GUEST BLOG: Social Media strategies should include branding elements

GroundFloor Media is proud to have partnered with Stu Swineford of Relish Studio on countless projects during the past 10 years. The Relish team is comprised of true graphic design and branding experts, and together we brainstorm and execute many integrated social media and communications projects for our clients. We are honored to have Stu share his insights on social media branding in GFM’s first-ever guest blog post.

Social media enables businesses to potentially engage a larger audience, but many businesses ignore an important element that could make or break their message cohesion—branding. When undertaking a social media campaign, it is important to focus on both the message and the creative Any time you create a consumer touch-point, an opportunity exists to reinforce and enhance your brand through design and focused attention to logo placement and brand standards.

Logo treatment and placement is the primary graphic element you can use to tie your messaging to your brand, and most of the major social networking platforms allow for logo treatments within their interface (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, etc.). There may be other opportunities to leverage your trademark either in background designs, in line with messaging or elsewhere within each platform, and businesses would be well advised to make use of these brand-centric opportunities. In most of the more popular social sites, logo placement within the interface is restricted to avatar-sized areas for branding so you may want to work with your designer to prepare an icon based on your logo if your standard branding elements do not lend themselves well to this small-format treatment.

Some social media sites allow for extended designs (e.g. Twitter) and treatments of both your logo and color palate (e.g., YouTube and others). We recommend leveraging these opportunities to their fullest in order to create an overall aesthetic that will reiterate to your customers that they are visiting your business property wherever they engage your brand via social media. Platform-specific background designs, color palate treatments and logo placements combine to enhance your brand and capture your audience. Utilizing all branding opportunities will create a professional feel that gives credence to your messaging as well as boost your market presence.

From messaging to digital strategies, GroundFloor Media and Relish Studios can together help ensure that what you say in the realm of social media looks as great as it sounds.

~Stu Swineford
Relish Studio
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