How to build your brand & why

Branding is one of the most important things to nail down if you want your social media to stand out, look cohesive, and have a consistent voice & feeling.

Creating your brand identity will allow people to easily recognize you, your personality, and the tone of the brand. When developing your brand identity you want to consider a few key things:

• what colours does your brand use?

• what fonts does your brand use?

• do you have a logo and/or a slogan?

• what filters do you use? are your photos dark and moody? or are they bright and cheerful?

• what kind of language does your brand use and how do they "talk"

• what values are important to them?

• what are your goals? do you have a "mission"?

Once you have answered the above, you will see your brand identity taking shape. It will have unique traits that make you and your socials stand out and attract a specific type of person/client/customer/viewer. Your brand knows how old their ideal client is, where they live, what they like to do, their gender, sometimes even their socio-economic background or political views. Your brand speaks to this ideal client in a thoughtful way, because your brand will have a tone, personality, and point of view that aligns with your client.

For example: You run a small boutique that carries high end athletic clothing.

Your brand identity may look like this: Your ideal client is aged 35-55, she has disposable income and therefore likely has a high paying job and may not have children or children that have left home. She lives in a nice neighbourhood close to the centre of the action but not directly in it. She goes to yoga Sunday morning with her bestie and they like to go to a local café afterwards. She loves riding her bike through the trails near by and may partake in a 5km run or two in the summer. She enjoys wearing athleisure clothing on the weekends, but styles it in a chic, fashionable way - maybe she's about to go for a 10km walk, maybe she's going to hit up the local farmers market. She always brings a reusable bag and coffee cup with her because she cares about the environment. She likes to getaway on the weekends and head to the lake, mountains, or nordic spa. She appreciates good quality and will pay for it. She always brings the host a gift and supports local businesses. She also loves dogs!

Once you have developed your brand, this will then help determine what kind of content

you create. Maybe you posts a ton of videos, maybe you post none! How does your client want to interact with you? Lean into this!

There are people out there who's whole job is helping you create a brand identity - if you have the means, hire them! If not, head over to Canva and get creative. If you have CanvaPro you can build your brand kit in the app - you can select various fonts and colours to save so that you can be consistent every time you create a graphic. The main thing is, you figure your branding out! You want someone to recognize your post before they even read the name attached to it. Remember to be authentic and stay true to your brand and vision. The most successful business and social media accounts are the ones that authentically themselves!