How can your rhetoric on social media shape public perception?

Two very powerful tonal tricks are simulating intimacy with the audience, and treating something as "obvious". Typical tactics to simulate intimacy include using contractions ("I'm", "you're"), slang, or pop culture references, but also consider what I am writing right now: just by directly addressing you and breaking down that proverbial fourth wall, I am establishing closeness between us, perhaps without you fully realizing it. As for obviousness, I take a counter-disinformation perspective: a common method of obviousness is the bandwagon fallacy ("everyone knows..." "everyone's talking about...), but it can also take the more subtle form of treating something false as a fact, as though it were as true the sky being blue.

Getting more eyes on what you've drafted before posting might be the quickest way to ensure that something is caught before it goes out to the rest of the world, especially if it's a big announcement or something said in reaction to world events. Educating yourself on current matters, understanding your audience, and using clear language (not everyone is up to date on slang terms or acronyms, NGL IFKYK THX TTYL) is important, alongside using inclusive language. This could be simply getting someone's pronouns right, or speaking with someone who might know more to ask for their help on ensuring how you've addressed an audience is correct. Again, being educated and up to date will make choosing your words a lot easier.

Actually, I am not convinced that consistency matters, even for branding. In fact, consistency can be the devil. Perhaps you have been articulating yourself in a certain way and then you realize that the idea you have been conveying is the wrong one, or that a particular topic needs to be communicated in another manner. Be brave: if necessary, switch up your rhetoric.

Similar to the idea that consistency counts, it is also not necessarily the case that content must be "engaging". Yes, our modern media ecosystem, both the infrastructure and the audiences themselves, does tend to reward such content, but it is not the only viable strategy, and it can even lead you down a dark path of asking leading questions, using inflammatory language, arguing against strawmen and the like. Many content creators have built dedicated followings doing little more than sharing their daily observations and musings into a dashcam while they drive around doing their daily routines. Think on that.

I believe that social media users tend to be savvy, and will see through you if you're not being emotionally genuine. Tying something to an ad, monetising your content, or hiding it behind a paywall can seem disingenuine, even if the reasoning behind it is valid. Talking about something only when it's a "current" topic will also be something that's noted by users, such as only highlighting allyship, LGBTQ+ content creators, etc. during Pride Month. To be passionate and advocate something is to be consistent and educated, to ensure that you're using your platform for the right reasons such as enhancing other's voices. People will see the effort you put in and if you're being genuine based on consistency and willingness to learn.

Emotional appeals have their proper place and function. Fundamentally, their function is to either mobilize and demobilize the audience, and ideally they should be invoked to serve truth an the audience's best interest. For example, emotional appeals can rally a nation to defend itself, or instill calm and compassion in a fearful and wrathful electorate. However, emotional appeals can be used to manipulate people into believing things that are not necessarily true or genuinely in their best interest. Think about all the various ways "-ism"'s are used in American and Russian rhetoric, proclamations and denunciations that something is this or that "-ism". This invites people to believe the thing is an unalloyed good or an unalloyed evil.

In my experience, pairing visual aids with written word is important, as every one will have different needs and preferences to how they engage with information. I'm someone who prefers reading, but being able to create something that at a glance is easily digestible is important, and will widen your audience in a way that also allows you to learn more. It's easier to create something that looks more eye-catching and colourful too, which is inherently going to be immediately interesting to more people. You can also do simple things such as adding image descriptions when sharing on social media, or adding subtitles and scripts to videos, to ensure you're catering to as many needs as you can.

Persuasion is not only about winning, getting an audience to either agree with your viewpoint or to relent and stop resisting you. It is crucial that what you are saying is evidenced, logically or empirically, and that your audience would be genuinely the better for knowing or believing whatever it is you are trying to convey to them. Of course, there is a certain amount of subjectivity here -- maybe you think closing or opening the border is morally right and in your audience's best interests -- but even so, do your utmost to convey your idea truthfully and sincerely. Audiences have difficulty seeing truthfulness and sincerity, especially on social media, so it really falls on you to embody these qualities to the best of your ability.