Owing to a plethora of information being shared online, it is vital for brands to stay consistent in the brand image that they showcase online. In other words, it is not only important for your content to reach the masses; it is also significant that your content portrays a consistent brand image through meaningful messaging. But the question arises, how can this be achieved?

How Can an Integrated Social Media Strategy Help?

An integrated social media strategy, in simple words, refers to sharing consistent messaging regarding on different platforms. By platforms, we mean social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. A competent social media marketing agency will ensure that its client’s image being shown on Facebook, for instance, is in cohesion with the image being portrayed on Instaram because even though different platforms are often used to target different audiences, all these platforms add up to create a look for your brand.

To understand this better, you can visualize the goal of an integrated SMM strategy in the following way: if your brand marketing is integrated, then your potential customer will not face confusion they visit your Instagram page after visiting your Facebook page. However, this does not mean that you should post exactly the same content, i.e. copy-paste your content on all platforms, because you do not want to bore your audience. But if you cannot copy-paste the content, what alternatives are there?

The Role Of A Consistent Brand Voice

One way in which marketing can be made integrated across different platforms is through a consistent brand voice. To make sense of this, it is important to define what brand voice means. As humans, we have different perceptions of how authoritative or trustworthy other human beings are based on the consistency in how they interact with us. This does not mean that a person repeating the same message on multiple occasions will become more trustworthy; it means that a person using a consistent tone and type of language to portray important information will appear as more trustworthy and reliable.

The same applies to brands! However, brand voice does not refer to an actual human’s voice putting a message across. Instead, it refers to the tone, style, similar visuals, and even consistent colours that you use to put across your message. It is simple why consistency in these elements works; it is easier for the human mind to store information using associations. So, for instance, if you use the colours blue and white for all your branding consistently, it will eventually increase consumers’ familiarity with your product, which will contribute in building trust.

In light of this idea, it is important that the time windows between posting times on different platforms is not too long. Similarly, consistency of brand voice not only applies to what you post, but also to how you respond to your consumers on different platforms. If you have different representatives managing your social accounts, you communicate with them regarding how to portray a consistent brand voice.

How Can You Design an Integrated Social Media Marketing Strategy?

It all begins with an organized and well-thought out framework in social media strategies. Some ways in which you can ensure integration of marketing across platforms are:

• Use a calendar to plan your campaigns or posts beforehand, so that any necessary edits can be made before it is too late
• Keep each platform’s operationalization and algorithm in mind; for instance, the same caption length may not work for Facebook as well as Instagram
• While developing brand voice, be sure to target your specific buyer persona and what would appeal to them
• Stay in touch with your customers and make them feel heard – if they have a good suggestion, consider implementing it
• Try to carry the same username, bio(s) and logo across every social media platform you use so that it is easy for customers to look you up

It is important to keep in mind that integrating your smm content does not apply only to cross-channel content. In fact, it also applies to the different types of content you create, including paid media, earned media and owned media. It is vital that brand image remains consistent through a coherent brand voice on all these different media types.

Where to Begin?

Sounds overwhelming? Don’t worry, that is what a competent social media marketing company is for. At SI Global Solutions, our customer’s requirements are our top priority; our social media marketing specialists plan your content in a way that it targets audiences across different forms of media. It has not yet maintains a consistent and powerful brand image. If you are ready to level-up your social media marketing game but don’t know the right steps to take, contact us and let us guide the way!

Also Read: Core Social Media Marketing Tips For Small Businesses in 2022