A social media style guide is an important document for social teams of all sizes. Whether you\u2019re a team of one or 100, recording your decisions about brand voice and style in a central place ensures consistency in your social media presence \u2014 and builds brand trust.<\/p>\n
Keep reading to find out more about building a style guide your social team will actually use. We\u2019ve even included a free social media style guide template to help you get started!<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media style guide template<\/span><\/strong> to easily ensure a consistent look, feel, voice, and tone across all your social channels.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A social media style guide is a document that outlines the style choices for your brand on social media.<\/p>\n This includes everything from your brand identity (e.g. your logo and colors), to your tone of voice \u2014 and even how you use emojis and hashtags. In other words, it\u2019s a set of rules that dictate how you present your brand on social media.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Beautiful reports. Clear data. Actionable insights to help you grow faster.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart free 30-day trial<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Consistency is key on social. For your brand image and voice to be consistent, you need to make some decisions about how your brand \u201cspeaks\u201d online.<\/p>\n Your image and video content needs to be consistent too, from your brand colors to the templates you use for infographics to the fonts you use for captions and thumbnails.<\/p>\n A brand\u2019s social content needs to feel like it comes from one consistent place, even when different components are created by different people. While your TikTok videos will clearly have a different style from your LinkedIn posts, the overall brand personality needs to feel familiar.<\/p>\n A clear social media style guide is the governing document for all those involved in creating your social content. It allows team members to work independently towards a unified goal.<\/p>\n A good style guide for social media also makes onboarding much easier for both new hires and those in supervisory roles. It ensures organizational knowledge stays with your team even if individual team members move on or change roles.<\/p>\n Your followers should be able to recognize your content, no matter where they see it. When you define your voice, tone, and visual style in your style guide, social media content creation becomes easier. Your content all sounds like it\u2019s coming from the same source.<\/p>\n A good social media style guide also ensures you talk consistently about what your brand offers and how your products work. This builds consumer trust and awareness, so you\u2019re top of mind when it\u2019s time for your audience to make a purchase.<\/p>\n Creating a social media style guide from scratch involves examining the current state of affairs in your social media strategy, making a record of what you\u2019ve been doing, and cataloging quite a lot of detail about how you\u2019ll create content going forward. Here\u2019s how to get started.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a social media audit<\/a>, but you still need to make a list of every social account you use for your brand.<\/p>\n This will provide a clear picture of the naming conventions you\u2019ve used for your accounts. Are the usernames consistent across channels? If not, now\u2019s the time to choose a style and note it in your style guide. This will make new accounts on new channels more easily discoverable for fans.<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t yet defined your target market<\/a> and developed your audience personas<\/a>, now is the time to do so. Before you can develop an effective brand voice, you need to know who you\u2019re speaking to.<\/p>\n When building out audience personas, consider the following:<\/p>\n To connect with your audience, you need to have a clearly defined brand voice<\/a>. Some brands are pretty cheeky on social media.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>@Wendys<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Others maintain a more formal tone. You can take either approach, or be somewhere in between. But you can\u2019t veer from one to the other. Think about your brand as a person. Who would it be? How would it speak?<\/p>\n If you need some help figuring this out, try experimenting with Hootsuite\u2019s free AI caption generator<\/a>. It allows you to choose different tones of voice, from cheerful to unhinged to VSCO girl. Try using it to create different versions of the same caption and see which feels more natural for your brand.<\/p>\n For example, compare this cheerful caption:<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Hootsuite free AI caption generator<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n With this grumpy one: Which sounds more like your brand?<\/p>\n Different platforms have different content limits for both video length and number of text characters, so you\u2019ll need to break this down by platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n The idea is that your audience on each platform should know what to expect. If they\u2019re used to 15-second Reels, it might be confusing and tedious to get sucked into a 90-second version. But if they\u2019re used to longer explainers and you suddenly post something much shorter, that\u2019s confusing too.<\/p>\n The same goes for captions. If you usually write a few words, a big block of text won\u2019t look right to your audience. But if you use captions as a platform for storytelling and you suddenly switch to a few words or emojis, your audience will wonder if something went wrong.<\/p>\n Will you use emojis<\/a>? Which ones? How many? On what channels? How often? Have the same discussion about GIFs. Your use of emojis (or not) has a clear impact on your brand voice and tone.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t ask your audience to take action on every post. We recommend the 80-20 rule<\/a>, where 80% of your content is to inform, educate, or entertain your audience while 20% directly promotes your brand.<\/p>\n On that 20%, how often will you ask your readers to take a specific action, like click a link or make a purchase? What kinds of action words will you use in your CTAs<\/a>? Will you include CTAs in your video content or just in captions?<\/p>\n Do you post as a brand? Or do you attribute your social posts to individual team members?<\/p>\n For example, it\u2019s common for customer service social accounts to use initials to indicate which team member is replying to a public message.<\/p>\n Hi Nick, sorry to hear that! Please send us a DM with more details and we\u2019ll do our best to help. ^co<\/p>\n \u2014 Tangerine Help (@TangerineHelps) April 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n And in video content, it\u2019s clearly an individual (or individuals) on screen. But on text-forward platforms, your content likely comes from the brand itself.<\/p>\n Clarify how you identify post authors (if at all) and how often team members introduce themselves in video content.<\/p>\n What guidelines will you follow on social media to make sure your language is inclusive and fair?<\/p>\n Involve team members in the discussion as you develop your inclusive language guidelines. If your team is too large for everyone to join in the discussion, make sure you have diverse viewpoints represented. Circulate the preliminary guidelines to seek feedback.<\/p>\n Accessibility<\/a> is a key component of inclusivity.<\/p>\n Did you know that dictionaries are all a little different? Choose which dictionary you\u2019ll use for your social content and make sure all relevant team members have access to an online subscription.<\/p>\n You may also want to choose an existing style guide, like the Associated Press Stylebook<\/a> or the Chicago Manual of Style<\/a>, so you don\u2019t have to make every grammar and punctuation choice yourself.<\/p>\n Here are some consistency issues to consider:<\/p>\n Or maybe Canadian English? Or Australian? Maybe you\u2019re not writing in English at all? Choosing a dictionary will help make sure you stick to the right spelling for your geography.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no right answer on whether to use them (although most writers and editors have very strong opinions).<\/p>\n Can you passionately debate your position on the Oxford comma? \u2014 APStylebook (@APStylebook) April 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The Associated Press is mostly against them, but the Chicago Manual of Style says they\u2019re a must.<\/p>\n Make your own choice on this issue and use it consistently.<\/p>\n Do you capitalize every word, or only the first? Again, there\u2019s no right or wrong answer until you define your brand style in your style guide.<\/p>\n Dashes come in two lengths: the en-dash (\u2013) and the em-dash (\u2014). It\u2019s most common to use the en-dash online, but you can choose either. You also need to decide whether to use spaces on either side of the dash. It\u2019s most common to use spaces with the shorter dash but not the longer one:<\/p>\n For ampersands, you just need to decide if you\u2019ll use them rather than writing out \u201cand.\u201d This can be useful where there are tight character limits, so you may want to make a separate style choice for X (formerly Twitter).<\/p>\n AP style doesn\u2019t typically use the ampersand. \u2014 APStylebook (@APStylebook) April 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n On the exclamation point front: Will you use them at all? It\u2019s probably best to keep them to a minimum on most platforms, unless you\u2019re going for a specifically chipper brand voice.<\/p>\n Do you write out days of the week or abbreviate them? Do you say 4pm or 4 p.m. or 16:00 or 4 o\u2019clock? What date format do you use?<\/p>\n For example, in U.S. English, it\u2019s standard to write dates as month\/day\/year, whereas in UK English the order is day\/month\/year. This is a case where lack of consistency can actually have real-world implications, like missing an event or launch.<\/p>\n How often will you include links in your posts? Will you use UTM parameters<\/a> and\/or a URL shortener? Will you put links in the body text or in a comment?<\/p>\n Specify your linking protocols. Also clarify how you refer to links in your bio<\/a> on platforms where that\u2019s the only linking option.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve mostly focused so far on creating consistency in your written language. But your spoken language needs to be consistent too. While your employees will certainly have different accents and ways of speaking in your videos, your brand name and products need to be pronounced consistently.<\/p>\n If the pronunciation of your brand name or products is unclear from the spelling, consider creating a pronunciation key. This can be as simple as including the phonetic spelling next to the word itself.<\/p>\n While your employees are unlikely to mispronounce your name as spectacularly wrong as Schweppes is pronounced in this video, there\u2019s no sense taking chances!<\/p>\n Curated content<\/a> can add value to your social feed without creating new content of your own.