The Perfect Social Media Style Guide for Your Brand in 2022

Every brand, publication, and website needs a good style guide. And every good social marketer needs a great social media style guide.

A style guide helps keep your brand consistent across all your channels. This ensures that everyone on your team uses the same terminology, tone, and voice.

Let’s take a look at why you need well-defined social media brand guidelines, as well as some great style guide examples you can model.

Why you need a social media style guide (also known as a brand guide)

A social media style guide is a document that outlines the specific style choices you choose for your social media brand.

This includes everything from your logo and brand colors to how you use emojis and hashtags. In other words, it is a set of rules that govern how you represent your brand.

Why create a social media style guide? Because consistency is key in social media. Your subscribers should easily recognize your content no matter where they see it.

Ask yourself this:

• Do you use serial (also known as Oxford) commas?
• Spelling with British English or American?
• Do you say zee, zed or something else entirely?

And that’s not to mention that small issues like spelling, grammar, and punctuation can have a big impact on brand perception.

If you want to increase awareness, trust, and loyalty to your brand, you need to be consistent in how you present it. This is where a social media style guide comes in handy.

What Your Social Media Style Guide Should Include

A social media style guide should be clear and concise. It should answer basic questions about your brand voice, target market, and tone across different social platforms.

Here is a complete description of what to include in a social media style guide.

List of all your social media accounts

Start by creating a list of all the social media accounts your business is currently using. This is important because each platform will have slightly different rules when it comes to voice and tone.

For example, LinkedIn is a more formal platform than Twitter, while Facebook is a combination of both. Knowing where on the spectrum your brand is will help you create content that resonates with your audience.

nickname idea for significant others pic.twitter.com/g3aVVWFpCe

— noname (@nonamebrands) August 11, 2022

Also, be sure to include your social media handle in your style guide. This will help you get a clear idea of ​​the naming conventions you have used for your accounts.

Are names consistent across channels? If not, now is the time to choose a style and mark it in your style guide. This way you can ensure that new accounts on new channels are easily discovered by your existing fans.

Voice and tone

To connect with your audience, you need to have a well-defined brand voice. Some brands are very sassy on social media. Others maintain a rather formal tone.

You can choose any approach or some variations, but you need to keep it consistent.

What’s at the bottom of the ocean? We think it’s the Forbidden Shrimp

— Meow Wolf (@MeowWolf) August 15, 2022

Outlining your voice and tone in a social media style guide will help you ensure that all of your content sounds like it comes from the same source.

It will also help any new team members who join you quickly understand how they should represent your brand online.

Here are a few questions to consider when defining your brand’s voice and tone.

Jargon

Will you use it? Unless you’re in a high-tech industry with a very narrow audience, you probably shouldn’t be doing this.

Stick to simple language that is easy for your audience to understand and make a list of slang words to avoid.

Source: Skype World

Inclusive language

What guidelines will you follow on social media to keep your language inclusive and fair? Engage team members in the discussion as you develop your inclusive language guidelines. If your team is too large for everyone to join the discussion, make sure you have different points of view represented. Share preliminary recommendations for feedback.

Remember that accessibility is a key component of inclusion.

Sentence, paragraph and caption length

In general, shorter ones are better. But how short? Will you take the same approach to Facebook as you would to Instagram? Will you be using multithreaded tweets to go beyond 280 characters?

emoticons

Does your brand use emoji? If so, which ones? How much? On what channels? How often? Also discuss GIFs and stickers.

How and where to use calls to action

How often will you ask your readers to take a specific action, such as clicking a link or making a purchase? What action words will you use in your calls to action? What words should be avoided?

Post Authorship

Do you publish as a brand? Or do you attribute your social posts to individual team members? For example, customer service social accounts often use initials to indicate which team member is responding to a public message. If this is how you approach customer comments, be sure to include it in your social media style guide.

Hello, please send us your booking number here: https://t.co/Y5350m96oC to help. /Rose

— Air Canada (@AirCanada) August 26, 2022

Social media policy

Your social media style guide clarifies the finer details of how your brand uses social media. Your social media policy clears up the big picture.

A social media policy describes expectations for employee behavior on social media and typically includes guidance on things like content, disclosures, and actions to take when negative feedback is received.

If you don’t already have one, we have an entire blog post to help you write a social media policy.

Here are a few key points to include:

• Team Roles: Who is responsible for creating and publishing content? Who has the final say on what will be published?
• Content: What type of content is appropriate (e.g. product photos, employee photos, company news, memes)? Are there taboo topics?
• Time: When is content posted (e.g. during business hours, after business hours)?
• Security Protocols: How to manage passwords and security risks.
• Anti-crisis plan: how will your team cope with the crisis?
• Compliance: How to stay on the right side of the law, especially in regulated industries.
• Recommendations for employees: for personal and professional use of social networks.

Client/audience personas

If you have not yet identified your target market and developed audience portraits, now is the time to do so. Before you can develop an effective brand voice, you need to know who you are talking to.

