The Social Writer: Planning and Branding
If you want to be successful with social media, ideally you’ll have a plan before you begin. I didn’t, and it’s taken me a long time to get to where I want to be. Because I never have a straight forth plan at first, I’ve struggled (even now sometimes) with defining a clear, cohesive brand.
So, today we’re going to talk about branding and why you need to think about it beforehand. Last month, I made the decision that I would publish my books under a pen name. Now, I feel like I’m in a bit of a unique position because I’ve been tied to my last name already, but only to a small group. When it came time to create Laura Teagan, I knew I had an opportunity to basically make her whatever I wanted to be. Yes, I am Laura Teagan, but Laura Teagan and Laura Toeniskoetter aren’t necessarily the same person.
When it comes to social media branding, there are three big things you need to keep in mind.
1. Consistency in Your Name: Ideally, you want to be able to use the same social media handle for all your accounts, but sometimes that isn’t always possible. On Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, it’s @laurateagan, but some Laura Teagan who isn’t even active on instagram won’t give her handle up, so on instagram, I’m @_laurateagan.
If you can’t be completely the same, try to be as close as possible. Use a website like namecheckr to see if your ideal username is available. It’ll show you all the major platforms and whether you can use that social media handle or not.
2. Make Sure People Know It’s You: Use the same profile picture. Use the same profile picture. Use the same profile picture. I take this a bit to the extreme since all my Ginger brand social media accounts and my Laura Teagan accounts have the same picture. I’m not hiding behind a pen name, but using it for a marketing purpose. I have no problem with people connecting Ginger and Laura Teagan to one another. Even if you aren’t connecting
two brands to one another, connect your brand to itself with the same picture.
3. Colors are Important:
Make sure that your look and feel are the same across platforms. On Facebook and twitter, I made sure I had the same cover photo. There’s the same color scheme, and I carry that over to my website, too. Overall, you want to be as consistent as possible with everything you do in social media.