How Can the Instagram Style Guide Boost Your Brand?

Welcome to Our Social Media Guidelines Blog

Did you know that 90% of businesses use social media for brand awareness? Having a strong social media presence is essential in this digital era. But it’s not just about being visible. Your brand needs to be consistent, recognizable, and engaging to really make an impact.

In this post, we’re going to explore the importance of establishing a unique style for your Instagram posts, creating brand-specific social media guidelines, and understanding the purpose of a brand style guide. We’ll also guide you on how to create a comprehensive style guide yourself and shed some light on making an effective editing style guide.

We will go step-by-step, ensuring you gain a thorough understanding of the key elements involved, and provide useful resources for you. Join us and discover how to elevate your brand’s social media presence to new heights.

Understanding the Instagram Style Guide

Why You Need an Instagram Style Guide

An Instagram style guide helps maintain consistency which is essential for brand recognition.
It ensures your content is easily recognizable and aligns with your overall brand voice.

Creating a style guide establishes a template for all your posts, making content planning more efficient.

Key Elements of an Instagram Style Guide

• Brand Colors: Use specific colors that represent your brand.
• Typography: Choose fonts that align with your brand’s personality.
• Imagery Style: Specify the type of images to use, such as color-tone, subject matter, and filters.
• Voice and Tone: Define how your captions should sound.
• Hashtags: Compile a list of relevant hashtags to use.

Brand Colors

Define a palette of colors that reflect your brand identity.
Use these colors across all posts to create a cohesive look.

Color	Hex Code
Primary	#FF5733
Secondary	#33D1FF

Typography

Choose fonts that complement your brand’s message.
Stick to one or two typefaces to avoid cluttered designs.

Font	Usage
Helvetica	Main headlines
Arial	Body text

Imagery Style

Specify the mood and look of your images.
Decide on filters, color corrections, and subject matter for consistency.

• Filters: Use presets to maintain a consistent look.
• Subject Matter: Choose subjects that align with your brand identity.

Voice and Tone

Define the tone of your captions.
Decide if your brand voice should be formal, casual, humorous, or informative.

• Formal: Use proper grammar and a professional tone.
• Casual: Use friendly language and include emojis.
• Humorous: Add jokes and light-hearted comments.
• Informative: Share valuable and educational content.

Hashtags

Compile a list of hashtags that are relevant to your brand and audience.

• Branded Hashtags: Create unique tags for your brand.
• Trending Hashtags: Use popular tags to increase reach.
• Community Hashtags: Engage with specific communities through relevant tags.

For more detailed information on creating a comprehensive style guide, check out this HubSpot resource which covers all essential elements in detail.

Building Comprehensive Social Media Guidelines

Significance of Social Media Guidelines

Social media guidelines formalize your company’s digital interactions and set expectations for online behavior. They safeguard your brand’s reputation, ensure a unified brand identity, and prevent avoidable social media faux pas.

Essential Components of Social Media Guidelines

• Introduction: Outline the purpose of the guidelines.
• Aim and Scope: Define what your guidelines aim to achieve and whom they apply to.
• Social Media Best Practices: Highlight ethical and professional standards for using social media.
• Conflict Resolution: Detail how to appropriately respond to negative comments or posts.
• Ethics and Confidentiality: Cover how to respect copyright, maintain privacy, and avoid divulging confidential information.

Introduction

Start your guidelines with an introduction explaining why these rules are being implemented and the benefits of following them. It could be about maintaining a professional brand persona, ensuring brand consistency, or preventing potential legal issues.

Aim and Scope

Clarify who should adhere to these guidelines. They could apply to all employees, only those who handle social media management, or even third-party entities representing your brand on social media. Your guidelines could also outline what platforms they cover.

Social Media Best Practices

Outline accepted conduct on social media platforms. This could refer to the type of language used, how often to post, what type of content to share, and how to interact with followers. The usefulness of this section lies in providing clear directions for maintaining a positive online presence.

Conflict Resolution

Address how to handle negative social media interactions and disputes. Should an unpleasant scenario arise, such a guide can help your team take necessary steps to resolve it in a way that aligns with your brand values.

Ethics and Confidentiality

Privacy concerns and ethical issues should also be addressed in your social media guidelines. This could include not sharing sensitive company information, respecting the privacy of others, and maintaining professional boundaries.

Implementing and Reinforcing the Guidelines

Make sure all team members are well-versed in the guidelines and understand their importance. Offer training sessions or periodic reminders to keep the guidelines fresh in their minds.

For more information on how best to develop your social media guidelines, you can refer to this comprehensive guide provided by Forbes.

How Do You Create a Style Guide?

Understanding the Purpose of a Style Guide

A style guide offers a framework to maintain consistency across all channels, not just Instagram. It’s an essential tool that helps your brand stay recognizable and coherent, regardless of the medium. Whether it’s your website, newsletters, printed materials, or social media, a style guide ensures uniformity.

