Your programming is the heart of your business, but in today’s digital world, it’s only one of the ways that your audience will interact with your brand. An effective digital strategy includes multiple channels of communication, such as a website, blog, email, and social media profiles. When it comes to publishing content in these arenas, what and how you post matter. Establishing a style guide can help you refine your content plan.
A style guide is an essential tool for producing quality content for digital, print, and even on-air consumption. When your content is created by a team, rather than one or two individuals, the guide can ensure consistency in overall voice/tone and encourages best practices, such as putting your audience first. Below are three tips for creating your own style guide.
Identify your audience persona.
Before you can craft engaging content for your audience, you must understand exactly who they are. If you don’t already have one, create a profile for a model consumer. Where do they hang out? What are their interests? When/why/how do they interact with your brand or programming? If you consider all of this when you’re crafting blog posts, articles, and other updates to share with your audience, it will maximize the potential for engagement with that content.
Define your brand’s voice.
In broadcasting, your on-air talent and segment hosts may each have their own unique voice, but your brand should have a strong personality of its own. This should be reflected in your online content. Is your brand known for being quirky, quick-witted, and funny? Or are you a serious, fast-breaking news outlet, reporting just the facts? Will you write your content in first or second person? Your audience will expect to find these same attributes in your digital content, so they should be consistently woven into everything you publish.
Determine the types of content you will post to your site.
Be sure to include guidelines in your style guide that establish what content formats are allowed on your digital properties, where each should be published, and how they should be categorized. Will you only be posting interviews and blog posts to your website? Or will your team be sharing video content and uploading audio clips from your programming? If you plan to include images–which you should–determine how each will be credited and how photo captions should be formatted. Keeping all of these elements consistent will enhance your audience’s experience when they visit your site.
Other items you could include in a style guide are specific colors, fonts, logos, allowed blog/article categories, and templates for the banners, sliders, and any other ads that will appear on your site. The more specific details you include in the document, the more consistent your content will be across the board. This will not only reinforce the unique elements of your brand, but it will aid you in creating an engaging and meaningful online experience for your audience.
| Ready to get started? Create your own style guide today with this helpful tool from Frontify or contact our Content Team for more tips and pointers. |
