A social media brand kit for every client: colors, bios and hashtags one shortcut away
Run social for several clients? Give each one a social media brand kit: logos, colors, bios, hashtags and links, set up in an hour and copied in a keystroke.
You run social for six clients. It's Thursday afternoon, three posts are due by five, and you're zooming in on a client's Instagram grid to eyedrop their green, because the email with their brand colors is buried under four hundred others. Then last week's hashtag set rides along into the wrong client's caption. A social media brand kit stops both: one small, tidy kit per client with the logo versions you post, the colors with exact hex codes, the fonts, the voice, a bio for each platform, hashtag sets, links and the rules. Same shape for every client, kept where you can copy from it in seconds.
Here's what goes in one, a routine for setting one up for each new client, and how to keep clients from bleeding into each other.
What goes in a social media brand kit?
A full brand kit holds everything a printer or a journalist might ask for. Yours is narrower: the things you reach for while posting, replying and designing.
| What | What to keep | Why it matters on social |
|---|---|---|
| Logos | The icon or mark for avatars, a horizontal logo for banners and covers, a white version for dark photos, each as a PNG with a transparent background | Most platforms show profile pictures as a small circle, so the full logo is often too small to read |
| Colors | Each color's name and hex code, and which ones work as backgrounds and which as text | Eyedropping from a screenshot gets you a near miss, and near misses show when posts sit side by side on the grid |
| Fonts | The heading and body typefaces, plus the closest free alternative in Canva or whatever you design in | Not every client's font is in every app you use |
| Voice | Three to five tone words, a few do's and don'ts, words they love and words they never use | Captions and replies are where the voice lives day to day |
| Bios | A bio for each platform at the right length, plus a one-liner and a short "about" | Each platform has its own limit, and clients notice when one sounds off |
| Hashtags | Three to five named sets: brand, topic, location, campaign | Typing them from memory is how typos and last season's campaign tags sneak in |
| Links | Website, link-in-bio page, booking or shop links, and tracked links for campaigns | The wrong link in a bio costs clicks you'll never see |
| Contacts and approvals | Who approves posts, who handles complaints and press, opening hours, the address for location tags | Replies stall when you don't know who to ask |
| Photos | Where approved photos live, and which ones not to use | So nobody posts the blurry one from 2019 |
| Rules | Topics to avoid, emoji or no emoji, how to answer complaints, what never to promise in the comments | The things that go wrong in public |
Keep it short. Most of a social media brand kit fits on one screen per client. The written parts (voice, do's and don'ts, approvals) are really your social guidelines, and there's a one-page template for those.
Why do client brands get mixed up on social?
Social is faster and more repetitive than other brand work, so that's where mix-ups happen.
- Palettes overlap. Harbor Health's Tide (
#2F6F7A) and Studio Afterglow's Lagoon (#2F8F8B) are both teal, three characters apart. Use the wrong one and nobody notices until the two clinics' posts look slightly off next to each other. - Copy carries over. You start this week's caption from last week's, and a hashtag set or a link hitches a ride.
- Details live in your head. That works with two clients. At six, memory starts swapping hex codes and handles.
The fixes are habits: one home per client, the client's name on everything, and copying from the kit instead of from memory or an old post. We've written them up in how to manage multiple client brands, and every one applies to social.
How to set up a brand kit for a new client
Use the same routine every time, so every kit ends up with the same shape and gaps are obvious.
1. Before the kickoff, collect what's already public
Read the client's website and their existing profiles. Note the tagline, how they describe themselves, their links, their address and hours, and the tone of the posts that did best. Copy each platform's current bio as it is, even if you'll rewrite it.
2. Ask the client for the rest, in one message
One request beats a week of drip-fed questions. Something like:
Hi {Name}, so I can start posting for you next week, could you send me:
- Your logo files, ideally the whole folder your designer gave you (messy is fine)
- Your brand colors and fonts, if you have them written down anywhere
- Any brand guidelines or style guide, even an old one
- Words, topics or comparisons you never want us to use
- Who approves posts, and who handles complaints or press questions
- Launches, events or sales coming up in the next three months
Please don't email me any passwords. I'll send you a safer way to give me access.
That last line matters. Logins belong in a password manager, or in the platform's own way of adding a team member, never in an email or the brand kit. A brand kit gets shared and forwarded; passwords shouldn't travel with it.
3. Sort the logo folder
Logo folders arrive as zips with names like logos_old_new_USE. Find the newest version of each logo. Keep PNGs with transparent backgrounds for posting and the SVG or source file for anything that has to scale, and put the rest aside. Then make the avatar early: the icon or mark, centered on a brand color, checked at the size it actually shows on a phone.
