Does Curating Your Feed Still Matter?
To curate or not to curate, that is the question. Today we’re going to dive into talking about branding on social media.
What I’m seeing more often now is that there are feeds that are just completely not branded and if you know me, you know I love some good branding. Obviously it’s present on my page and it’s what I teach all my mentees. So I want to talk about the importance or non-importance of branding your feed and discuss a little about each approach.
Your visual brand identity is based on three things;
colors
fonts
imagery
This means that you have a specific color palette that you use, you have a specific set of fonts that you use and you have visual imagery – photos, videos – that exude a certain feeling. Essentially what good branding does is that it introduces you before you introduce yourself. Which means I already get a sense of your personality and values before I’ve even read anything or before I’ve even clicked into the post. I know it’s you because I can see your colors, I can see your style, I can see your aesthetic.
There are some people who do a fantastic job at this, @adrienneraquel an incredible photographer for example, or @deunivory also a photographer is another great example. You know that as soon as you see their photos that it’s them. They’re examples of great branding because that is what builds brand recognition; a continuity of the same brand experience. For me I know it’s important to keep that consistent aesthetic because I do value brand recognition and I do value a clean looking page that feels cohesive. BUT! That is not always necessary in order to grow your account or to grow your business. So let’s talk about that.
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The most important thing always is going to be the quality of your content. Imma say it one more time for the people that didn’t hear me: the quality of your content is the most important thing.
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Because if you’re out here putting up pretty pictures but that shit is empty - it’s not sizzling in my spirit when I read the caption – what is really the point? We can look at someone for example like @garyvee whose shit is all over the fucking place and is not really aesthetically pleasing to look at but I’m going to scroll through and pull up because I know he’s got valuable things to say and things that I can learn from. You also don’t always need to have photos @mahdiwoodard does a great job at this. He does marketing and brand strategy and puts up a lot of posts, a lot of carousels, sometimes some memes, really not many videos, stories or reels. But the bottom line is the quality of the content is so good people continue to come back and continue to share it.
Then you have people like my workwife @jakiyabrownthiaw - formally @thetravelingfro – who uses a lot of video and doesn’t use graphics at all but it’s all looking cohesive because she’s using a similar filter and similar editing style which is another way you can create continuity within your branding without having to use graphics or colors.
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So the moral of the story and the conclusion of this message is: it can be very important to have good branding for brand recognition, brand continuity, for aesthetic value. I think that when there is something beautiful to look at, then people look at it longer. However, the more important thing is obviously the quality of the content.
It’s kind of like when you come across a really beautiful person but they ugly on the inside, you’re not really sticking around for that, you know what I’m sayin’? But on the other hand if you find someone who is not as attractive but they have something really valuable to offer and they’re a great person, you’re probably going to stick around, right? If you find both; somebody that is beautiful and has the brains than you in it for the long haul! You’re on one knee asking for their hand, you know what I’m sayin’? So that’s what we out here trying to do with our content.