What if you could boost your brand’s visibility, ensure your messaging was always on point, and make your brand stand out? The secret lies in a well-designed social media kit!
This marketing tool will help you manage your brand’s social media presence while enhancing engagement from your audience. Let’s explore what a social media kit is and how you can build one for your brand.
What is a social media kit?
A social media kit is a collection of a brand’s style guidelines, assets, and tools that showcase how the brand should be represented on social media and its message.
Marketers use social media kits for two main reasons: to cultivate their online brand and to draw in potential sponsors, collaborators, and other profitable entities.
These kits act as a roadmap for a brand's online presence. They help promote consistency, clarity, and coherence across various social media platforms.
What is included in a social media kit?
A social media kit is as essential to a marketer as a toolbox is to a carpenter. And, like a carpenter with the right tools, your social media kit can help you craft a compelling online presence for your brand.
But what goes into a social media kit? Let’s look at some of the main elements:
- An overview of your brand’s core values, mission, narrative, personality, and tone of voice.
- Visual guidelines that define the color palette, fonts, themes, and logo variations of the brand.
- Key statistics such as follower count, engagement rates, and reach across various platforms.
- Audience demographics detailing age, gender, location, and interests.
- Samples of past posts, campaigns, and partnerships showcasing your brand’s style and effectiveness in engaging with its audience.
- Guidelines on your brand’s voice, style, and approach to ensure consistent representation in all partnerships.
- Pre-designed templates for various social media post formats.
- Instructions for user-generated content to align with the brand aesthetics.
- Rules and standards for managing social media accounts, including acceptable behavior and content standards.-
- Recommended tools for scheduling, managing, and analyzing social media content.
- Testimonials, reviews, disruption stories, and partner or client case studies.
- Contact details for partnership inquiries and general questions.
How to Create Your Social Media Kit
Building a social media kit is often a team effort. Branding experts, social media managers, and marketers work together to curate a cohesive brand kit.
However, small businesses and personal brands often dedicate this task to a single individual.
Either way, big or small, a social media kit is a necessity for every brand, and here are six steps to help you create your own.
Step 1: Define Your Brand’s Identity
You must clearly define your brand identity to start assembling your social media kit.
Highlight the factors that make your brand what it is: its core values, mission, and origin story. These elements shape your brand’s personality.
Focus on clearly defining the tone of voice. This step is key because it guides every other aspect of your kit. Your brand’s tone of voice sets the mood for your online presence. It should resonate with your target audience and help you stand out from competitors.
Your social media kit is essentially the blueprint of your brand’s identity. So make sure your unique selling proposition (USP) is front and center. Think of this as the heart of your brand’s story—something that should be reflected in every post you share.
Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder of digital marketing and web design agency OrbitMedia, also advises that:
“Brand standards for content, such as voice and tone, should be AI-friendly and shared with the team. Anyone writing for social can grab this part of the kit, upload it to their favorite AI tool and validate their copy. If everyone has access to these standards and uses them faithfully, then multiple contributors can manage the same account, and the voice will sound consistent.”
Step 2: Establish Visual Guidelines
Visuals are an integral part of any brand’s identity. They help craft a recognizable and cohesive look for your brand. This is why it is crucial to establish clear guidelines for a brand’s visual identity.
These typically consist of three key elements:
- Color palette
Choose a color scheme that represents your brand. To ensure consistency, use these colors across all platforms. You can also include HEX codes for your brand colors. - Fonts
Pick fonts that complement your brand’s personality. Different fonts evoke different emotions, so make sure the ones you select reinforce your overall message. - Logo variations
You'll need multiple variations of your logo design for different purposes, but they should all maintain a consistent visual identity. - Images
Add a selection of high-quality images of your product. You can use, edit, or combine these while keeping a cohesive look.
Here’s an example from Breezit, a wedding venue marketplace. On Instagram, they’re their visuals on brand by using their brand colors (purple and orange) and variations of their logo.
Step 3: Design Social Media Templates
Creating social media templates is a great way to streamline content creation while keeping your brand consistent across platforms. Consider the different formats for various platforms—Instagram Stories, Facebook posts, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn articles, or social media ads—and design templates that match each format’s requirements.
For example, if you’re running an eCommerce business, you might have templates for new product announcements, customer testimonials, or lifestyle shots of your products. When it’s time to post, all you need to do is add in the new content and you’re ready to go!
Step 4: Set Guidelines for User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content is a goldmine for building engagement and trust with your audience. But you must guide your audience so that their content aligns with your brand.
That’s where UGC guidelines come in. Clearly defining UGC guidelines in your kit ensures that all UGC reflects your brand values and aesthetics.
These guidelines can cover things like photo style, messaging, or specific hashtags you’d like users to include.
Step 5: Craft a Social Media Policy
A well-written social media policy is essential for keeping your brand’s online presence consistent and professional. This policy should outline what kind of behavior is acceptable, what content standards you uphold, and how your team should manage your social media accounts.
This isn’t just a set of suggestions—it’s the rulebook for your team, partners, and contractors to follow. From what to post to how to engage with followers and even how to handle sensitive or crisis situations, your social media policy will be the ultimate guide for maintaining a cohesive brand image online.
Step 6: Choose the Right Tools
You'll need the right tools to manage your social media efficiently. Different SaaS tools can also streamline the management of your social media kit by offering features for organizing templates, scheduling posts, and tracking performance metrics in one platform.
Customer journey analytics tools can help you create your brand kit by providing insights into how customers engage with your brand across various touchpoints. This will allow you to tailor your visuals and messaging to better align with customer preferences and improve brand consistency.
Wireframing tools can be useful here, as they visually represent how your brand elements can be organized and displayed across different channels. To give you an idea, here are a few wireframe examples.
Social media management tools are great for scheduling your posts ahead of time. When selecting a tool, look for detailed social media analytics features. These will help you track key metrics, analyze engagement rates, and measure the performance of individual posts. So you see what resonates with your audience and refine your strategy accordingly. And don’t forget about automated reporting, as it will save you time and simplify quantifying results.
How often should I update my social media kit?
It is best to update your social media kit every 6-12 months or whenever there is a significant change in your brand’s strategy or visual identity. Regular updates ensure that your social media presence remains aligned with your evolving brand.
Benefits of having a social media kit
Here are the key benefits of a well-structured social media kit:
- Controls brand perception with accurate, positive information.
- Saves time by consolidating all key brand information in one place.
- Simplifies collaboration with partners and sponsors by providing a clear overview of brand metrics.
- Boosts visibility by offering media and partners everything they need to promote your brand.
- Enhances negotiation power by presenting the value of your brand.
Making your brand shine in the never-ending stream of content on social media can seem daunting. However, a social media kit will help you simplify it by providing a clear framework for your brand. Tools like Curator.io can further enhance this process, making curating and distributing content easier.