One where I compare Visual Marketing on Social Media with PIZZA
Are you concerned with people even NOTICING your posts on Social Media?
I was watching a live Q&A video of two marketing professionals the other day…
They were discussing my favorite topic - strategies for creating and curating imagery for all sorts of marketing materials. Blogs, Instagram, other social media - you name it. But as I kept listening, I couldn’t help but cringe...
Because they were steering their viewers in a wrong direction!
They spoke about cultivating a clean, beautiful look on social media… Which is fine! Aesthetics are great! BUT - and this is a big “but” here - aesthetics are not everything.
Every single day, I come across a brand on Instagram that looks just a little too perfect. And as a result, I - as a consumer - become completely disinterested! So I got to thinking why that is:
As beautiful as their feeds may be, their photos can look stock-ish. Unnatural in a way. Which means…
They don’t connect to me emotionally. Which is the whole point of this content in the first place! And as a result…
I don’t retain anything about their brand. I don’t take in the specifics of their business and I certainly can’t recall any of it later on.
In short: Their accounts may have the looks… But they don’t have any personality. And it’s the personality that counts. After all...
The most important aspect of your branding process is a personal story - YOUR story.
Here’s what actually matters:
Putting together a consistent content strategy ensures your brand stays at the top of your audience’s minds.
This means emphasizing your VALUE: What do you bring to the table? What’s in it for your follower base?
On top of that, developing your unique persona. You are the central hero of your brand’s story - what have you overcome? How did you get here?
All with the purpose of establishing a genuine relationship. Put yourself out there, take them behind-the-scenes in your life, and connect with them on a human level in a way that a long feed of beautiful images cannot.
Visual aesthetics are the toppings to your branding “pizza” - they’re nice, but not necessary.
The bullets listed above are the foundation of a solid marketing strategy. They’re the mandatory features that you simply cannot do without. Like the dough, sauce, and cheese in a pizza. And even the cheese is optional. You’d be surprised but the 1st pizza (in Napoli) was without cheese at all!
Clean looking feed is the pepperoni. Or the anchovies. Or even the pineapple. Depending on your preferences (... and I realize anchovies and pineapple are controversial toppings for the pizza lovers out there), they CAN make the pizza a little better. But you don’t NEED them.
And that’s the mistake I see time and time again on various Instagram feeds - valuing beautiful aesthetics over personalization. When in reality, your branding priorities should be the other way around.
So what does YOUR branding process look like? Are you making an effort to share everything about your business and your personal brand? Are you carefully crafting that delicious base of your pizza? ...Or have you been focusing all your attention on the toppings?
Until later~
Irina