When creating audience personas, keep the following in mind:

• Basic demographics (location, age, gender, occupation)
• Hobbies and interests
• Pain points / what they need help with
• How do they use social media?
• What content they interact with (e.g. blog posts, infographics, videos)

The more details you can provide to your team right from the start, the better equipped they will be to develop content that your target market will love.

Brand language rules

Most likely, there are several words, phrases, abbreviations and names specific to your brand. You need to determine exactly how you use them.

For example:

Trademarks

Your social media style guide should include a list of all of your brand’s trademarks. Don’t capitalize your list because that will make it impossible to distinguish between, say, HootSuite (wrong) and Hootsuite (correct).

Provide guidance on the use of your trademarks. Do you use product names as verbs? How about plural? Or owners? Snippets of proposals? Get specific.

Source: Google Trends Brand Guide.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

If your brand is particularly heavy on acronyms, you should include a section on how to use them.

For example, the first mention of NATO is always written as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, followed by NATO in parentheses. Like this:

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

If you’re using a little-known acronym, spell it out the first time you mention it.

Also, make a list of the abbreviations your company commonly uses internally and what they stand for. Please indicate whether it is appropriate to use abbreviations in each social channel or use the full term.

Pronunciation

Is there a correct way to pronounce your brand name? If so, make sure you include the correct pronunciation in your style guide. For example, is it Nike or Nike?

If your brand name is difficult to pronounce, consider creating a pronunciation key. This can be as simple as including the phonetic spelling of compound words next to the word itself.

Pronunciation is becoming more important as social media shifts to video content.

Another language specific to your brand

If there are other words or phrases specific to your brand, be sure to include them in your style guide. It can be anything from product names to company slogans.

For example, Hootsuite employees are affectionately referred to as “owls”both internally and on social media.

It’s great to see so many @hootsuite owls at #PolyglotConf today! #hootsuitelife pic.twitter.com/iNytD7jnpM

— Neil Power (@NeilPower) May 26, 2018

Starbucks, on the other hand, refers to its employees as “partners.”

To all my Starbucks partners: happy pumpkin launch, and may travel time always be in your favor.

— Gracefacekilla (@gracefacekilla) August 29, 2022

If you use certain terms like this, write them down. Not just how you address your employees, but any non-trademark language you use to refer to any aspect of your company. For example, do you have customers, clients or guests? All of this information will help bring clarity to your social media style guide.

Consistency Guidelines

Let us return to the linguistic issues that we touched on at the very beginning. Consistency guidelines help everyone who posts on behalf of your brand use the same language every time.

Your first step in creating consistency recommendations is vocabulary selection. (They are all slightly different.) List it in your style guide and make sure all relevant team members have access to the online document or hard copy.

You can also select an existing style guide, such as the Associated Press style book or the Chicago Style Guide.

That way, you don’t have to make your own decisions about every choice of grammar and punctuation.

Here are some consistency issues to consider.

English in the US or UK

Depending on where your company calls home, you can use American or British English in your social media style guide. If you have a global audience, you may need to consider both options.

This is important not only for spelling (like color versus color), but also for vocabulary and grammar. For example, in US English it is standard to write dates in month/day/year format, while in English it is in day/month/year order.

If you don’t use language consistently across your channels, you risk confusing or alienating your audience.

Punctuation and abbreviations

In general, you should use proper punctuation in your social media posts. This includes things like proper use of apostrophes and avoidance of textual speech (e.g. lol, ur).

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. For example, hashtags don’t use punctuation, and it’s common for Twitter to use abbreviations (eg TIL, IMO).

Be sure to indicate where and when it is appropriate to use acronyms and slang in your social media style guide.

Our style: OK, OK, OK, OK. We don’t use normally. Regarding the postal code, we only use postal codes in full addresses that include the postal code. Otherwise Okla for abbreviation in dates. Name Oklahoma and other state names in the stories. FINE?

— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 22, 2022

Serial commas

Serial commas are something like a separating object. There is no correct answer to the question of whether to use them. The Associated Press is generally against them, but the Chicago Manual of Style says they are required. Make your own choice in this matter and use it consistently.

Header capitalization

Your social media style guide should clearly state how you want to format your headings. For example, the AP style book recommends using sentence case for headings, while the Chicago Style Guide says to use heading case. Again, pick a style and stick with it.

dash style

The real story: I once won a Dale Carnegie pen for a speech about the difference between a hyphen (-), an en dash (–), and an em dash (—).

You may not be as good with punctuation as I am, but you still need to define your dash style to ensure consistency.

Dates and times

Do you speak at 4:00 pm or 4:00 pm or 4:00 pm? Do you write out the days of the week or shorten them? What date format are you using? Be sure to include all of these details in your social media style guide so everyone is on the same page.

Numbering

Do you use numbers or spell numbers? When did you start using numbers? These are important questions to answer in your style guide so everyone is on the same wavelength.

Links

How often will you include links in your posts? Will you be using UTM parameters? Will you be using a URL shortener? Make sure your social media style guide includes these details.

Curation Recommendations

Not every idea you share on social media will be unique. Curated content can be a great way to add value to your social feed without creating your own content.

But from what sources will you share? More importantly, what sources will you not share from? For example, you probably want to avoid your competitors’ posts.

Also define your guidelines for how to receive and cite third-party images.

Hashtag usage

We show you how to use hashtags effectively in different blog posts. In your social media style guide, your goal is to define a hashtag strategy that will keep your social feeds consistent and branded.

Branded hashtags

Do you use branded hashtags to encourage fans and followers to tag you in their posts or collect user generated content? List all branded hashtags in your style guide, along with guidelines for when to use them.

Also provide guidance on how to respond when people use your branded hashtags. Do you like their posts? Retweet? A comment?

Campaign hashtags

Create a list of hashtags specific to any one-off or ongoing campaigns.

When the campaign ends, do not remove the hashtag from this list. Instead, make notes about the dates the hashtag was used. This way you will have a permanent record of the hashtags you have used. This can help you come up with ideas for new tags for future campaigns.

For example, when travel stopped in March, Destination BC launched a #explorebclater hashtag campaign. When local travel started opening up in early summer, they moved to #explorebclocal.

How many hashtags?

The ideal number of hashtags to use is a matter of ongoing debate. You will need to do some testing to see which ones are right for your business. Also, this number will differ between channels. Check out our guide to using hashtags for each network to learn more.

Make sure your social media style guide outlines the best practices for using hashtags on each channel.

The hashtag case

In addition, the use of the hashtag must be clearly defined. There are three options for the hashtag case:

1. Lower case: #hootsuitelife
2. Capital letters: #HOOTSUITELIFE (Best for only very short hashtags)
3. Camel Case: #HootsuiteLife

User-generated content

User-generated content can be a huge boost for a brand, but make sure your team knows how to select and cite it the right way.

Usage Guide

Don’t know where to start? We offer some basics in our post on how to use user-generated content:

• Always ask for permission
• Specify the original creator
• Offer something of value in return
• Use search threads to find a UGC you might be missing

How to lend

Specify how you will credit users whose posts you post. Of course, you should always label them, but what format will you use for this loan?

For example, camera icons are a common way to attribute photos on Instagram.

Design Guidelines

We’ve talked a lot about words, but you also need to define the look and feel of your brand for social media. Here are some design guidelines to get you started.

Colors

If you have already defined your brand colors, it will most likely be the colors you use on your social media accounts. You can determine which colors to use in different contexts.

For example, you can use a softer version of your brand’s primary color for the background, and a more saturated version for text and call-to-action buttons.

Use of the logo

Where and when will you use your logo on social media? It is often recommended to use your logo as your social media profile picture.

If your logo doesn’t work as a square or round image, you may need to create a modified version specifically for social media use.

Source: Average Brand Guide.

Images

What images will you use on social media? Will you use stock photos or just photos you took yourself? If you use stock photos, where do you get them from?

Will you watermark your images? If so, how?

Be sure to include all of this information in your social media style guide.

Filters and effects

It is important to create a visual image of your brand. Whether you choose #nofilter or use the latest image editing design tools, consistency is key.

Your social media style guide should include information about which filters and effects to use (or not use).

Social Media Style Guide Examples

Ready to create your own social media style guide? Use these examples as a starting point for your own guidance.

New York University (NYU) Social Media Style Guide

New York University (NYU) Social Media Style Guide includes

• all active NYU accounts
• how to relate content to specific sources
• detailed information about punctuation and style.

They also include platform-specific information, such as how many retweets to use on Twitter each day. And how to use line breaks on Facebook.

Social Media Style Guide Indigenous Tourism BC

Indigenous Tourism BC uses its social media style guide to improve the public’s understanding of Indigenous culture through digital channels.

This section of Indigenous Tourism BC’s social media style guide places a heavy emphasis on language. Language is an important part of the narratives of indigenous decolonization. By promoting the proper use of Indigenous style in the media, they pave the way for better understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

Starbucks social media style guide

The Starbucks Social Media Style Guide offers a culture-focused guide to discussing and promoting the Starbucks brand online.

By explaining the “why”behind their style choices, they give Starbucks partners a deeper understanding of the purpose behind the brand’s messages.

Social media style guide template

Feeling a little overwhelmed? We have covered a lot of material in this guide. But don’t worry – we’ve created a free social media style guide template that you can use to create your own social media brand guides from scratch.

Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media style guide template to easily ensure a consistent look, feel, voice, and tone across all your social channels.

To use a template, click the “File”tab in the upper left corner of your browser, then select “Make a copy”from the drop-down menu. Once you do this, you will have your own version to edit and publish. Feel free to remove any sections that are not relevant to your business or that you are not ready to tackle at the moment.