What is a social media style guide?
Social media has become a prominent digital channel where businesses and customers can connect. 90 percent of marketers say that their social media marketing efforts have increased the exposure of their business.
Social media is a very powerful tool, so it is vital to understand why social media marketing isn’t DIY and how it requires you to have background knowledge about effectively marketing online. The first step to creating an effective social media marketing strategy is creating a social media style guide.
Developing a social media style guide helps set the tone of your brand’s social media presence. Here is a rundown about what a social media style guide is and how our social media marketing Denver team can help.
Social media style 101
A social media style guide is a document that lays out how a brand should appear and act online. To keep it short, it is a guide to your brand’s online personality. Developing a personality for your brand will make it more memorable and leave a bigger impact on your audience.
Why your business needs a social media style guide
The first step of starting any social media marketing strategy starts with creating a social media style guide. It does not matter if only one person is doing your company’s social media or if you are hiring social media marketing Denver professionals. Developing a social media style guide helps keep your company consistent.
So if your social media manager is ever out on vacation, there is an idea about how your company’s social media should be done. Everything from how you should structure your posts to which words to avoid are all in one convenient place. Plus, a social media style guide helps keep customer experiences consistent and your brand’s core values aligned.
Social media style guide checklist
Define your voice
Defining your brand's voice is the first step to creating a social media style guide. This refers to how you will speak to your audience and how it will affect your audience's perception of your brand. You want your company's voice to connect with your audience on an emotional level.
Grammar and spelling
Does your brand have specific grammar rules or emoji uses? If so, you need to highlight that in your social media guide. This should cover if the oxford comma is included, using gender-inclusive language or certain spellings.. You also want to indicate which emojis, if any, are appropriate for your brand and where they should be placed.
Formatting
To keep your brand consistent, you want to indicate how each post on social media should be formatted. This means determining if your brand will create long formatted posts on certain platforms or stick to short posts.
Hashtags
A key part of social media is hashtags. These little symbols help your content get noticed online. As a brand, you should define the use of your hashtags. You need to set rules for the number of hashtags you use on each platform and if you are using branded hashtags.
Let our social media marketing Denver experts handle your social media!
With Denver Media Group’s social media management solutions, you can focus your efforts on running your business while we focus on your social media management to scale your organization globally. Contact us to learn more about our social media services.