Key Steps to Create a Style Guide

Creating a style guide involves several key steps. Each step ensures that your brand’s visual and editorial elements are consistent and immediately recognizable:

• Conduct a Brand Audit: Assess your current brand assets to understand what works.
• Define Your Brand Identity: Clearly outline your brand’s mission, values, and unique selling propositions.
• Set Up Visual Guidelines: Choose elements like colors, typography, and logo usage.
• Develop Content Guidelines: Establish rules for tone of voice, writing styles, and editorial standards.
• Create Templates: Provide templates for common formats like social media posts, newsletters, and presentations.
• Review and Update: Regularly update your style guide to keep it relevant.

Conduct a Brand Audit

Start by evaluating your existing brand materials. Create an inventory of everything from your logo and taglines to marketing collateral and social media posts. Identify inconsistencies and areas of improvement.

Define Your Brand Identity

Outline what your brand stands for. Define your mission, core values, and unique selling points. This foundational step ensures that all your brand elements align with your overall identity.

Set Up Visual Guidelines

Specify the visual elements that make your brand unique. This includes:

• Logo Usage: Provide guidelines on how and where to use your logo. Offer variations such as full-color, black and white, and reversed versions.
• Color Palette: Choose primary and secondary colors, and provide HEX, RGB, and CMYK codes for accurate reproduction.
• Typography: Select fonts for headings, subheadings, and body text. Specify sizes and spacing.
• Imagery: Define photography styles, illustrative elements, and iconography that align with your brand’s aesthetic.

Develop Content Guidelines

Set rules for how your brand communicates in writing:

• Tone of Voice: Decide whether your brand voice is formal, casual, or something else. Provide examples for consistency.
• Grammar and Punctuation: Establish standard practices for grammar, punctuation, and language usage.
• Content Types: Offer guidelines for different types of content like blogs, social media posts, and newsletters.
• SEO Practices: Include basic SEO guidelines, such as keyword usage and meta descriptions, to maximize your online visibility.

Create Templates

Develop customizable templates for frequently used formats:

• Social Media Posts: Create templates for platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
• Newsletters: Provide email templates with place-holders for text and images.
• Presentations: Offer PowerPoint or Google Slides templates with pre-set styles.

Review and Update Regularly

A style guide isn’t static. Regularly review and update it to include new elements or changes in brand strategy. This keeps your brand current and adaptable.

For a comprehensive guide on creating and maintaining a style guide, you can refer to Canva’s detailed resource on brand style guides.

How to Create an Editing Style Guide

Understanding the Purpose of an Editing Style Guide

An editing style guide ensures consistency, clarity, and professionalism in all written content across various platforms. It provides comprehensive rules and guidelines that help maintain a unified voice and tone, keeping your brand’s communication clear and trustworthy.

Key Elements of an Editing Style Guide

When creating an editing style guide, several fundamental elements need to be addressed to ensure consistency in writing style across all content:

• Spelling and Grammar Rules: Establish rules for spelling, punctuation, and grammar to maintain uniformity.
• Voice and Tone: Define the brand’s voice and tone, and provide examples.
• Formatting Standards: Set guidelines for headings, lists, and other formatting elements.
• Citation and Attribution: Outline how to properly credit sources and reference materials.
• Style Preferences: Include preferences for things like date formats, capitalization, and the use of numbers.

Spelling and Grammar Rules

Consistent use of spelling and grammar is crucial. Whether you follow American English standards or another variant, consistency is key.

Rule	Example
Oxford Comma	Use the Oxford comma in lists (e.g., “apples, oranges, and bananas”).
Date Format	Use MM/DD/YYYY format for dates (e.g., “April 5, 2023”).

Voice and Tone

Your guide should define the brand’s voice (e.g., friendly, authoritative) and tone (e.g., formal, casual). Providing examples helps writers understand how to apply these in different contexts:

• Friendly Voice: “Hey there! We’re excited to share our latest updates with you.”
• Authoritative Voice: “Our team has developed a new strategy that is proven to work.”

Formatting Standards

Give clear rules for formatting content to ensure consistency across all written materials.

• Headings: Use H1 for main titles, H2 for section headings, and H3 for subheadings.
• Lists: Use bullet points for unordered lists and numbers for ordered lists.
• Text Alignment: Left-align text for all documents.

Citation and Attribution

Properly crediting sources is important for credibility and legality. Define how citations and attributions should be made.

• Quotes: Use double quotation marks for direct quotes and cite the source at the end.
• References: Use a consistent format for listing references, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago style.

Style Preferences

Address other preferences to maintain consistency in writing style.

• Numbers: Spell out numbers one through nine and use numerals for 10 and above.
• Capitalization: Capitalize proper nouns and titles when they precede names.

For a more in-depth look at crafting your editing style guide, you can explore this Content Marketing Institute resource which covers all essential elements in greater detail.

Summing Up Instagram Style and Social Media Guidelines

The importance of an Instagram style guide is indispensable in establishing a consistent brand presence. This guide dictates your brand colours, designated typography, imagery style, tone of voice, and the prevalent hashtags to use. This ensures that each Instagram post is instantly recognizable, aligning with your brand’s voice and identity and enhancing content planning efficiency.

Moreover, a comprehensive social media guideline formalizes your brand’s digital interactions and defines the expectations for online behaviour. This is critical for protecting your brand’s reputation and preventing social media blunders. Hence, every company should maintain this as it ensures a unified brand identity.

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs