Social media serves as the platform for audiences to get to know you and your brand. Every post shares a little bit more about your services offered as well as your personality. Through social media, you are exercising your brand voice. So, what are your followers hearing?
Every time somebody sees your brand on social media, they are building an impression of you. Just as you want to make good impressions in person, you also want to make a good impression online. So, it’s important to ask yourself – what is the voice that I want to convey? In what way do I want to share the messages of our company?
A simple question to sum it up is this – how do you want to be perceived?
Every company can and should answer this question a bit differently. Some might say they want to be seen in a professional light and as experts in their field. Others care to show a bit of their fun and playful side, hoping to display their careful attention to building relationships. Sometimes, it’s a mix of both.
Knowing and understanding your brand will bring consistency to your social media presence and give you an advantage over your competition. As with everything on social media, it’s far more than just a post.
Find Your Adjectives
A good place to start when trying to figure out your company’s voice is to write down 5-10 adjectives that you feel describe the vibe of your brand. Some examples are eccentric, delightful, modern, scholarly, thoughtful, whimsical, or youthful.
Narrow your adjectives down to a few that are very representative of your business. Anything that you do online – social media, website, emails, etc – should reflect those adjectives.
Voice Vs Tone
While your voice is the personality of your brand that you can describe in adjectives, the tone is the subset of it. You have one voice, but your brand can have multiple tones that refine the voice.
A helpful tool to determine your tone vs your voice is a four-part formula suggested by Stephanie Schwab, writing for Social Media Explorer. Stephanie breaks down a brand’s voice into 4 categories – character, tone, language, and purpose.
Character – Consider your target audiences, or audiences, when it comes to the character of your voice. What persona resonates most with your primary target audience?
Tone – According to Stephanie Schwabb, “Tone is the underlying vibe that emanates from your brand’s communications.” Tone can differ depending on the platform or the nature of the content itself.
Language – What kind of words will your brand use to communicate through your social media platforms?
Purpose – This is a question we ask all of our clients – why do you want to be on social media? What are your goals here? Check out this blog for more help on this topic!
Taking the time to process each of these areas will help you define the overall voice of your brand.
Knowing the voice of your brand makes your presence more personable and natural. Having a voice that knows and understands how the business relates to the people allows for a relationship to form that brings about actual conversations, not just mindless words on a Facebook or Instagram post.
Our digital media specialists work every day to hone in on each of our client’s specific voices. If you need help figuring out what your brand should sound like on social, give us a call today.
