How to Align Your Social Media Theme With Your Brand
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When running a social media presence for your artistic work, it’s important that your social media strategy considers the brand that you want to build as an artist. For cosmetologists and estheticians, having a great social media feed allows you to use your social media channels as both a portfolio and a form of outreach. This can substantially help in an era where social media channels are becoming a key marketing component.
Suppose you’re looking to stand out as a beauty creator, especially one who specializes in editorial makeup. In that case, you need to utilize your social media platforms to get your content out in front of people who might be interested in it. Just like any brand, from small businesses to large corporations, it’s critical that your social media platforms showcase your content to your target audience. Here’s what you need to know about aligning your social media to your brand, which will help you develop both.
What is your brand?
The first question is straightforward. What is your brand in the first place?
Before you start discovering your target audience and directing your social media posts toward them, you need to understand what your brand is. This is one of the most powerful tools you have to guide content creation. A brand is the “personality” of a business, and your beauty content is essentially the business version of your normal personality.
Take some time to really think about what you want your brand to be. Who are you trying to attract to your social platform? What type of content do you specialize in? What are your business goals, both now and in the future? Are there any social causes that are important to your brand? All of these are important to ask as you build your brand identity.
How can you showcase your brand in a bite-size package?
The next step is to use your social profiles to get your brand out in front of people. That means understanding how you can get your brand across with consistent pieces of content, whether it’s blog posts, videos, or pictures.
When it comes to editorial makeup, images on photo-sharing websites like Instagram are an exceptional way to do this. While many people have also found success with short-form and long-form video content on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, the content format of Instagram still seems to reign supreme for many people when it comes to posting editorial makeup content. This especially includes educational content like makeup tutorials, but your content ideation process may include other options as well.
Come up with the preferred way you’ll share your content across your social channels, regardless of what that means for your particular work. That may include a variety of content ideas that show off a consistent branding concept, with visual elements and multiple content pieces.
What’s the best way for you to showcase your work?
Once you’ve decided how to develop and show off your brand, you need to find the best way to showcase your actual work. This may include makeup looks you do on yourself, makeup looks you do on models, photoshoots you do with all your own work, and photoshoots you do as a collaboration with other people. Here are two great tips to help you get started with your social posts.
Post high-quality pictures
Your content strategy should definitely prioritize quality as one of your content themes, as low-quality content can tank your engagement rate and reduce the benefit of using your social media profile as a portfolio.
Here’s a post from @saraa_sp_makeup on Instagram showing an example.
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It’s likely that this image was taken with just a phone camera, as this is user-generated content that doesn’t have a huge social team or digital marketing strategy behind it. However, by showcasing clean shots of well-lit work, this Instagrammer has been able to put out valuable content that clearly captures her target customers.
Use minimal but effective editing
Most of the time, you don’t want to over-edit your images on your social content. Different content types may lend themselves well to different types of editing, but you should strive to ensure that your makeup is what really shines, not the editing job.
Check out this post from @meltcosmetics on Instagram that shows a great example.
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This post does have a bit of editing—you can see some “lens flare” style beams of light across the image, and there’s probably been some color retouching done in post-processing. However, the emphasis is on putting out high-quality content that potential customers can see and admire.
Use your social media presence as an extension of your brand
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There are so many types of content on social media, and making sure that yours stands out as meaningful content is partially about ensuring that your brand is consistent with your content. By following these tips, you can achieve your social media goals, whether you’re looking to go viral or you just want a social network page that can function as your go-to portfolio.
If you want to learn more about editorial makeup and how to develop your makeup skills, check out Evergreen Beauty College and request more information about the esthetics program today.
FAQ: Aligning your social media with your brand
How often should I upload on social media?
A consistent posting schedule is often an important part of having good-quality social media metrics. However, the answer to this question does depend on what you’re hoping to use your social platform for. If you just want to be part of the online community and create different content types for your portfolio, you can post infrequently. However, if you want to build a business posting on social media, you might want to create a posting schedule that incorporates Instagram stories and other types of content.
Can I do collaborations on social media?
Social media collaborations are a great way to expand your brand and your audience. Reach out to other content creators who are in niches similar to yours, such as makeup artists, hair stylists, fashion directors, creative directors, and more. By making these connections, you’ll be able to get your work out in front of new people.
What types of social media content might harm my brand?
The best social strategy is generally to avoid content that doesn’t pertain to your brand. In general, it’s best to stick to your actionable content without getting into topics that might provoke strong emotions. Social campaigns can be helpful on social media, but if you’re posting makeup tutorials or creating visual content about makeup, it’s best to avoid them in general.