<\/p>\n But which sources will you share from? More importantly, which sources will you not <\/em>share from? You likely want to avoid sharing posts from your competitors, for example.<\/p>\n You should also create brand guidelines for how<\/em> you share curated content. Are you adding insights of your own? (Tip: The LinkedIn algorithm<\/a> in particular prefers it when you add your own perspective.)<\/p>\n Not sure where to start with your guidelines for UGC? We suggest some basics in our post on how to use user-generated content<\/a>:<\/p>\n Specify how you will credit the users whose posts you share. You should always tag them, of course, and camera icons are a common way of attributing photographs.<\/p>\n You want to get the most out of all the social content you create. But that doesn\u2019t mean you should post the same thing everywhere. Create guidelines for how to tailor your content for each social media platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n For example, maybe you create infographics from your blog posts for Instagram and quick explainer videos for TikTok. How you adapt your content is up to you, but some guidelines can make the process easier for all.<\/p>\n (Hint: Use a tool like Hootsuite<\/a> to adapt content for each platform as you post.)<\/p>\n Do you use branded hashtags to encourage fans and followers to tag you in their posts, or to collect user-generated content<\/a>? List them in your style guide, along with guidelines about when to use them.<\/p>\n Also provide guidelines for how to respond when people use your branded hashtags. WIll you like their posts? Retweet? Comment?<\/p>\n Create a list of hashtags specific to one-off or ongoing campaigns.<\/p>\n When a campaign is over, make notes about the dates the hashtag was in use. This creates a permanent record and can help spark ideas for future campaigns.<\/p>\n The ideal number of hashtags<\/a> is a matter of ongoing debate. You\u2019ll need to do some testing<\/a> to learn how many is right for your business.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to settle on a specific number of hashtags, but aim for a clear range.<\/p>\n This is a simple one. Choose your case:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve talked a lot about words, but you also need to define your brand\u2019s visual look and feel for social media.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve already defined your brand colors, these will likely be the colors you use in your social media accounts. You may wish to define which colors should be used in different contexts.<\/p>\n For example,Ikea is easily recognizable with their iconic Swedish yellow and blue.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>@IkeaCanada<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n You can\u2019t control the fonts when writing captions, but you can control the fonts you use in graphics, cover photos, and even Instagram Stories.<\/p>\n Larger brands might invest in a custom font. But for most brands, it\u2019s sufficient to choose one font, or a few fonts for various applications, and use them consistently.<\/p>\n Where and when will you use your logo on social media? It\u2019s usually a good idea to use your logo as your social media profile picture.<\/p>\n If your logo doesn\u2019t work well as a square or circle image, you may need to create a modified version specifically for social media use.<\/p>\n What style of thumbnail will you use for surfaces like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts? Do you include text? Define your thumbnail style and include some examples. On that note, it can be a good idea to create some\u2026<\/p>\n From Instagram highlights covers to social ads to Pins, templates are the best way to keep your content consistent and recognizable at a glance. Include links to your social templates in your style guide. You can also use a tool like the Hootsuite<\/a> content library to manage your templates.<\/p>\n What kinds of images will you use on social media? Will you use stock photos, or only photos that you\u2019ve taken yourself? What about graphics? If you do use stock photos, where will you get them from?<\/p>\n Again, the Hootsuite content library is a great help here since you can create a catalog of pre-approved images for your social team to draw from.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Beautiful reports. Clear data. Actionable insights to help you grow faster.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart free 30-day trial<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Will you use it? Unless you\u2019re in a highly technical industry with a very niche audience, your best bet is probably not.<\/p>\n Stick to plain language that\u2019s easy for your audience to understand, and make a list of jargon-y words to avoid.<\/p>\n Your style guide for social media should include a list of all your brand trademarks. Don\u2019t put your list in all-caps, because this makes it impossible to tell the difference between, say HootSuite (wrong) and Hootsuite (right).<\/p>\n Provide guidelines for how your trademarks can be used. Do you use your product names as verbs? What about as plurals?<\/p>\n Create a list of unique selling propositions and standard call-outs for your brand and all your products. While you won\u2019t likely copy-and-paste this information directly into social media posts, it\u2019s useful to have clear talking points so your team describes your offerings correctly and consistently.<\/p>\n You likely use acronyms all the time without even thinking about it. But will your audience know what they all mean?<\/p>\n Make a list of the acronyms your company commonly uses internally, along with the full spelled-out versions of what they stand for. Indicate whether it\u2019s appropriate to use the acronyms on each social channel, or if the full terms should be used.