How to find your voice on social media (and why it matters)
The internet is a crowded space and it can be hard to make your brand stand out. But one of the best ways to stand out is to create authentic connections on social media.
A key element in forging these genuine connections is establishing your brand voice. Your brand voice makes your brand feel like a person that your customers can connect with and allows you to build a deeper relationship with your audience. No one likes to feel like their favorite company thinks of them as just a dollar sign – and when people feel valued by your brand, they tend to spend more and be more loyal.
Formalizing this brand voice in a set of guidelines ensures everyone posting from your account is using a consistent tone to communicate with the audience. This ensures that you stay on brand in even the stickiest customer service situations… and they can even help you turn an aggrieved customer into a loyal follower.
Finding your social media voice is not one thing, but rather a set of defined characteristics that come together to establish your overall brand voice.
Character: Who does your brand sound or talk like? Are you an expert informing a customer, or do you talk to a client like they are your friend?
Tone: What is the general vibe of your brand? How does your voice change based on audience, situation, and channel? Are you fluffy or direct, personal or professional?
Language: What kind of words do you use often? What kind of words do you try to avoid? Do you speak in a complex and jargon-filled way or do you like to keep things more simple?
Purpose: Why are you on social media? Do you want to engage, inform, sell… or something else altogether?
Why social media voice matters
Creating a consistent tone lets people get to know your brand and allows you to build a strong relationship with customers and clients. Delighted customers talk positively about your brand, which means them creating new content, driving leads your way, and spreading your brand message.
Establishing your voice can be complicated and require some trial-and-error. Unlike tracking your web analytics, this marketing project won’t be a one and done task. If something isn’t connecting with people, don’t be afraid to do more research and reorient your tactics.
Steps to get started
Stumped on where to get started? Here are a few simple steps to get you going when developing your brand guidelines.
Research your audience’s habits online. What platforms do they use, what words do you see often, and what do they seem to value?
Examine your existing brand guidelines. What brand resources do you have to work with? Do your guidelines for print work for social media? Do these words fit with what you’re seeing from your audience?
Determine your purpose. What do you want to do for your audience online? How will you achieve these goals?
Brainstorm words you want your audience to associate with your company. Make a list of adjectives you want your audience to use – and then words that you think will help elicit those feelings.
A few tips as you develop your voice
Now that you’ve got a jumping off point, here’s a few additional tips to keep in mind as you put your brand voice to work online.
Define your audience. It’s important to keep in mind that certain types of messaging resonate with certain audiences. Taking your audiences communication style, interests, and online behavior into account will help you better connect with them. Be sure to explore how your customers act online before solidifying your brand voice.
Be transparent and admit mistakes. Instead of trying to hide mistakes, use transparency and openness to your benefit. Admitting when you make mistakes and letting people see behind the scenes at your business will build trust and loyalty from your customers.
Trust your customers. Whatever you do, don’t delete comments from people who are criticizing you – this will just make them angrier and may push them to launch a full-scale campaign against your brand. Instead, comment on their posts and show your other customers how reasonable and responsive you are. Your customers are smart enough to distinguish between a rightfully aggrieved customer and a lunatic.
Keep it consistent. If your brand voice isn’t usually funny, don’t suddenly try to make a joke. Trust is built through keeping a consistently high-quality presence. Think of your brand like a person – you don’t want to leave users feeling like your personality is anxiety inducing or erratic.
Be clever with purpose. It’s okay to be clever or sassy with your social media voice, but only if it fits your brand. Don’t try to emulate Wendy’s unless there’s a well rationalized reason for it. Use funny or clever responses sparingly – and be aware that they may fall flat (and create a secondary issue).
Don’t forget it’s a conversation. Social media shouldn’t be used to talk at your audience – it should be used to communicate directly with them. Authentic interactions can create lifelong loyal customers – and ignored messages can lose them.
Take customer service seriously. Put time into developing a plan for customer service and responding to inquiries. Ensure consistency and timeliness by creating sample responses for your team and empowering them to take action when there is a valid complaint.
No platform is exempt from your brand voice. Your brand voice isn’t just important in your posts – it should be consistent across every element of social media. This includes Facebook message replies (including the automated ones), calls to action, Instagram captions, direct messages, cover photos, bios, and post graphics/visuals.
Keep responses usable. Responses to people’s questions or inquiries shouldn’t be long or overly complex – keep in mind that users are most likely responding from their mobile device. Answers or responses to people should be short, to the point, and easily accessible.
Hue & Tone Creative: Social Media in Greensboro, NC
Completely stumped about how to connect with your audience? Let us take the work out of it. We can help you put a social media strategy in place – or we can take over the posting and day-to-day management of your channels. Reach out to learn more about what kind of plans we offer.