Don't Be Two Faced: A Rule To Live By In Life and Digital Branding

You know the phrase "two faced"? Everyone does. Even Abraham Lincoln knew it; this is evidenced by his now famous quote, “if I had two faces, do you really think I’d pick this one?” Being two faced means a person acts one way in one situation and then acts differently in another situation. How does being two faced relate to digital branding? The saying “being two faced” indicates inconsistency in behavior, and it’s usually not good behavior.  Much like people, many businesses behave badly, albiet accidentally, when it comes to branding across all of their digital platforms.  

Consistency Is The Key

A singular presentation of your brand across all platforms enhances your brand’s integrity, strength, and ultimately, your message. Physical attributes help your clients to easily identify your brand. Your brand should be inclusive of colors, fonts, logos, and names. Fast and easy brand identification is crucial to success. When your clients are able to identify your brand, they can begin to absorb your message.  

Digital Operates At Lightning Speed

In today’s digital landscape, your customers spend hours scrolling on both their mobile and desktop devices. Your content is just a blip in their digital landscape that slides by very fast. The only way that you can be sure that your business will be recognized by your customer in the great digital abyss is to make sure that no matter where your clients view your content, that it all has a similar look and feel. Your clients need to be able to easily identify your brand so their brain can send them a split-second message of recognition and trust. If your clients are even remotely unsure—you lose them!

Be The Same Everywhere For Your Community

There is so much opportunity to present content to your community. Your community is comprised of all of the followers, fans, and subscribers of your brand across all of your digital platforms. You have an obligation to present your brand as a consistent look and feel to your entire community. Your brand community exists on a number of platforms, including:

  • Website
  • Blog
  • Email Communications
  • Facebook
  • Twitter 
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Snapchat

You may have members of your community that only engage with you on one platform, so you need to ensure that your brand’s identity is the same for your Instagram community, as well as your email community members, as well as your Facebook community. They all deserve the same brand presence.    

Communities Can Overlap

Don’t assume that all of your community members engage on all of your platforms. In the new digital arena, your community outreach programs may end up overlapping. You may in fact use retargeting ads on Facebook that will reach people who already know you on another platform. If those retargeting ads on Facebook are on brand (meaning they are consistent with your brand’s identity), and a member of your email marketing community is shown the retargeting ad, they will be much more likely to engage with the ad and then become a member of your Facebook community.  

Suggestions For Consistency 

Your community wants content from you, regardless of the platform. Members are a part of your community because they value your content. If you are on brand across all of your platforms, you help members easily identify your content.  In order to remain on brand, you want to ensure consistency with the following aspects of your brand on all platforms:

  • Logo
  • Tag Line
  • Colors
  • Font
  • Voice

You can offer different types of content on each platform. Make sure that you’re maximizing the specific benefits of each platform, which will most likely allow you to publish different forms of content. Blogs and websites are generally informative, while email marketing is typically used to communicate and direct traffic to your website.  Most social media platforms are designed to educate and entertain, each one allowing different types of content to achieve the desired goal.  

Regardless of the style and type of content, be sure that the members of your community can easily identify your brand, allowing them to easily engage with you. Keeping on brand across  all platforms will help you find success in digital marketing and help you grow your business.


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