Natcho's top tips for standout socials

With most brands having a social media presence in some way or another, and with there being over 3.8 billion social media users worldwide according to Smart Insights, the noise on social media platforms can be pretty loud and the fight to stand out is real. This is especially as it takes an average of three seconds for your brain to decide if it is interested in a page or not, before your thumb swipes back and moves onto the next one.

It is all well and good to have a social media presence, but with like any marketing platform if it does not look professional, engaging or inciting, then half the time you may as well not bother. Strong visuals are key to both enticing more users and to show the world that you are a professional and trusted brand.

Being on social media just because everyone else is, is a start, but you still need an understanding of what you want to achieve and who you are trying to appeal to. You can then start to apply your visuals to fit that purpose and start drawing more and more users to your page.

According to social media and optimisation platform, Sprout Social, applying SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to your social media presence is a great way to boost your optimisation. Aligning your social media with a clear purpose helps avoid the trap of posting aimlessly. Do the same for your visuals and you will see many more benefits.

When we talk about visuals, we mean the videos, photos and images, colour scheme, filters, typography etc. Everything that makes up your page’s aesthetic. Once you know your goals for your social media you can then start to have a better understanding of how you want your page to look and feel. The way your page looks is incredibly important to how your brand is perceived by the public and how it can stand out from rival brands.

At Natcho, we have narrowed down six technicalities or trends which we think are things to consider, to help you stand out on social media.

Branding

Branding should really be the first thing you do when setting up a business. Once you have your brand name and settle on the aesthetic, it allows the rest to follow naturally.

According to content strategist, Elizabeth Smithson, in digital magazine Branding Mag, your brand represents who you are as a business and how you wish to be perceived by the public.

“Branding is important because not only is it what makes a memorable impression on consumers, but it allows your customers and clients to know what to expect from your company. It is a way of distinguishing yourself from the competitors and clarifying what it is you offer that makes you the better choice”, she says.

So, if you want your company brand to have a heavily pink aesthetic, then by incorporating pink into every post keeps your socials in line with the image or identity that you want to associate with your products or services. In other words, it keeps your posts ‘on-brand’.

Additionally, a clear brand voice helps familiarise your followers to your brand by giving it personality. Finding the right tone can be a lengthy process but when you nail it, it will pay off as you will be attracting the right customer to your socials. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, nobody likes a robot.

It’s also important to match your brand voice from your website and on any products to your socials. Continuity is the most important thing to focus on when creating a brand as you will maintain familiarity and enhances trust with your customers or clients, as well as slowly build a reputation with your aesthetic until you become recognisable.

Good copy is essential to professional marketing so excellent grammar, punctuation and spelling is another item to check off. At Natcho, we can help you write impressive copy for your socials as well as nail that brand voice.

High-quality images and video

In a world where everyone is a photographer with the use of their smartphone, getting a professional to snap and shoot your photos and videos will ensure your page stands out amongst the blur of low pixeled and badly edited content. This is especially on Instagram where the content is primarily visual focussed.

Knowing what angles, lighting, editing, framing etc. will look good and appeal to your audience is a job in itself. You wouldn’t shoot content yourself for a billboard or TV ad, so why do it for social media? It might be another cost, but it will pay off in the long run. Even if you are a start-up company, by having professional content rather than content you have produced yourself will immediately give you a head start against those whose content looks sloppy. 

Mix up content (videos and images)

Having a mix of both images and videos gives your followers, and potential new ones, a variation of content to explore and get lost in. If your page is constant images or videos, that can be a bit mundane and doesn’t give your audience much to learn about your brand. Offering a variety of content will keep your followers engaged and hopefully boost your social media optimisation in the meantime.

Page design- Using rows of three

Subconsciously, when we click on a page on Instagram, we scroll down the page to get an idea of the look and feel of the brand. Again, the three-second rule comes into play. If nothing pops out at us, we are onto the next page. Using different techniques and fun ways to showcase your work or campaigns will catch the eye of those who are lazily scrolling down your page.

A trend which is really hot right now, and which is used by many influencers and brands, is rows of three. Rows of three is a great way to organise your feed and segregate trends to make scrolling simpler for the viewer. If your company is a clothing brand, for example, you can use rows of three to creatively organise your feed to promote a fashion edit, or a new collection. Or for art creators like us at Natcho Creative, we use it to create an organised portfolio so viewers can scroll through and see our different clients and the range of creative services we offer.

 Zara (@zara) is a great example of a well-known company who use rows of three. You can see that they use the formulaic pattern to promote a trend, a campaign or an edit:

Colour trends: colour fading

Another trend which is becoming popular and which looks so effective and creative is colour fading. Colour fading is uploading individual posts which work together to blend and introduce new colours as you scroll through your page. You start with a colour, say red, and then as you scroll down your page your posts dominant colour changes from red to a lighter shade of red, slowly developing into the next colour which could be orange if you want to do a rainbow effect, or pale red, to pink to white if you want to use an ombre effect. You could even go from red to green to gold to create more of eye-catching contrast. There are no rules.

 A brand which demonstrates this perfectly is G&G Designs (@gandgdesigns). Their base colour theme is monochrome, primarily black, and as you scroll down there are splashes of reds, golds and blues which are creatively blended into one another with the introduction of the next colour in a quote or graphic which breaks up the pattern. This keeps their page new and fresh whilst staying on brand.

Typography

Some brands use specific typography amongst the regular social media font to emphasise words or phrases they want to stand out. Rather than making the words bold or underlined, using different typography which is specific to the brand helps promote the company aesthetic, which then helps familiarise the followers to the brand. It’s also a great way to demonstrate creativity and uniqueness.

Ranging typography also allows the page content to be broken up by having text images, as well as product or model shots. To create a nice flow, we suggest using the app Preview, to see how they will sit next to each other on your page. This is a handy tool to plan your feed, so you don’t accidentally end up with an in-balance of text to photo ratio.

A great example of a company which does this regularly is Cherry Pop (@cherrypop_ldn). Cherry Pop use typography in their captions and when they upload an image with text to keep their posts on brand.

We hope these six tips have helped you gain a better understanding of how to creatively style your social presence and make them stand out from the crowd. Please don’t hesitate to contact Natcho for any further information on our photography and videography services.