<\/p>\n Hootsuite employees are affectionately known as \u201cowls,\u201d while Starbucks refers to their employees as \u201cpartners.\u201d<\/p>\n If you use specific terms like this, write them down. Not just how you refer to your employees, but any non-trademarked language you use to refer to any aspect of your company. For example, do you have customers or clients or guests?<\/p>\n The first time I was getting ready to go on a cruise, I mentioned to my travel agent that I was looking forward to getting on the boat. \u201cThe ship,\u201d she corrected me.<\/p>\n As a passenger, my use of the wrong term didn\u2019t really matter. But as a writer, that would have been a big deal. To you, these terms are obvious. Make sure they\u2019re listed in your style guide so everyone posting to your social channels uses the right term every time.<\/p>\n What type of content is appropriate (e.g., product photos, employee photos, company news, memes)? Are there any off-limits topics? This is especially important in regulated industries<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, include a link to your social media policy<\/a> and social media guidelines for more details on the appropriate use of social media for your brand and your employees.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media style guide template<\/span><\/strong> to easily ensure a consistent look, feel, voice, and tone across all your social channels.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Source: <\/em>Mailchimp<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n This very thorough social media style guide hits all the key points. It starts by defining the intent of Mailchimp\u2019s social media strategy, then gets into details like accounts naming conventions, post length, and tagging protocols. We especially love the detail about exclamation point use: \u201cThey\u2019re like high-fives: A well-timed one is great, but too many can be annoying\u201d<\/p>\nWhat is a social media style guide?<\/span><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/HS_ProductImage-Analytics-1.png?ssl=1\"\/)
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t#1 Analytics Tool for Growth\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\nWhy brands need social media style guides<\/span><\/h2>\n
Keep your image and voice consistent<\/h3>\n
Help your team do their jobs<\/h3>\n
Build trust with your audience<\/h3>\n
How to create a social media style guide<\/span><\/h2>\n
List your social media accounts<\/h3>\n
Clarify your target audience<\/h3>\n
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Define your brand voice<\/h3>\n
Tone and style<\/h4>\n
![\"Wendys](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/social-media-style-guide-3.png?resize=621%2C476&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n![\"unleash](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/social-media-style-guide-1.png?resize=498%2C103&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n![\"tedious](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/social-media-style-guide-2.png?resize=494%2C75&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nContent length<\/h4>\n
Emojis<\/h4>\n
How and where to use CTAs<\/h4>\n
Post authorship<\/h4>\n
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Inclusive language<\/h4>\n
Create linguistic consistency guidelines<\/h3>\n
US or UK English<\/h4>\n
Serial commas<\/h4>\n
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Then you won\u2019t want to miss the five live webinars included in the AP Stylebook Workshop.
You\u2019ll hear both the what and the why of AP style and you can ask your questions directly, about commas or anything else. pic.twitter.com\/vDE8Ea5CCw<\/a><\/p>\nHeadline capitalization<\/h4>\n
Dashes, ampersands, and exclamation points<\/h4>\n
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But we follow the style of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Note that we use rock \u2019n\u2019 roll to describe the style of music.https:\/\/t.co\/GuwRNvNLkx<\/a><\/p>\nDates and times<\/h4>\n
Links<\/h4>\n
Pronunciation<\/h4>\n
Develop guidelines for content curation, UGC, and cross-posting<\/h3>\n
Curation<\/h4>\n
User-generated content<\/h4>\n
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Cross-posting<\/h4>\n
Define your hashtag use<\/h3>\n
Branded hashtags<\/h4>\n
Campaign hashtags<\/h4>\n
How many hashtags?<\/h4>\n
What case?<\/h4>\n
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Document visual style and catalog key assets<\/h3>\n
Colors<\/h4>\n
![\"IKEA](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/social-media-style-guide-4-620x279.png?resize=620%2C279&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nFonts<\/h4>\n
Logos<\/h4>\n
Thumbnails<\/h4>\n
Templates<\/h4>\n
Images<\/h4>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t#1 Analytics Tool for Growth\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\nList important dos and don\u2019ts<\/h3>\n
Jargon<\/h4>\n
Trademarks<\/h4>\n
Brand and product callouts and USPs<\/h4>\n
Acronyms<\/h4>\n
Other language specific to your brand<\/h4>\n
Language specific to your industry<\/h4>\n
Content types<\/h4>\n
Link to your social media policy<\/h4>\n
Free social media style guide template<\/span><\/h2>\n
3 social media style guide examples<\/span><\/h2>\n
1. Mailchimp<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Mailchimp](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/social-media-style-guide-8-620x256.png?resize=620%2C256&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n2. Events DC<\/a><\/h3>\n