Increasing brand recognition requires extensive effort on your company’s part. It’s essential your branding is reflected in everything you do, so it’s consistent and consumers get the message behind your brand. If a brand presents itself consistently, consumers are three to four times more likely to see it.

Once you understand you should incorporate branding into everything you do, it becomes clear your social media marketing must reflect your overall branding strategy.

Here are seven things to look at to make sure your social media channels reflect your branding efforts

1. Social Media Calendar

If you don’t already have a social media marketing calendar, now is the time to create one. Making a schedule allows you to tie real-life events to online marketing campaigns. For example, if your company volunteers to provide clean water to a community in Africa each year, you would want to tie those efforts into your social media campaign. Plan to share photographs and stats and to highlight employees who traveled there.

A social media calendar helps create a plan, so your social media well never runs dry. Of course, the calendar must be flexible in case you need to jump in with something trending. When there was a blackout during the 2013 Super Bowl, Oreo seized the moment and tweeted that you could still dunk in the dark.

It’s OK to leave a little room in your calendar for these types of occurrences. Planning out your posts doesn’t mean you can’t make last-minute changes.

2. Cover Photo

Does the cover photo and logo on your social media profile match the face you present in other locations? Building consistency into your branding is important. Sixty percent of millennials indicate they expect their experience with a brand to remain consistent across multiple channels.

Pepsi does an excellent job of using the same colors and logo across their social media and website. If you visit their Twitter and Facebook pages, you see the same logo and cover photo in both locations.

3. Personality

However, consistency is about much more than just the design elements you include on your website and social media pages. What is the tone of the posts you put on social media? Does it match the overall tone of your brand? If you are targeting generation Z, you might use a laid-back, humorous style.

If your audience is business professionals, you are naturally going to trend more serious. Make sure your tone matches across your social media channels.

4. Hashtags

Social media platforms use hashtags to draw people to a specific topic. You can take advantage of this in various ways.

If you host a special event or attend a trade-show, create a hashtag to collect all the photos and posts from that event. However, you can also use hashtags to tie into current events and weigh in on issues that matter to your brand, such as legislative changes in your industry.

Sharing a hashtag at your tradeshow booth can help people get excited about the event. Those who cannot attend in person will still feel as though they are part of the experience. Look at the SpeedPro booth. Note how the hashtag is in big, bold letters users can easily see and use for their posts.

The more buzz you can generate around your hashtag, the better.

5. Topics to Post About

When choosing the subjects you’ll discuss on your social media, take time to look at how they align with your company values and mission. If your goal is to make life easier for seniors, for example, your topics should align with that mission.

What type of articles, links and other content will make the life of someone over 55 easier? You might write a post about how to budget during retirement and then share it on social media.

6. Your Story

As a brand, you have a unique story to share with the world. The path you took to start your business and grow it is not going to be the same as any other company.

The more you can share your story and tie it to why you do the things you do, the more consumers will relate to you. Take time to fill out the bio sections on your social pages and share company history through your posts.

Denny’s has branded itself as a fun, quirky place to eat. Even though the restaurant chain has been around for decades, they are unafraid to share their idiosyncratic sense of humor with the world.

They don’t want younger generations to see them as just another diner, and that is evident in the personality and humor reflected in their social media posts. They aren’t just about sharing photos of food, but showing who they are at their core.

7. Mobile Marketing

Are your branding and marketing efforts tied to the rise in the number of people now accessing the Internet via mobile devices?

There are 30 million small businesses on Facebook, and 19 million of those are on mobile. If you don’t consider mobile when creating your social strategy, you’re ignoring a big chunk of users.

Optimize your social media marketing for mobile by ensuring ads and posts display as well on smartphones as they do on desktop computers. You want to create a professional-looking presence across your social channels, no matter what device people use to engage with it.

Reflecting Your Brand on Social Media

Knowing how to reflect your brand on social media starts with knowing who you are as a company and what your mission is. Once you home in on that, you can create a social media presence that reflects your overall brand.

Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box, but also make sure you remain consistent across all platforms. With a little effort and planning, your social media marketing can be a smashing success for your company.

Does your business need help reflecting your brand on social media? We can help. Learn more about our approach here.