You know your brand’s style guide is essential to your organization’s toolkit. It’s a roadmap for maintaining a consistent and cohesive brand identity. Your company’s style guide might include everything an account manager or creative needs to know about visual communication, like colors, typography, logos, and positioning. A style guide provides a clear direction for designers to follow, saving time and effort in the long run.
Ok, I recommend you build another roadmap for your brand’s copy style. I know, I know, another deck? I promise–investing time and effort in a dedicated Social Media Style Guide is worth it. I’ll tell you why:
Consistency
To build trust and familiarity, you need consistency. Like your visual guide, you can outline your copy voice, tone, and guidelines to make your brand recognizable and memorable to your audience. Consistent copy style also helps demonstrate your understanding of your audience.
Time-Saving
The time spent up-front creating a deck that maps your brand’s copy style is worth the investment. It eliminates the need to establish a POV with each concept and streamlines your writing process by providing a clear direction for your creative team. Consider the time spent with revisions and edits when guidelines are undefined. Having a reference helps everyone get on the same page much faster, which is invaluable when considering the pace at which social media moves.
Brand Differentiation
Social is a crowded space, and a well-defined brand voice helps you stand out. Personality helps your content connect emotionally with your audience so you can deepen your relationship with them. By understanding your target and crafting messaging that resonates with them, a brand can increase the effectiveness of its content marketing efforts.
Convinced? Great! Now, let’s break down what you should include in your Social Media Copy Style Guide:
Define Your Brand Voice
To define your brand voice, consider your brand’s mission, values, and personality. Are you serious, playful, or somewhere in between? This personality and tone will be used in all of your communication. Remember what I said about consistency? It makes your brand stand out and helps you connect with your audience.
Establish Your Brand Guidelines
Once you have defined your brand voice, you need to establish guidelines for applying it to your social media copy. This includes establishing rules for tone, language, and style. For example, if your brand voice is playful, your guidelines may use humor and emojis in social media posts. If your brand voice is more formal, your guidelines may include avoiding contractions and slang.
Determine Your Posting Schedule and Content Types
Your social media copy style guide should also include guidelines for your posting schedule and the types of content you will post. This includes determining how often you will post and what kinds of content you will share, such as photos, videos, or blog posts.
Establish Your Hashtag Strategy
Hashtags are a powerful way to connect with your audience and increase your brand’s visibility on specific platforms. Your guide should include guidelines for your hashtag strategy. This includes determining which hashtags to use, how to create branded hashtags, and how to use hashtags to engage with your audience.
Create Templates for Your Social Media Posts
Consider creating templates for your posts. This includes establishing guidelines for your headline, copy length, and call to action. Creating templates ensures that your social media copy is always on brand and consistent—consistency = audience trust.
With a well-defined copy style guide, you can empower your audience and inspire action, encouraging them along the funnel. Just as your visual style guide is essential to your brand’s identity, a Social Media Copy Style Guide is equally important.
By defining your brand voice, establishing guidelines for tone, language, and style, determining your posting schedule and content types, establishing your hashtag strategy, and creating templates for your social media posts, you can ensure that your social media copy is always on brand, consistent, and effective in building trust and deepening your relationship with your audience. Defining your tone and voice strategy is absolutely worth your time and energy.
Ready to take your copy to the next level? Shoot us a message and we’ll help you find the perfect words to tell your story.
