Effective social media content doesn’t just convey information about your business, product, or service. Ideally, it helps you engage with your audience (and your target customers) so that they feel like they know and identify with your brand’s personality. Creating this kind of content starts with establishing what your brand’s “voice” will sound like.
Choosing a Voice for Your Content
Deciding what your social media should “sound” like depends on a number of preliminary considerations.
- What kind of business are you? The tone of your content will, in some ways, depend on the nature of your company. Some businesses, like a restaurant or retail store, have many options that are acceptable for the tone and style of their content; others may be much more limited, such as a funeral services company or cancer research facility.
- How do you want to engage? Do you want to develop a reputation as the kind of friendly, down-to-earth company that engages and responds to customers one on one through social media or one that is more formal, responding to customers in face-to-face meetings? Whatever your preference, the tone of your social media voice can help define your customer relationships.
- Who is your target audience? An attorney who is a sole practitioner, for example, can choose to write blog entries in a very formal, intellectual manner to develop credibility for herself in the legal community as a knowledgeable legal scholar (improving her “brand authority”); or she can write about popular legal news topics, breaking down the issues so they are easy to understand. The first approach may be best if her goal is to increase business referrals from other members of the legal community, and the second will be preferable if she is hoping tomainly reach out to the general public.
Successfully Introducing Yourself to Your Audience
Once you’ve decided who you are talking to and how you want to engage with them, put your best foot forward in making your introductions. Just like meeting people in person, first impressions count.
- Choose your tone. Determine whether you’re taking a more serious approach (providing your readers with helpful informational content, sharing tech and business news that’s relevant to your industry, etc.) or a more casual approach (sharing viral internet memes, stories, and industry-related humor, relating your brand to pop culture trends, etc.). Generally, it’s more effective if you stay relatively consistent in this approach. Of course, a more serious brand could share lighthearted postings periodically, but a social media strategy that is generally serious and focused probably won’t see great returns by randomly including jokey memes or pop-culture puns, and a light-hearted, typically humorous brand probably will be equally ineffective featuring a serious essay on political issues.
- Keep it consistent. Especially if numerous people are providing content for your social media pages, feeds, and web pages, your brand voice can sound more like the din of a crowd than a speaker with a microphone. Make sure that one person or team is in charge of cultivating and curating your content, developing a content creation strategy and calendar, and coordinating your branding and marketing strategy.
- Consider multiple accounts. If your brand targets a number of extremely different demographics or has departments that perform vastly different services, think about getting multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts that you can give different voices. For example, a large law firm with multiple practice areas may want to curate one Twitter feed for criminal defense issues and a different for business and tax law clients.
Once you’ve established your brand persona on your social media platforms, stick with it and be consistent. Blogging, social media, and other inbound marketing strategies take time to generate results — just like developing friendships “IRL” (in real life). Once you’ve found your voice, let the conversation flow!
Blue Frog marketing can help you learn why it’s vital to have an integrated social media and inbound marketing strategy. We’ll help you develop a brand strategy, find your company’s own voice and style, create quality custom content, and even manage your company’s social media. Contact us today to learn more about why businesses in Des Moines and all over the U.S. and Canada trust Blue Frog to be their their inbound marketing and social media partner.
