Consistency in Your Company's Social Media: Is it Really That Important?
Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash
Perhaps you've heard that social media is an important tool to grow your small business into a not-so-small business. And, perhaps you've even heard that if you're consistent it would be even better. Have you wondered what the big deal is? Why isn't it good enough just to post. At least it's active, right?. Well, here's the deal. It's a little bigger than that...
Social media is growing in importance each and every day. Especially when it comes to keeping a business relevant and actively engaging with current customers, as well as potential new customers. Social media is a huge factor in influencing what people think about your brand and how your brand makes them feel. Understanding consistency across multiple social media accounts can be challenging, but it’s crucial. It’s extremely helpful for clients to understand what you offer as a business and your style.
But, what exactly does this mean? You don't want clients to have confusion about who you are and what you offer. If you are about to express that you are versatile and multi-faceted, ok cool, I hear you. But think about this... How would you respond to your lawyer sharing health tips on their company's Instagram account or your dog groomer sharing real estate projections? Maybe it's cool they have lots of interests but it's also confusing. It's best to share your many sides with your friends and family and keep your business social media focused on your business.
Consistency across social media can be narrowed down into three important categories: design, voice, and content.
Design Consistency
Design consistency includes elements such as color, fonts, layouts, and images. When developing a brand these elements should be considered from the beginning and finalized in order to remain consistent. Another consideration is the flow of your images. Factors to consider when picking out images are warm tones, cool tones, subject, graphics, etc. It isn’t uncommon for a business to decide on a certain color overlay, opacity, or preset edit to include on each photo in order to guarantee image style consistency. A layout guide is also a great tool to consider, especially when you have a team larger than one working on social media. A style sheet is a great way to remember the deciding factors for your brand.
Voice Consistency
Voice consistency includes tone and style. Businesses want customers to feel like they’re met with the same brand across all their social media platforms. By changing the voice the brand can appear different and confusing, which in return could change how clients feel about your brand. Examples of tone and style are: formal, direct, friendly, young, intelligent, serious, informal, etc. Businesses can write content with the same meaning in different tones and styles.
Examples of voice tone/style:
Light Hearted: Julie Jones was a teacher for twenty years and truly loves education. However, Julie also has a passion for wine and dreamed about combining the two somehow. Three years ago Julie started Vino-cation, a company that primarily focuses on teaching through wine tastings. Julie has really enjoyed her new career and is looking to grow the company even more. Vino-cation is looking for an engaging, fun website that advertises the company to a larger audience and boosts the project legitimacy.
Serious/Direct: Julie Jones has a passion for education. She taught for twenty years before deciding to establish the company Vino-cation. Vino-cation forged her enthusiasm of teaching and wine together, and gives her the opportunity to educate consumers through tastings. Julie has been developing Vino-cation for three years and is ready to take the company’s next step in the growth process. Vino-cation needs a strong website in order to promote the company and project legitimacy.
Content Consistency
Lastly, keeping your content focused throughout social media gives your business a niche. What is a niche? The easiest way to describe a business niche is to take Business News Daily’s explanation:
“a specialized or focused area of a broader market that your business serves specifically.”
By taking the time to keep your content focused you’ll attract a loyal audience that’s coming to your business for a specific service, topic, or help. It’s important for businesses to learn that they cannot be everything everyone needs, but can be the best at what they choose to specialize in. It’s not great to ever guess when giving advice, or more important information. The same rule applies to social media platforms. Generally, customers prefer to go to a business for specialized help or advice, rather than a variety of random topics that they could find somewhere else from another specialist.
No one said it's easy but just keep in mind that the more consistent you are with these three elements the easier it will become over time. And, more importantly, your clients and potential clients will understand your services and be better able to recommend you when appropriate!