Establish the brand voice and expand business with the use of social media

For any business organization, creating a strong brand identity on social media involves numerous facets, such as typeface, logo, taglines and more. However, one most important factor is the brand voice development. Brand voice means the genuine personality of the brand. The voice is the most vital aspect of defining brand identity since it serves as a framework for social content. Everything, from blog posts to tweets must seamlessly speak to the audience across posts and platforms. Inconsistencies could sabotage the whole social strategy.

WHAT’S THE BRAND VOICE?

The brand voice is an organization’s compilation of terms, words, expressions and attitudes, which flow across all channels with the purpose to engage and inspire a connection with the brand. This tone in language is used for drawing the attention of customers, but also become a recognized voice in any form of brand communication. The brand voice, in a nutshell, depicts how consumers see a company and its identify. For instance, there are brands that are known for their goofy or relaxed identify. Others wish to portray complete professionalism.

STEPS IN SIMPLIFYING THE PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING BRAND VOICE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES

The following are some steps to simplify the process of brand voice establishment.

KNOW THE AUDIENCE

Consider what the current followers want to hear about the brand. It could help to use a tool such as the Audience Insights of Facebook to see psychographic and demographic information of the audience. This could help determine how to frame the content and voice. If the followers of a page are more than 65, building more meme-based content will not resonate. Spend time knowing the audience and ideas on how to speak to them follows.

LOOK FOR INSPIRATION

When developing a brand voice on free social networking sites, find inspiration from fellow social marketers. There are numerous brands that have established their powerful voices on networking sites. Follow top celebrities and brands and determine how they make their voices come to life on posts and adapt the approach to fit a particular brand. Remember that the celebrity or brand does not necessarily have to be in one’s industry. Inspiration all over helps develop a voice that is unique.

CONSIDER DOING SOME EXERCISES

The ‘we are, we are not’ exercise on social media helps determine boundaries on how to write on social sites. It is easy to do but easy to mess up with as well. Each exercise must work as boundary for one’s voice and writing. Use ‘we are, we are not’ exercise for framing the brand voice in more easy-to-follow, narrow terms that writers in the future could refer to.

MAP OUT THE NITTY-GRITTY

Many social networking sites writing is less on what one said and more on how it is said. Details matter, thus it’s necessary to outline a verbal identify. Make guidelines in laying down on how to write copy. This builds consistency as well as saves time.

STEPS IN DEVELOPING THE BRAND VOICE

1. Delve into the culture of the company. The brand voice is truly an expression of the culture of the company, thus a good place to begin is to spend time defining the culture. When there are already adjectives to describe the company culture, there’s a basic blueprint for the voice’s brand, a persona.
2. Establish the tone through identifying the customers. To establish a tone, start looking outward. In essence, tone is a subset of voice. A company could have several tones for various audiences or different instances. Every profile gives various kinds of information in a different tone.
3. Think before posting. It’s important to have a consistent presence on social media, but it does not mean posting simply for the sake of posting. Doing this makes it likely to post something out-of-sync with the brand voice and followers would notice. Before posting, consider if it offers value to followers and if it fits the brand voice.
4. Get personal. Get personal with followers and fans. One of the great things about the networking sits is how easy it is to connect with others, regardless of who they are or where they are. Talk to supporters one-on-one. For instance, thank a fan for saying something nice about the brand. Complaints should be addressed via directly apologizing to the person complaining.
5. Cultivate authenticity. Whatever the brand voice is like, it’s great to be authentic to be effective. Social media’s all about engaging and conversing with supporters and not on disseminating product specifications. A good brand voice would sound like a person and not a faceless organization.

Having a brand voice that’s clearly defined goes a long way to helping achieve authenticity. The development of an outstanding brand voice on social sites is a process. The more a company hones that voice, the more it posts content that is valuable to followers and the stronger the bran would be.

Dhrumit Shukla is Business Development Manager with TatvaSoft - a custom software development company. He writes about Technology Trends, experience working with B2B and B2C clients.