In a world so saturated with influencers, celebrities and those striving to be the next big Thing, it can be pretty odd to think that anyone can be a Brand. The idea that someone as regular as you and I can act like their name holds weight in digital spaces is weird, but yes, you can become someone that can have some sort of digital influence by just a matter of small changes to your image.
One thing I have learned over time is that these changes do not have to be significant; rather, they should be small enough that it doesn't feel like a complete rebuild of who you are. Plus, they should add on to what you already bring to the table.
My good friend, Eva, for instance, expressed interest in developing her own brand outside of the non-profit she has recently created. She did not want her work as an educator to overshadow some other big details about her personal life that she wanted to be more transparent about on Instagram. So, I decided to make things a little easier for her by listing some easy things she could keep in mind while developing her brand on IG.
Objective
It's not enough to just say you want to be a brand. What are you representing? When people look at you and what you share or create, what is it that they see?
For Eva, the point of her brand is to showcase the healing process after losing a loved one, as well as choosing to improve health and wellness in everyday life. The intersections of her mental and emotional health play a huge role in her being an educator and in many other areas of her life.
Aesthetics
Eva had some content already on her Instagram, but much of it was old photos posted here and there, no clear connection yet to the healing process. So, I took a look at the general color scheme of what was already there to make it easy to define aesthetics for what content will be posted.
I created a simple color palette of the colors that showed up the most, and offered two different logo patterns that had a clean and simple look to it that would not be too busy or distracting from the main point of her brand. It gives calm, cool and collected vibes- as put together as Eva is.
Content Ideas
To finish up the mini branding guide, I provided a thorough list of concepts she could use for creating content. Eva has already started sharing more about her morning routine on Instagram stories, so I urged her to add on to that by sharing more of not only her personal daily routine that involves wellness practices, but to also provide content that beings conversations with her followers. I suggested journaling and meditation prompts, time management tricks, IG lives on mental health topics with other professionals serving the public, especially in communities of color, etc. Next to the content ideas is a brief list of tools that can be used for creating such content, editing and sharing.
I enjoyed the process of breaking down a potential brand strategy for Eva, and found that the content strategizing part of it was what I loved most.
