Everybody wants consistency.

Jack Bauer consistently saved the world without going to the bathroom.

The sun consistently rises in the East.

Old people just want to be…um…consistent.

The hare used consistency to whoop the rabbit’s ass.

In order to be a successful blogger, you have to expand beyond the confines of your own blog. And, when you do, you damn sure better have consistency.

And I’m not talking about consistently posting content, tweeting, and liking memes on Facebook all day.

I’m talking about brand consistency for your online business or blog.

What is Brand Consistency?

I’m sure you could study all sorts of marketing books and websites about branding and brand consistency.

But, here at Top Shelf Blogging we keep it laser focused on the art of blogging and everything that goes along with it, so I won’t bore you with all of the advertising mumbo jumbo.

You do need to know how this affects you as a blogger, and to a larger extent as a digital citizen with a blossoming online business.

Yes, your blog is probably going to evolve into an online business at some point, or maybe it already has.

As part of that growth, you undoubtedly expand well beyond the virtual walls of your blog.

If you are a new blogger, you’ll soon find yourself branching out to all kinds of social media channels.

You just have to.

As an existing blogger, you probably already have a rather large online platform that seemingly grows every day.

With this in mind, you have to be smart about how you represent your brand on all of these disparate websites.

A Big Boy Example of Brand Consistency

Let’s take a look at how one of the big boys does brand consistency. Nike.

 

As you can quickly see, Nike has figured out how to implement brand consistency across their social media channels.

And, it’s not a matter of simply having the same logo on each account. They kept it consistent by using the same logo as well as the same color scheme.

You KNOW Nike has some color schemes.

They also constantly referred to their tagline, “Just Do It.”

Also, if you check the captions of the pictures above, you’ll see that each of their accounts use the same account name making it super easy for them to be found.

Not like you really need help.

Of course, it’s a lot easier to have the same account name across social media channels when you are an 800-pound gorilla like Nike, but the idea is to be as consistent with your account names as possible.

When I was first starting out, I discovered that “jeffstephens” was already sed across multiple sites. So, I started to use my middle initial and I was able to lock down multiple social media accounts with that naming convention.

Do some researching first to see if you can come up with a name combination that will be consistent across channels.

You don’t want people struggling to find you online.

What If Your Brand Isn’t as Big as the Big Boys?

Now let’s take a look at a pretty big name in the online space, Kim Garst from KimGarst.com and BoomSocial.

She isn’t as influential as Nike but she is still an A-Lister online.

Here is her main website.

You probably already know that your blog/website serves as your home base of your online platform. As such, it should give your audience a clue about what your “brand” is.

What colors you use, what logos you have, what your tagline is, etc.

Now, let’s look at her online platform.

 

Kim does a great job with brand consistency across channels even if she doesn’t use the same image or backgrounds.

On several of the sites, she has an image of her book, Will the Real You Please Stand Up.

This immediately gives her credibility as an authority by not only being an author but by showcasing it across multiple accounts.

There is even linkage to the main website where the same book is shown.

As a visitor, I can tie these things together and start to get a feel for her and her business.

On her Twitter and Facebook accounts, she has advertisements for her course on Facebook ads.

She uses the same exact ad on both channels to bring consistency to her audience.

On all of the channels, you see a nice picture of her that makes her brand that much more personal. It’s not the same picture, but provides a similar look and feel (all professionally done too!)

She was also one of the lucky ones to grab most of her social media accounts with her own name. The only outliers are the YouTube channel with the name “brandyoucommunity” and the Google Plus environment where her biggest page has the +KimGarstBiz account.

She does have a Google Plus +KimGarst page as well. So, she appears to have it all covered.

Something interesting to point out…she doesn’t really use her Boom Social logo or common colors across her accounts.

I guess you can do that when you have as many followers as she does. 🙂

How I Applied Consistent Branding

When it came time for me to unify my Top Shelf Blogging brand across my channels, I wanted to make sure I had something that represented the love of blogging.

A laptop, and coffee. ‘Nuff said.

Once I found the image I wanted, I reformatted it according to the particular social media channel and went at it.

I applied a consistent look and feel with similar layouts and placement of the logo to make sure the brand stayed the same for all new visitors, regardless of where they found me.

Here is what it looks like as of this post.

As you can see, I tried to be consistent with my logo, background image, styling, and overall representation of my brand.

Your Takeaways

Your online platform needs to represent the best of your brand. And it needs to do so consistently.

Make sure you keep it organized so your audience starts to recognize you and starts to build trust in what you have to offer.

Having multiple sites with no semblance of order will only confuse your visitors and end up costing you valuable friends and potential customers.

Spend a little time making sure your platform is aligned and you will be in a much better position to grow.

Now It’s Your Turn

Go out to your various social media accounts and see what aligns and what doesn’t.

Are you using similar colors, logos, images, fonts, and wording?

Would an average visitor figure out what your brand is all about?

Would they tie all of your accounts together as part of a larger online platform?

Do a quick inventory and figure out ways you can start to bring all of your channels together.

Jack Bauer would do it.