The base of a successful social media presence for any company or individual is a solid brand. My favorite task to undertake when I begin working with a new client or business is sitting down to understand what kind of message they want to deliver in their content. In this post I'm going to lay out how I break down a brand and then transplant that brand's goals in the content I create.
How does that make you feel? There's so much psychology that goes into creating an effective brand. The ultimate goal of social media is to draw an emotion out of the consumer; the decision we have to make as creators is how we want to make people feel. Technology companies might want to make consumers feel innovative, curious, and smart. Clothing companies want to make people feel stylish and attractive. A gym wants people to feel strong, included, and healthy. These emotions can be reflected back to consumers through different aspects of a campaign, such as colors, fonts, and images.
Tickle me branded. Once I understand the emotions that the client wants to draw off of, I start to play around with the styling that is most effective with their personal taste. One aspect of a brand is an established color palette; most people in the creative field know about the psychology of color. As supported by EverlyWell.com, colors invoke certain emotions and can play an implicit part in how people consume products or make decisions about how they view a brand. A popular example is social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Think about these companies; what color do you see? Blue! Blue is a color that invokes feelings of productivity, stability, and calmness (read more about blue here). The success these platforms have experienced can be partially attributed to the emotions they stick into people's brains.
Catching a vibe. The colors people see make them feel certain emotions, but another way to reinforce those emotions is through the design of words, especially in fonts. Canva explains the impact of fonts and how the styling of words can be bring out feelings and motives in consumers.
"Whatever your end goal is for your design, understanding the impact of fonts on your audience will help get you there and achieve that goal..."
If you want to promote a sale, using bold fonts insights a sense of urgency and anticipation. Script fonts feel whimsical, creative, and happy. Not only within overall branding, but also when you get down into the nitty gritty of each individual piece of content, knowing those emotions we want to incite in a consumer helps us build a solid base.
With the times. In today's digital age, a brand that doesn't acknowledge the power of imagery will simply not survive. There's no denying that the use of people, animals, and nature in campaigns will create a lasting image in a consumers mind; however, with the rate at which users are consuming images on social media each day, it's important for businesses to stay current with what imagery is successful and given attention on the timeline. A controversial yet frequently consumed form of imagery in social media is memes. You know them, you love them- they're simple, funny, and are relatable to all age groups. Venngage.com shares this amazing article that goes in depth about the power of imagery in marketing, and discusses the pros and cons of memes in social media specifically.
On and on and on... I really could talk about the different psychological components of a successful brand and social media base forEVER. I love discussing the importance of emotions and understanding the mental impact a brand can have on its consumers, and strongly feel that once a business harnesses and grasps that power, they become unstoppable. Digging into the goals and mission of a company brings us closer to that power, and that is what I hope to help future clients accomplish.
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