4 Must-Haves To Elevate Your Social Branding
We are all on social media these days, and finding the balance of authentically (and consistently!) showing up for your audience while staying true to your brand can be a challenge, even for professionals.
Over the years I have learned a thing or two about what it takes to elevate your brand on social media. When I develop a social media design for my clients, I make sure to always include the essentials: custom highlight covers that correspond with your brand, a social strategy so you have a plan and purpose behind your posts, as well as several feed posts and caption suggestions to get you started.
Once you’ve started, what comes next? We’re sharing 4 must-have tools that will elevate your social branding regardless of whether you’re running a business, digital creator or personal account.
Here are 4 Must-Haves To Elevate Your Social Branding:
Professional Photos
Professional photos are number one on our list for a reason. Gone are the days of blurry or crooked photos. Say goodbye to inconsistent lighting! If you have the budget to hire a photographer, one mini-session can usually get you enough photos to last a season or two, maybe even a whole year depending on how often you post. It’s a worthwhile investment that you’ll definitely see a return on. Don’t have the budget to hire a photographer just yet? Get creative with the tools already in your hands! Phones these days have incredible cameras and purchasing a quality preset package can help you get a consistent look across your feed.Check out some of our favourite photographers: @iulia.agnew, @leviandvictoriacreative, @juliechristinephotography, @jaymedunnphoto, @jaymelang.
Make a Plan with Planoly
If you’ve been around, you’ve heard us talk about Planoly before. It’s our favourite app/website for good reason. One of the biggest changes you can make on your social media is one that takes place behind the scenes. Planning out your content ahead of time allows you to prepare in advance and post with purpose. No more last minute “I don’t know what to post” cries! Welcome to the world of well thought out content, that communicates to your audience that you do in fact have it together.
Take a look at Planoly and their free plan.
Canva Pro
Every once in a while you’ve got to really catch your audience’s attention. We know everybody wishes they had a graphic designer as a best friend who could just “whip something up” for you… Well, we’d like to introduce you to Canva Pro. Canva’s cooler older sibling. While Canva certainly can get the job done, Canva Pro has advance features that allow you to upload your brand’s unique fonts. Trust us when we say, utilizing your brand’s fonts across all platforms is a game changer. Bonus, you can share the plan with up to 5 people.
An On-Brand Website
There’s nothing worse than someone mistaking you for something you’re not. If your social media is going to present your brand and values in a clear and straightforward way (as it should), then you need your website to communicate the same. If it doesn’t, you risk losing potential clients, readers, or followers because you’re not who they first thought you were. Plus if the Instagram outages of 2021 have taught us anything, it’s that you need a space you own where your audience can always find you when they need you the most.
Check out how we can help create a cohesive brand across your platforms.
Let us know if you found these tools helpful! And hey, we love taking on brand strategy projects! If you think we’d be a good fit, reach out to us and let’s chat!
