Social Media Branding and Consistent Content Calendar

Social Media Platforms

“More than three-quarters of the world’s population aged 13+ uses social media.” (Newberry, 2023). That statistic proves the need to reach our younger, targeted, female audience using social media platforms and online content. Marketing the brand this way will provide a unique opportunity to connect with the large mass of users that spend time on these platforms. It is a necessity to remain consistent within the social media branding so that the message connects with the audience and potential customers and promote the reasons why this campaign exists. Unlike traditional advertising, using social media allows for personal two-way communication between the target audience and our brand. I will aim to build a sense of community among the followers to further create brand loyalty.

To begin, I need to define my goals of using social media and my overall objectives at the outset. A clear understanding of these goals will help create an effective and well-rounded social media strategy in the future. When selecting what different platforms I want to engage with, I will need to research the “credibility and culture to enhance the trustworthiness for the brand.” (Unadkat, 2023). Using the right platforms will allow me to reach the correct target audience to stay true to my brand identity. For this reasoning, I have decided to use Instagram as my main social media platform and use TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter as secondary channels. This is due to my audience being slightly younger so they will be using more modern and conventional accounts, but also not forgetting about the older audience by using Facebook and the website.

Branding and Planning

When starting my planning for the content, I needed to produce a precise plan that tells me what I am going to be producing and when. It is the most important factor for the success of my social media strategy and producing professional and seamless content. Truly effective content planning will focus on the overall marketing goals and to do this I will need to plan my content using the following structure.

Created in batch to optimise efficiency,
Part of a cross-platform campaign and repurposed across all channels for maximum impact,
Connected to one or more marketing goals,
Balanced between original content and curated content.

(Martin, 2022).

Figure 1 – A creative brainstorm that reflects on the specific areas that complete my social media planning. The different sections will be the focus when producing high-quality and professional cross-platform content.

Figure 2 – An designed graphic exploring six different competitors and their branded graphics from their Instagram pages. Browsing the competition will allow me to see what has worked well and what I will need to add to improve on the current market.

It was clear that, especially for the Instagram theme and branding goals, I needed to produce a theme that will spread across all the content and keep the user connected and the posts recognisable. Having this colour connected graphic style will provide a roadmap for the marketing strategy I want to engage in. I then sat down and brainstormed the campaign topics and specific ideas I want to portray to the audience through the visual aids. I browsed competitors social channels to see what relevant content is working and what elements within the campaigns are effective/successful. Once the secondary research was complete, I could easily see what I needed to include throughout my content and was able to move onto sketching my brainstorming ideas.

Figure 3 – My in-depth sketches for my planned Instagram social media posts that will feature throughout the campaign. These are rough guidelines as to what I want the final outcomes to be and will guide me through the production process to ensure it is as efficient as possible.

Content Calendar

After choosing what content themes and ideas will progress throughout the platforms, I needed to produce a way in which I can easily plan what will be posted on what channel and when. To do this, I decided to make a social media calendar to display a “detailed overview of my upcoming social media posts, organised by date and time.” (Christina Newberry, 2023). Having a content calendar will enhance the campaign management and be easy to review ongoing strategies. Throughout the creation of this calendar, I will be directed by the standard marketing strategy of the ’80-20 Rule’. This determines that 80% of my posts will inform, educate, or entertain. The other 20% will aim to promote the business and drive conversions of engagement. Using this strategy will positively increase user engagement through the interaction of educational content but will also allow brand recognition through the persistent branding and promotion of multi-channels.

Figure 4 – My basic social media content calendar produced on Microsoft Excel that uses lists to easily add content specifics throughout the week.

I began mapping out the basic information and functions that each post will abide by. These included the platform, date, time, copy, and the visuals. Once I had a rough guideline written down, it was time to add more specific details into each section. An example would be, underneath any Instagram based content, I would include the platform-specific format such as whether I will be using a feed post or whether it will be a story post. I regarded each post with relations to popular engagement from competitors so I knew when followers would be more active and engaged. Using the calendar aspect will allow me to pencil in important dates and celebrations that will otherwise be forgotten when planning content ideas. Below you will find my final, organised social media content calendar graphic that will ensure the channel schedule stays consistent and up to date.

Figure 5 – An online graphic that explores a digital, interactive content calendar that would be shared around a digital marketing team that can access all of the specific content planning and assets for a set month. This will be a set space to plan and experiment with the types of content displayed on different social platforms each calendar month. The graphic was produced in Adobe Illustrator and follows with specific brand guidelines.

Graphics and Content

When thinking about how I wanted to present my content online, I knew it needed to be original and eye-catching to attract my specific audience. As previously stated, the focus platform will be Instagram to target a specific audience for my content. To start with, I created 6 identical artboards on Adobe Illustrator for the basis of where I wanted to create said graphics and added a background layer to provide consistency. Referencing my original sketches, I went on to plan the layout of each post so that I could see what areas react positively and which needed to be refined and improved to match the brand identity. At this point, it was essential to have the brand board at hand so that I can remain consistent through the colour and font choices because my audience will need to recognise the brand and its social media presence. Once I had the final individual graphics complete and set to a professional standard, I could then go on to produce my mock-up pieces to present my original campaign work in a specialised setting.

Figures 6 to 11 – Each image displays a social media graphic produced specifically for Instagram posts and cross-platform use. These portray successful female drivers/professionals working within motorsport that will inspire and educate the younger generation about the progress the sport is making with equality. Each graphic was made on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Figure 12 – A mock-up image produced in Adobe Illustrator to explore how my final graphics would look placed on the Instagram profile of the brands account. This enables me to see what my target audience would and step into the mind of the user – which is an effective way to tell how well my brand personality is demonstrated as.

After focusing on the Instagram content, it was time to branch out to the other social media platforms that were included in the planning stage to reach other demographics. The first being Facebook, it was clear that the only other content required for this platform was to create event posts which will correlate to the website and the information portrayed on there. The same went for Twitter, it is very similar to Instagram apart from being able to post text only updates. This will be used for more casual updates throughout racing occasions which will link highly to the purpose of the app. The platform that will require a large differencing content is TikTok as this is a video-only type of social media. I am aiming for this platform to reference the younger audience that I am targeting which will focus on trending content and youth media. I wanted to incorporate fun and current trends with educational resources on motorsport so that I can keep the interest of the younger side of the internet and hopefully encourage them to participate in activities relating to the brands purpose.

Figure 13 – An example of a TikTok video trend that would be posted onto the brands social media account. This will attract the younger target audience by using a global trend and also informing them about upcoming motorsport events. This graphic was produced in a video editing software named CapCut.

Figure 14 – A second example again of a viral TikTok trend introducing the audience into a victory for the all-female motorsport team The Iron Dames. This will intrigue the audience through the video content and make them want to explore what other victories there are for women in the motorsport world. This was also produced on the video editing software CapCut.

Figure 15 – The final TikTok video that I produced in CapCut for the brands social media platform. This is heavily educating the young user on the races that the female-only series host through the use of viral trends and footage. This will ensure I reach the younger demographic that I plan to reach on specific social media channels.

Figures 16, 17, and 18 – All three images show mock-ups displayed for different social media platforms. Figure 16 demonstrates how a user would see our Facebook profile and recent updates. Figure 17 displays how a user will explore our TikTok profile and trending videos that are uploaded to the platform. Lastly, figure 18 displays how the brands Twitter profile would look to a user. All mock-ups use consistent brand guidelines and will reinforce the message to the intended audience. Each graphic was produced on Adobe Illustrator.

Expected Growth and Feedback

Social media metrics are essential when tracking progress and performance of new and upcoming profiles. It allows the manager to hone an effective strategy and see where the successes are lying. “Without metrics, you can’t create an informed strategy. You can’t tie your social media efforts to real business goals or prove your success.” (Newberry, 2023). Social media platforms use these insights so that businesses can succeed and spot downward trends that may require a change in strategy. Thinking about the future of my campaign, I expect a growth in engagement rate and reach through the educating content that will be shared. I hope that using the insights tool will allow the cross-platform strategy to succeed and raise awareness of my brand identity across digital media globally.

Figure 19 – An image taken which explores how Instagram’s professional dashboard can clearly breakdown all of the positive insights that your business account has seen over a period of time. (Gotter, 2023).

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