Fonts. Brand colors. Logos. All these go into brand consistency. And Slate is that platform that makes all that simple to manage at scale.
But when it comes to brand consistency, we can go even deeper. Let’s go to the heart of the people. It’s about the feels.
But how does a brand make me feel something? And how do we create a framework that has the ability to be replicated and evolve at the same time?
Emotional Branding is actually your Secret Sauce.
I’ve been building and evolving digital strategies for brands for 10 years.
And I’ve always included emotional branding.
The new brand consistency includes ✨ Emotional Branding ✨ aka
The vibes
The aura
The feels
The Secret Sauce
“The Secret Sauce” is the 3 emotional pillars to how you (the brand) want the audience to remember feeling after seeing the content. Every post should hit 1-3 of these emotional pillars, no matter the topic or execution.
This is different than:
Visual Branding
Content pillars
Channel strategy
This is a zoom out. While also being a guiding path.
Why does this matter? Because there is comfort in the predictability.
In a world that feels chaotic, I believe audiences that come back again and again appreciate predictability first. It’s a form of emotional regulation. Then, it’s on the creators to add a lil razzle dazzle to keep them fed. That’s how you turn audiences into fans.
Emotional branding is why I tune into Traitors every week… I know there will be drama and amazing Alan Cumming outfits. I know what feeling I’m going to get with the show, even if I don’t know the exact details on how it’ll pan out.
When I was leading Global Organic Social at Crocs, we had Social Media teams all over the planet. And with that diversity, regions across the globe all had different consumer sentiments about the holey shoes.
In some regions, Crocs were chic shoes that only fashion icons could pull off.
In other regions, it was mainly children’s footwear.
In others, Crocs were ugly.
Every brand has this kind of challenge. Social Teams are full of multiple people creating the content. Freelancers, internal creatives, editors, 35-year-old “interns,” different regional teams and influencers with their own aesthetics…
Is there a way to show up consistently across teams while remaining relevant to the different audiences?
UH YEAH I THINK SO.
So here’s your recipe to create a brand’s most delicious “Secret Sauce” for creating content, community managing and keeping the vibes consistent ⬇️
Step 1: Cook up your “Secret Sauce” 🥘
Choose 3 “active words” (aka ingredients) that capture what make your brand special
Add bullet points under each ingredient that add the “how” these show up in execution
Tip: Do not use adjectives. Use action verbs.
“Inspo” should be “Inspire”
“Entertainment” should be “Entertain”
“Pop Culture” should be “Fangirling”
Oh you want a real-life examples? Coming right up!
At Crocs, the Secret Sauce ingredients I cooked up were:
Reflect, Entertain and Engage
Every piece of content, campaign strategy, product suggestion, caption, response to comments would hit 1-3 of these.
Other brands’ “Secret Sauces” from my POV?
(I have not worked with the below brands.)
Bratz: Stunt. Fangirl. Engage.
Fortnite: Play. Update. Engage.
Footnote: JFYI I’m currently totally obsessed with playing Fortnite. I’m getting very good.
Step 2: Define your “Engage” 🤝
Here’s a freebie: Engage should always be your 3rd ingredient IMHO.
As I coined recently on my personal socials: Social Media is actually Engagement Media. Create content that engages your current audience, a new audience or the combo of the both.
So while “Engage” should be in every brand’s secret sauce… How does your brand specifically engage the world? What types of content or activations or moments gets the most engagement?
And it’s not just about likes. Look at content that is valuable from a watch time, share, save and comment POV as well. Maybe the engage includes gifting. To anyone.
Step 3: Test the sauce 🧪
Here’s where the communication with leaders and teams comes in.
Since taste is subjective, execution is different - it’s vital that you get everyone on board with the ingredients. Then stress test it.
Take a piece of content you’re really proud of. Then ask yourself then, “Does this [active word/ingredient] [the target audience]?” Example: Does this inspire beauty-obsessed but busy moms?
Ask teams to align these ingredients to what they’re already creating. Does it feel accurate? Does it feel inspirational or limiting? Discuss.
Look at a low performing post. Did it have any of the ingredients? Where did it miss the mark? Did it actually spark emotions at all?
Step 4: Make fun shit. 🍴
Build up lore. And continue to experiment, optimize and get whackadoodle.
Now I engage you:
Did this spark something in you?
Does your brand already have a secret sauce?
Do you need to spend some time in the “brand kitchen” to pinpoint emotional branding?
Did you wash your hands before cooking?
How much water did you drink today?
XOXO Lady Socialdown aka Sarah Whittle
Medieval Mindset: A Youtube channel hosted by John, where he compares current events to the medieval times (which spans over 1,000 years actually.)
Why I like it: The writing is very accessible and interesting to understand. I love the theming. And there’s some comfort in knowing “unprecedented times” share similar themes to world history.
This channel is a great treadmill watch.