By Angela Bouma

Yes, you should absolutely, without a doubt, 100%, brand every single solitary meme, post, and blog image you put on your website and social media feeds.

But, but, but…

YOU MUST.

And here is why. As much as you think your followers know you, and they may, it doesn’t matter. Every post is vying for their attention. A birthday reminder, a sale on that planner she’s been eyeing, sad news, politics, a gorgeous verse meme. SO MANY THINGS.

Make Sure They Know It’s From You

When users scroll through their favorite social media platforms, they are browsing quickly and stop only when something catches their eye. If you’ve gone to the trouble to create something great enough for them to slow down and take in, make sure they know it’s from you. It will become easy to spot you in the sea of social media noise.

Let’s think about Pinterest and Instagram for a second. Pinned images don’t usually provide a link on the post. If you see one that really catches your eye, you might take a second to find out where it came from so you could click through and find out more. If the image is branded you are much more likely to click that image. I will not click on a link that isn’t branded because I have no idea where it’s going to take me or who to give credit it to once I am captivated by the content it offers. Again, brand your artwork.

The big win comes when people love your post so much they share it and all of their friends see it, see your name and website, and you have a new fan—or several. Your very small investment of work, could add up to more followers, sales and bookings.

Worst case scenario, when you don’t brand your work, someone can steal it and use it for themselves. Make no mistake. If it’s even semi-good, it will get taken.

3 SIMPLE Tips to Brand Your Artwork

1. Add your logo/icon and website – this can be obnoxious if done incorrectly. Sizing is key. Your name/website isn’t the key message, rather a marker on the highway.

2. Put your branding in the same place as often as possible. This isn’t a hard and fast rule. An exception would be if the artwork you’re using doesn’t lend itself to having your website at the bottom middle portion of your image. But keeping things consistent is always a good rule of thumb for any brand.
3. Keep your fonts consistent–do not change the font of your branding tag from image to image. Just use one of the fonts in your logo or branding (if you don’t have a font, you need one) and stick with it.
4. Bonus tip: If there’s a font in your logo that you really like, make it one of the fonts you use on all your artwork. It’s not something obvious to other people, but it will cause your artwork to feel familiar. Familiar gives people the warm and fuzzy feelings that make them keep coming back for more.

Angela Bouma designs graphics and websites to help authors and speakers boost their reach. While work gives her soul instant gratification, her long-term goal is to raise her three babies into loving, hard-working members of society and be a fan-girl of her husband Dean. Learn more at aboumawritinganddesign.com.