How to build your brand on social using brand codes

Social media is one of the first points of brand contact, it’s not surprising that in 2020, 52% of online brand discovery happening in public social media feeds. In other words, business accounts should look and act as a homepage for brands, being immediately recognisable and trustworthy - even without a blue checkmark in sight.

But can the restrictions of a grid of photos or list of posts properly reflect a brand in all its glory? Of course. 

However, slapping a logo in the corner of every image isn’t necessarily the answer. Rather, establishing and implementing a set of distinctive brand codes not only helps to maintain consistency and gain trust amongst followers and newcomers, but also creates distinctiveness within the brand category.

Brand codes (or distinctive assets), best described here by Mark Ritson “are the things that loyal customers associate with the brand and immediately on encountering them they recognise the brand in question, even when the logo is yet to appear.”

These ownable assets come in many forms of visual cues, whether it be a colour, shape, pattern, font or image – and what makes them recognisable is that they are everywhere that the brand is. So, if a brand is on social – you guessed it – brand codes should also exist in that world.

Every image doesn’t need to be littered with brand codes however, they should be considered carefully and in a clever way. In the same way that constraints inspire creativity, it is possible to reinforce brand codes while being engaging at the same time. Using brand examples, here’s a few of the ways you can build up your brand on social: