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Why You Need a Strong Brand Voice on Social Media

Social media is a space where brands truly come to life. It’s also a space many of us use primarily in our personal lives. We share engagements and new babies on Facebook, filter our family photos on Instagram and dig for the perfect reaction GIFs on Tumblr.

When we interact with brands on social media, we expect a personal touch and an engaging voice as we scroll through our news feeds.

For brands, the intimate nature of social media creates an opportunity to connect with audiences on a more personal level, but it also presents the risk of alienating followers if a brand doesn’t know how to communicate with both fans and critics in a casual setting.

Before a social media manager starts sharing content and digging into metrics, it’s crucial to define and hone the brand’s voice ensuring a strong brand voice on social media.

Why does my brand need a voice on social media?

Social media is filled with a lot of noise, especially from brands. Your Facebook fans and Twitter followers can spot an insincere, self-promotional post from a mile away.

A unique voice will help your brand stand out from the rest of the noise. Your brand needs a personality to differentiate it from other brands that are purely self-promotional and one-sided in their communications.

How can I start to define my brand’s voice?

If your brand is already well established, you may already know its voice. Whether that voice is somber or irreverent, be consistent and carry it over into the posts you share on social media.

If you haven’t pinpointed your brand voice yet, think about what your brand stands for and how your target audience wants to be spoken to. Whether you’re a B2B company aiming to sound authoritative and professional or a toy company with a more youthful tone, one rule of social media always remains the same: Social media is a conversation.

Brands need to start and respond to conversations rather than send out one-sided communications. You’ll need to seamlessly incorporate your brand voice on the fly when responding to comments and questions from your fans and followers.

I know my brand’s voice – now how do I weave it into my social media posts?

Get into character. It can help to make a cheat sheet for yourself with reminders about what your brand’s voice sounds like and the characteristics of the audience you’re trying to reach.

Put yourself into the shoes of your fans and followers – think about the content you would stop to read on social media versus the content you scroll past without thinking twice.

This may seem obvious, but stay professional and true to your brand’s identity, even if your voice allows for some humor. A novice social media manager might jump on a Twitter hashtag that isn’t appropriate for the brand, or share a meme that won’t resonate with the brand’s followers. Avoid those traps. Don’t start using emojis and abbrevs, unless your brand would talk that way IRL. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

An agency’s social media team can help you develop a social media voice and strategy that goes beyond tactics and develops a strong brand voice on social media.

Wondering how your brand can sharpen its voice and take its social media efforts to the next level? STIR can help!