How to Stand Out on Social Media With A Consistent “Voice”
Social media is often one of the first touch points you have with your customers. That first impression plays an important role in landing or losing a sale. One way to make a positive first impression is having a clear and consistent “voice” across all posts and interactions. Your organization’s “voice” is its personality on social media.
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”
Bruce Lee
Every interaction with your followers on social media (post, comment, reply, direct message, etc.) is similar to an interaction you’d have in person. You are creating a lasting impression in their head of what type of personality your organization has.
Your voice is an important factor in the overall experience your audience takes away from your social media. Which is why it’s important to spend some time thinking about what you want it to be.
Who Do You Want to Be?
For most businesses, you want your social media accounts to be a fun, engaging environment for your audience. Consider when you’re at home scrolling through your personal social media. What pages are you more likely to interact with? The pages that have a stale personality, monotone posts and don’t engage with their followers? Or the ones that are creative, personable and engage with their followers? We know which one we’d pick…
Generally speaking, social media is an outlet people turn to for enjoyment in one form or another. If they aren’t enjoying your content, they won’t follow you, interact with you or share your posts. And at that point, your social media is not effective.
To be effective in today’s age of social media, your brand needs to be personable and engaging. Social media is a two-way form of communication between you and your customers. Be conversational and informal as much as possible. Create your posts as if you were talking with them, not at them.
“My Business is Too Professional to be Informal and Conversational on Social Media”
We’re confident that whatever industry your company is in, it is not too professional to have fun on social media. Done correctly, being personable and informal can really boost your engagement and following.
Check out the City of San Diego’s Twitter account, for example. They do a great job at balancing the professional nature of their business with the fun, personable side of social media. Here’s one example:
If you’re looking for more inspiration, here’s a great list of 10 Government Agencies Doing an Amazing Job on Social Media.
Don’t be afraid to write in first-person, reply to comments in a conversational voice or use gifs that are relatable to the content you’re sharing. Implementing small changes like these will go a long way in shifting your voice on social media.
We want to be clear that yes, there may be certain situations that you need to be serious when posting on social media. Official news, crisis communications, etc., but those should not be every post.
A Consistent Voice is Key
Ultimately, no matter what you decide your brand’s voice will be, the important thing is to stick to it. Every time you create a new post, answer a direct message or reply to a comment, keep the overall voice you want to portray in mind.
Remember, your social media voice is your organization’s personality. You don’t want to switch personalities every time you interact with your customers and clients. If you decide to go the strictly professional route (even though we strongly advise against it), stick to being professional in all of your comments and direct messages. If you want to express your personality and have fun with social media, carry that personality into every interaction you have.
Looking for more inspiration or want to brainstorm the best strategy for your business? Don’t hesitate to contact us for a free, quick consultation!
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