building a brand world: social series I
WHY SOCIAL SERIES SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR BRAND STRATEGY
Instagram is making a bigger push toward episodic content and it makes perfect sense.
It’s no secret that social series have been taking off.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: your social media should feel like its own world.
Social media is becoming less and less one-dimensional. Think of your social media more like a TV channel.
There should be range. Different formats. Different levels of value and entertainment. Something that teaches you. Something that takes you behind the scenes. Something that introduces you to interesting people. Something purely entertaining. Something you recognize before you even see the brand name.
In other words: your brand needs programming. And social series are one of the ways you build it.
FROM CONTENT CALENDAR TO PROGRAMMING
For years, brands have approached social media through the lens of a content calendar.
What are we posting Monday? What needs to go up this week? How many Reels do we need this month?
But publishing consistently isn’t the same thing as building something people consistently want to come back to.
Programming shifts the question from “what should we post?” to “what should our audience expect from us?”
That distinction matters.
A strong social series creates a recognizable format your audience can begin to understand, anticipate and associate with your brand. Instead of every post having to introduce itself from scratch, you’re building on something that already exists.
Think about the shows you love. You know what you’re getting when you tune in, but you still want to know what happens next.
Social series can work the same way.
SERIES BUILD FAMILIARITY. FAMILIARITY BUILDS BRANDS.
Not every piece of content needs to reinvent the wheel.
Actually, it probably shouldn’t.
Brands are built through repetition. The same ideas, visual cues, perspectives and formats showing up consistently enough that people begin to recognize them as yours.
A recurring series gives that repetition structure.
The name becomes familiar.
The format becomes familiar.
The creative direction becomes familiar.
The perspective becomes familiar.
Over time, your audience doesn’t just recognize an individual post. They recognize the world it belongs to.
That’s the bigger opportunity.
ONE BRAND. DIFFERENT WAYS IN.
The other advantage of programming is range.
Your audience isn’t going to connect with your brand through one type of content alone.
Someone might discover you through an educational series. Someone else might connect with the people behind the brand. Another person might love the behind-the-scenes content. Someone else may just be there because you consistently entertain them.
Each series becomes a different entry point into the same brand world.
For VCM, #THEMAKINGOF gives our audience a look behind the work and into the process of bringing ideas to life.
For H&C, the Kitchen Series brings people closer to the craft, people and process behind the food.
For 1111 Lincoln Road, Off-Site with 1111 extends the brand beyond the property itself and into the people, places and culture surrounding it.
For Ampersand Studios, Member’s Spotlight puts the community at the center and gives people another reason to understand what being part of that community actually feels like.
Different formats. Different purposes. Same principle: Give people more than one reason to tune in.
THE GOAL IS TO CREATE A BRAND WORLD.
A social series shouldn’t exist just because you need another content pillar or because episodic content is trending.
The strongest series have a clear role within the larger brand strategy.
What part of your brand world does this series build?
Who is it for?
What does someone get from coming back to it?
Could they recognize it without seeing your logo?
And, most importantly, is there enough of an idea there to make episode 20 just as interesting as episode one?
Because the opportunity isn’t simply to turn one idea into ten posts. It’s to create something your brand can own.
by @vcreativemiami<3
Social series are becoming an essential part of a strong social media strategy. As Instagram leans further into episodic content, brands have an opportunity to move beyond one-off posts and build recognizable programming audiences want to return to. Here’s how recurring social series can strengthen your content strategy, build brand recognition and turn your social channels into a world of their own.