Creating a Brand Style Guide: A #Bufferchat Recap
This week on #bufferchat, our community discussed the value of creating a brand style guide and all that goes into making an awesome one. We talked about the key elements of a brand guide, tips for articulating a brand’s voice, advice for getting employees on board with consistent branding, and much more.
Read on to discover all of the awesome insights shared during the chat!
Catch our weekly Twitter chat, #bufferchat, at TWO times every Wednesday for valuable industry insights and to meet hundreds of other smart marketers and social media enthusiasts. Same topic, same place, just at different times – feel free to join in to whichever chat time works best for you!
4 pm AEDT (Sydney time)
9 am PT (San Francisco time)
This week’s stats:
Bufferchat #1 (4 pm AEDT): 21 participants; reach of 1,102,187
Bufferchat #2 (9 am PT): 91 participants; reach of 1,142,377
Q1: Why have a brand style guide?
From the community:
A1: A brand’s style guide ensures a brand’s voice is represented as consistent with its visual identity. #bufferchat
— Randy Thio (@ideabloke) October 4, 2017
A1: To keep everything, from visuals to messaging, consistent for your audience. They’ll easily find you in a crowd! #bufferchat
— MyCorporation (@MyCorporation) October 4, 2017
A1) You want to be recognizable even without the appearance of your name. #bufferchat https://t.co/BuWUweF06G
— Jeremy Bond (@JeremyDBond) October 4, 2017
See all the great answers to question 1 here!
Q2: What are the key elements to include in a brand style guide?
From the community:
A2 Graphical, pictorial, textual or other guidelines that present a unified representation of a brand / message / values #bufferchat https://t.co/ddr5HZAZmU
— Zala Bricelj (@ZalkaB) October 4, 2017
A2: Every guide has the basics (logo variations, colors, fonts, etc). The thing most lack? Examples!! Actual content IRL, PLZ! #bufferchat pic.twitter.com/hEnuMaDrDP
— ❏ Hire Noah! (@hirenoah) October 4, 2017
A2: Color palette. Logo versions. Font guidelines. But don’t forget your mission, vision, target and core values. #bufferchat
— Brent G. Trotter (@bgtrotter) October 4, 2017
See all the great answers to question 2 here!
Q3: How can you articulate your brand’s voice and tone?
From the community:
A3: Speak your values and what you want out of your brand, then everything you do from then on is meant to achieve those values. #bufferchat
— Crate (@CrateTeam) October 4, 2017
A3. I like using sliding scales between opposite tone/identity traits + plotting where the brand falls. Ex: Friendly vs. aloof #bufferchat
— Laura Wilkinson (@solaurawaslike) October 4, 2017
A3: List of 3-5 adjectives that describe your #brand personality and use that to describe your language. #BufferChat https://t.co/swgJna9Akv
— AMBA Communications (@AMBAcomms) October 4, 2017
See all the great answers to question 3 here!
Q4: In your opinion, should social media posts have a consistent brand look & feel?
From the community:
A4: definitely… You’re swimming in a sea of millions of posts so you need to be distinct in your approach #bufferChat
— ?Codi? (@Codishaa) October 4, 2017
A4: Have a consistent feel to make it memorable, but experimenting with visuals is a great way to find what your audience wants #bufferchat
— sienatdk (@sienatdk) October 4, 2017
A4: Yes. However, dynamic in nature. Same design today won’t look as good when used a year later. #bufferchat
— Chandresh (@thisischandresh) October 4, 2017
See all the great answers to question 4 here!
Q5: Which people on your team should be involved in creating a brand guide? What’s the perspective/input they can offer?
From the community:
A5: People with a creative background should be involved. But get it approved by all! That is where you catch oops moments #bufferchat
— Mr Kampmann ??? (@mrkampmann) October 4, 2017
A5: Marketing, customer service, graphic design staff, and writers. #bufferchat
— Digital Addicts (@digitaladdicts_) October 4, 2017
A5 LOTS of people. Upper management for liability issues, marketing for target audience/persona, graphic designers for the look and feel, SM professionals for voice online. #bufferchat
— Eric Sachs (@EricSachs_SEO) October 4, 2017
See all the great answers to question 5 here!
Q6: What are ways to make sure all employees at a company are following the brand style guide?
From the community:
A6.
Getting everyone on board with it!
If they felt like they had a hand in it,
and respect guidelines,
they’ll use it.#bufferchat pic.twitter.com/gQY9cX4Jua
— Tori Dunlap ✈️??? (@victori_media) October 4, 2017
A6: Create templates with brand style and share with team, but leave room for creativity and new ideas. Be flexible. #bufferchat
— JMS Insights (@JMSinsights) October 4, 2017
A6: include in induction to company, have regular brand workshops & set up new employees posts for review in @buffer of course? #bufferchat
— Katie Beaton (@ktechbe) October 4, 2017
See all the great answers to question 6 here!
Q7: Know of any great examples of a brand’s style guide or resources for creating one? Feel free to share it now!
From the community:
A7: I love this article if you are starting from scratch, top tip, start with your brand personality… https://t.co/o1a1xrsncS #bufferchat
— Katie Beaton (@ktechbe) October 4, 2017
A7: Hubspot have a great post with a bunch of brand style guide examples https://t.co/dM0xagjPGN #bufferchat
— Warwick Brown (@warwickabrown) October 4, 2017
A7: This has become required reading at Union! Especially for anyone working hands on with our brands! #bufferchat https://t.co/tmpKBXlwyj https://t.co/LIq9ErBbPc
— Union Square Adv (@UnionSquareAdv) October 4, 2017
A7: @LaurenElizHook has great resources on #design, #branding & more. Here’s a collab w/ @melissayeags #bufferchat https://t.co/sBgTbYHDKn
— Brent G. Trotter (@bgtrotter) October 4, 2017
See all the great answers to question 7 here!
Thank you so much to our awesome community for sharing such great insights in this chat!
Do you have any comments or answers to these questions? Leave your thoughts in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!
Image sources: UnSplash