4. Write the voice down
Three to five tone words, a "we are, we're not" line for each, and three example captions: an everyday post, an announcement and a reply to a complaint. If the client has never thought about their voice, draft it from their website and best posts, then ask them to approve it. Our tone of voice examples has ten to borrow from.
5. Save the bios, hashtags and links, ready to paste
Write a bio for each platform at the right length, three to five named hashtag sets, and every link you'll use, with tracked versions for campaigns. Name each one by what you'd type to find it: "Instagram bio", "Hashtags weddings", "Link in bio". We've put the details in copy-ready bios, hashtags and links.
6. Get sign-off, then date it
Send the kit back to the client: "Here's how I'll describe you, and these are the colors and hashtags I'll use. Anything wrong?" It catches mistakes before they're public, and every bio you post is one they've already approved. Note the date, so you know how fresh the kit is.
How do you keep a social media brand kit current?
A social kit goes stale faster than any other part of a brand. Campaigns end, links change, bios get a seasonal line. Once a month, for each client:
- Swap out hashtags and links from campaigns that have ended.
- Check each live bio against the kit's version, and fix whichever is wrong.
- Add newly approved photos, and remove any the client has asked you to stop using.
- Write down any new do's and don'ts that came out of the month's comments and DMs.
Ten minutes a client, and no more holiday links in February.
How BrandTab keeps every client one shortcut away
We built BrandTab for people who look after more than one brand. Each client gets a brand of their own, with sections for logos, colors, type, voice, snippets (approved copy like bios and hashtag sets), links and contacts, so every kit has the same shape. Clients with locations, like Harbor Health and its three clinics, get sub-brands under the main brand, each with its own details.
Tabitha sets a new client up before the kickoff call. Say Harbor Health signs on Monday. You give Tabitha, BrandTab's assistant, the address harborhealth.example. She reads up to eight public pages and comes back with a list of suggestions: the logo with its role, Tide #2F6F7A and the rest of the palette by name, Avenir Next, the tagline "Care that feels close to home", the tone words calm, clear and kind, the clinics' contact details, the booking and review links, and keywords people might search for them by. Anything that fills a gap arrives ticked. You untick what's wrong, press add, and the kit is mostly built before you've finished your kickoff notes.
If the client sends the messy logo folder instead, she sorts that: she groups the versions of each logo, keeps the newest and sharpest one, names each logo's role (Primary logo, Icon, Reversed logo) and builds the palette from the logos' colors. Nothing is saved, and nothing is uploaded, until you tick it.
Quick copy knows whose brand you're in. Press ⌘K on Mac, Ctrl+K on Windows, anywhere in BrandTab. Type what you need ("Tide", "Instagram bio", "hashtags", "booking"), press Enter, and paste. The client's name sits right in the search bar, matches from your other clients are labeled with their names, and copying from another brand says so: "Copied Lagoon (Studio Afterglow)". Press Tab to switch clients. The Quick copy tour has the rest.
BrandTab for Mac puts it in your menu bar. Press ⌥⌘B in any app to search a client's colors, bios and links without leaving what you're doing. Logos copy as PNG images, so they paste straight into Canva, Keynote or an email. It's free on every plan, and a Windows version is coming. More in BrandTab for Mac.
Which plan fits a client roster? The Free plan holds one brand, enough to try the routine on one client. With several clients you'll want Creative, which holds 20 brands (sub-brands count toward that) for $19 a month or $190 a year, or Studio, with unlimited brands and two seats for $39 a month or $390 a year. Studio also lets you give clients free view-and-copy access to their own brand, so they can grab their logo themselves instead of messaging you for it. Founding prices ($12 and $29 a month) are open to anyone who subscribes by January 31, 2027, and stay for as long as the subscription stays active. See pricing for the details.
Questions people ask
What is a social media brand kit?
It's the part of a brand kit you use while posting: logo versions for avatars and posts, colors with hex codes, fonts, voice notes, a bio for each platform, hashtag sets and links. You keep one per client, in the same structure, so you copy instead of guessing.
What should I ask a new social media client for?
Their logo files (the designer's folder, however messy), colors and fonts, any brand guidelines, words and topics to avoid, who approves posts and handles complaints, and upcoming dates. Not passwords by email: use a password manager or the platform's own way of adding a team member.
How do I keep different clients' hashtags and bios apart?
Keep them in each client's own kit, name them clearly, and always copy from the kit rather than from an old post. A tool that shows which client you're copying from, like BrandTab's Quick copy, catches the rest.
How many brands do I need in BrandTab to manage several clients?
One per client, plus one for each sub-brand, like a location. Free holds one brand, Creative holds 20 (sub-brands included), and Studio has no limit.
Can my clients see their own brand kit?
On Studio, yes. Invite them as clients and they can view and copy the brands you pick, free, without using a seat. On Creative, you can share a brand sheet link that shows their logos, colors, type and voice.
