your customers.
6. Build a Content Strategy that Encompasses Everything You’ve Learned: Develop content pillars, themes, and topics that align with who you are, what sets you apart, and what your audience wants. Share brand stories through your authentic voice to connect with your audience on an emotional level, using storytelling to humanize your brand and make it more relatable. 
7. Adapt Your Brand Identity to Each Platform: Tailor your social media content for each key channel where you will remain active, while utilizing consistent brand elements. For example, Instagram should focus on visual storytelling through video and images with a cohesive color palette and creative that visually showcases your brand’s personality – while X might highlight short snippets of thought leadership through that compelling voice and brand messaging you developed to set your brand apart, with graphics that utilize the same consistent brand elements.

Bring Your Brand to Life on Social Media

Building and maintaining a strong brand identity on social media is an ongoing process. It requires a clear understanding of your core values, unique selling propositions, target audience, and the unique voice that sets you apart. By implementing consistent visual and messaging strategies across all platforms, you can create a compelling and recognizable social presence that builds your brand over time. 

Encourage continuous social media brand evolution by staying attuned to changes in your audience’s preferences and the ever-changing digital landscape. Revisit how you’re activating your brand on social quarterly and analyze if there are things you can do better. For further assistance and professional guidance on crafting a robust social media strategy, reach out to us! Your brand’s identity is its most valuable asset. Invest in it wisely.