What kind of voice and tone is best for your brand on social media?
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What kind of voice and tone is best for your brand on social media?

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Communicating effectively and consistently across different platforms, audiences and contexts means defining and refining your brand’s tone and voice: the two aspects of the way you express yourself in social media communication.?

Voice: The overall personality and style of your posts, which should be aligned with your brand identity and values. For instance, brands can be lively, positive, cynical or professional.

Tone: A subset of your brand’s voice. Tone adds specific emotion to your voice based on factors like audience, situation and channel. For example, your voice may be friendly, professional or humorous, while your tone may be formal, casual or enthusiastic.

In a nutshell, there is only one voice for your brand and many tones that refine it. Here are some key steps to help you define and maintain your voice and tone on social media.?

Conduct a voice and tone audit

Analyze your existing social media posts and evaluate how they reflect your brand identity and values, how they resonate with your audience and how they fit the different platforms and purposes.?

Make sure you identify what works well and what needs improvement, and look for inconsistencies in your voice and tone across different channels. You can also benchmark your voice and tone against your competitors and industry leaders and see how you can differentiate yourself and stand out.

Develop a voice and tone guide

Based on your audit, create a document that defines your voice and tone for social media and provides guidelines and examples for applying them in different scenarios. Your voice and tone guide should include the following elements:

  • Your voice attributes: Describe the personality and style of your voice. For example, you may choose to describe your voice as friendly, professional and informative.
  • Your tone variations: Explain how you adjust your tone depending on the platform, audience, purpose and context of your message. You may use a more formal and informative tone on LinkedIn and a more casual and humorous tone on Twitter, while maintaining your friendly and professional voice.
  • Your dos and don'ts: Provide some best practices and tips for using your voice and tone in social media. For example, you may advise to use abbreviations and emojis sparingly, to avoid jargon and slang, to proofread your posts and to avoid controversial or sensitive topics.
  • Implement and monitor your voice and tone: Once you have your voice and tone guide, share it with your social media team and use it as a reference for creating and reviewing your posts. Measure the impact and effectiveness of your voice and tone by using metrics such as likes, shares, comments, engagement, reach and conversion.?

Be clear and concise

Your voice and tone should be easy to understand and follow. Use simple and direct language and avoid jargon, acronyms or complex sentences.?

You should also choose the optimal length and format for your message, while avoiding unnecessary or redundant information. For example, you may use bullet points or quotes to highlight your main points and images, videos or links to support your message.

Be respectful and responsible

Avoid offending or alienating your audience. Your voice and tone should always be respectful and courteous to your followers. Take accountability for your message and avoid making false or misleading claims.

Make sure you acknowledge your audience's feedback or criticism, and apologize and correct any mistakes.?

Explore more

This article was edited by LinkedIn News Editor Anamaria Silic and was curated leveraging the help of AI technology.

James LaPenna

Forward-thinking Marketing Leader ???? | AMA Member ??? | 2024 ENX Magazine Difference Maker ???? | Button-Downs & Gym Shorts Newsletter ?????

1 年

Authenticity is key for this one! IMO, it becomes unbelievably transparent when an organization conveys a message or takes a stance that they do not truly live behind in regard to their corporate culture or overall mission. You also need full buy-in from your entire team - You have to walk the walk if you're going to talk the talk

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Harshil P.

Business Information Management Specialist @ TD | MBA Candidate at Darla Moore School of Business

2 年

Tone and voice can be game changers for any marketing communication. The sensory felt by the audience can create a brand perception that may also lead to the assumption of the brand's motive. Before deciding on the tone of voice, businesses should study the platform and market accordingly. For example, in TikTok, where audiences are there for fun and creative videos, businesses should prepare to create an engaging short video vs. a professional tone of voice or posts on Twitter/Linkedin.

Kriti Nigam

I help CEO's & Startup founders to leverage their personal brand on LinkedIn & Twitter through Ghostwriting| Fintech,Blockchain,IT & E-commerce Writer |SEO & Social Media Strategist|Open for brand collaboration ???

2 年

Consistency is the key to building a brand voice and a content marketing strategy is sure to be consistent, if you stick to the following steps. First, you would have to decide your centre of gravity, your target audience, and the purpose for writing. You would have to set the rules, and define an editorial style. Exact voice depends on the subject matter and the target audience, so you would have to choose a voice that is relevant and enjoyable to your audience. You would have to draft guidelines and training material. Brand voice is something that every employee of the company must understand, so it’s important to make it clear to everyone. You would have to keep your message consistent with your brand image. And finally, you would have to explain to your team why you are doing all this, and how they will benefit.

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Mike Varanakis

Digital Marketing Manager at Utah Transit Authority

2 年

Unified messaging is key. If you’re solo, or working as a team member, it’s crucial everyone is on the same page and not saying something off brand or out of bounds. It’s also ok to have some fun, use humor, but don’t overdo it.

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