Resource Links:

Click here to download a “We Are With Ukraine” image to put in your window or post online.

• Shared Resource Folder

• Social Media Compliance

• Target Audience

• Discord

Overview:

In response to the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia, you have the opportunity to participate in creating a social media presence communicating to the people of Russia as well as the people of the US about this horrific event. Our class will be part of a much larger group of students from Pacific in this effort.

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First Things First : What are Social Media Assets?

In general, social media assets include the accounts, pages, followers, and content that make up a social media presence. All of these assets have communication value. The audience(s) you target are receptive to what you do and say. How you share that content builds your message and increases its effectiveness because of consistent branding.

Social media assets are an important element of any branding communication. The brand is the identity – or personality – and social media is the main platform where a contemporary target audience is introduced to your brand and subsequently the message you wish to deliver. The visual and written media content that is used in that platform are called the visual assets or brand assets.

Forty-one percent of people say they’d unfollow a brand that shared too much irrelevant content. Since content creation or curation is such an ongoing and sometimes time-consuming process, social marketers want to maximize the impact of their message with usage of supporting images, symbols, pictures, etc. to engage their brand’s audiences. So to improve efficiency and timeliness of publishing workflow coupled with meaningful imagery an archive or library of visual media is necessary. In addition this approach emphasize brand alignment across all production teams and helps to organize the brand’s content/message.

• Your social media assets are where your audience information and fact-finding journey begins.
• Research within your target audience base. Ask questions, find out some distinguishing characteristics about them. Dig into the data. You’ll need to decide for yourself what assets will be of greatest benefit, depending on the nature of your audience and what you need to communicate.
• Your audience will have preferences on how/where they encounter your social media assets as your online audience media platforms. (These preferences may or may not be the same as your own). Currently, main social media platforms include any of the following:

• Facebook account
• Instagram account
• Twitter account
• LinkedIn account
• YouTube account
• Company Mobile Apps and app users
• Company blog and vlog sites
• Website URL
• Email address marketing list
• Customer database

This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. Depending on the nature of your business/message, you may need to also extend your media presence to other platforms including Pinterest, Medium, Snapchat, Reddit, Slideshare etc.

Social media marketing requires different formats on different platforms, and even each platform sometimes requires different formats depending on the intended use. Facebook pages are a great example – the profile picture and the cover picture are two completely different formats and you need a different stylistic approach to both. And then advertising has different requirements again. And that is just Facebook – now multiply that across all the different platforms you use (or, should be using).

The solution is to create a library, or gallery, of visual media assets ready to be called upon, already edited and resized for use on various social media platforms. It can be tricky to keep social content under control. A content library provides access to compliant social content, templates, and assets. Team members can share these across their social channels without requiring more approvals.

Ideally, if you create, say, a year’s worth of such material then you always have it to hand whatever social media marketing drive you are planning next, regardless of the platforms that you put it across.

Approaching planning in this way is usually the most cost-effective method, and a huge amount of marketing budget can be saved by consolidating your visual media creation.

Finally, if you already know what you need, and you need it fast, then take a look at the Ultimate Brand Asset Gallery, which will give you all the social media material you need for the foreseeable future – and beyond.

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ASSIGNMENT

Brief:

There are three separate audiences to be considered:

• Russian citizens and soldiers

• American citizens living in the US

• Ukrainian citizens living in Ukraine and also as refugees

There are three separate messages to be considered:

• Factual Truth concerning the reasons for the invasion of Ukraine

• Impact of the invasion of Ukraine on everyday lives of US citizens

• Support

Strategy:

• Know your audiences. What appeals to them, motivates them, interests them, etc. Use this information to help you make design choices such as color, typeface, style, “voice”, etc.

• Be clear about what you are trying to communicate to them. Is the asset to be used to help a message of TRUTH, about WIDESPREAD IMPACT or about SUPPORT?

• Communicate with those in your team using DISCORD

Process:

• Create a variety of Assets in the form of images, symbols, pictures, phrases, sayings, graphics, etc. that might be used in support of any one of the messages listed above to either of the audiences listed above.

• Use the Artboard tool (Illustrator) to shrink the size of the artboard (not your design) down to fit tightly around your design. Save.

• Size, crop and dimension each Asset/design (see correct dimensions for FB and Instagram listed below) so that it is properly prepared to be used in a social media post.

• Save your Assets as a PNG file to the specific folder corresponding to one of the three possible messages; TRUTH, WIDESPREAD IMPACT or SUPPORT,

Tips for organizing your brand’s digital assets