Brand consistency is the key to a professional-looking account. A professional-looking account is key to projecting that you know what you’re doing and, in turn, so does the school!
Logo
It is likely you have a school logo; I know of only one school in our local area that doesn’t and, yes, it bugs me! You need access to a high-quality version of this logo if you can. Now, audit what other key branding strategies your school already has in place. Do you have specific school colours? These are usually incorporated into the logo, but you may also have specific colours associated with the school via things like uniforms. These are going to be the core colours you use in your posts.
Fonts
Fonts and typefaces are important. Does your school have a specific one they use already? When we first set up our school branding, the school had already defaulted to using the Calibri font for most of its digital work, thanks to the forethought of our Network Manager at the time. This is a good, neutral font that worked well both online and in print, so it became one we also incorporated into our digital media. However, we also needed a headline-type font; for this, we chose Oswald. It is a fixed-width font that worked well to highlight titles and key information, and it is one we’ve stuck with ever since. These are our key fonts and the ones we turn to as our base in most designs.
Layout
Do you have any specific layout constraints when using your already established branding? For example, our school logo was specifically designed to be used in the top-right corner of a design. This is a legacy from a previous Headteacher that we have stuck with. As a consequence, we then have the main title of a post in the top-left corner, content in the middle, and any footer information at the bottom. A new constraint comes from our Trust requiring their logo and text to be placed at the bottom of designs, which adds an extra layer to consider.
Key Information
Do your posts have to contain any specific key information? As just mentioned, ours need the Trust information on them. This is something to consider when we produce designs, and perhaps you have similar constraints you will need to build in? Make a note of this.
Checklist
So, now you have a mini checklist of things you need to consider incorporating into your posts to build a consistent brand across your accounts and digital media.