Write like everyone's watching

Social media marketing is more than straight-up advertising, hard-sell announcements or customer service comms, so brands must get comfortable having a conversation everyone can see. And join.

Do you remember this from the 2013 Super Bowl?

You may not have seen it at the time, but you’ve probably heard about it since because we’re all still talking about it eight years after it ran. There was a power cut during the game and as is very often the case these days, people head straight to social to find out what’s happening.

Oreo tweeted this, showing how quick and effective our work can be if we all pay attention to who we are as brands. When a brand and an agency know the brand and its product inside out, they can respond to anything that’s happening right in the moment. And be on brand whatever the conversation.

I say Oreo were quick here but when interviewed about the tweet, Lisa Mann at 360i said:

“I always say, that it took two years to do that tweet.”

It took them two years to do it.

They’d been working on their brand personality and tone of voice for so long that they were ready for anything. There was no scrambling around thinking up what to say and how to say it from scratch. They’d been practicing how to talk about their product and be on-brand in everything in any moment, at every moment.

On top of all the ongoing on-brand work, they had a team in place on the day so they could live tweet as and when it was appropriate – a team they knew they could trust to get anything right whatever happened. They invested in their brand when so often others don’t.

Still on Twitter, here are some brands’ first ever tweets – here's BMW taking Twitter for a test drive in 2009:

And here’s my favourite – the CIA’s first ever tweet in 2014:

But some brands really don’t know what they’re doing and just say anything to say something, like Amazon did when they first tweeted in 2009:

Given Twitter is where people go to have a conversation, Amazon went straight in with a sales message.

So, how should we approach copy for social media? Ann Handley says:

“If Twitter is where you go to meet people you don’t know and Facebook is where you go to talk to people you do know, then LinkedIn is where all of you can go to meet up to get stuff done together.”

Here are my three principles for writing right on any of those platforms:

Know your brand

Know your product

Know your followers

Know your brand

Knowing our brand is actually the most important bit, because when we know our brand, we know everything and we can do anything. When to post, what to say, how to say it, and who to say it to.

We can write about anything at any time – we can write about our products, offers and initiatives, topical moments and cultural events, and replies to our followers when they ask questions or make a complaint. And we can do all that in our brand’s tone of voice so we always live up to our followers’ expectations of us – and we stand out as a unique brand with a unique brand personality.

Netflix are really great at all this. Let’s take a quick look at everything they do because it all adds up, and it all ends up with consistently on-brand copy everywhere.

Their purpose is to entertain the world. Their personality is based on being huge fans of the entertainment, and being inclusive because they invite everyone to join in. And they’re accessible because they make everything easy – they say they "put members in control of what they want to watch, and when they want to watch, with no ads, all in one simple subscription."

Their tone of voice is relevant – they’ll always talk about what’s going on now, or what’s coming up. They’re engaging – as all brands should be. And sometimes they’re fun – they’re such fans of entertainment, they can have fun with it. If you follow Netflix on Twitter and Instagram, you’ll see all of those principles in action every day.

The typical words they use are “titles” when talking about what’s on their platform – they say "film" or "series" when they’re being more specific and talking directly to consumers, but they say "titles" when talking more generically about their service. And they talk about titles that "tell stories." They’re firmly positioned in the world of entertainment so they’ll typically say that and “entertain.” Their typical phrases are things like “Stories to share” which brings in that inclusive principle from their brand personality, and “start watching” or “watch everywhere” which brings in the convenience principle.

Here they are online – on their website, which I’m sure will all look very familiar but now with their brand personality and tone of voice in mind, you can see how everything comes to life:

It’s all very inclusive and accessible, and they use words real people would really say, like “watch” and “stream” (not "view" or "experience" – yuck) which are strong calls to action too, so they make everything easy. It’s like they’re talking with people, not at them.

Here's an ad...

...which firstly uses all the brand’s assets to make it instantly identifiable as Netflix – the colours, the font, the logo, the on-screen graphics – but also the language. There’s one of their typical words in the line in red – the hook for the campaign. And, of course, they use their shows and films as the big draw, but the look and feel and voice is all Netflix – it’s the brand talking, not the shows talking.?

It’s always really easy to do all this – to always be on brand – when you have a strong brand clearly defined and all around you. Not just in the guidelines and on the website or in the ads, but in the place you work too.

This is the outside of Netflix HQ in LA:

It looks like a multiplex cinema so immediately it feels like you’re walking into a world of entertainment.

Inside, in the reception area, you’re surrounded by the entertainment:

This is so important. A brand personality has to come from within to work its way out.

Over on social – on Twitter – this is where they play out their relevant and fun principles the most. And because they’re consistent in everything they do, they know how to talk about what’s going on in a way everyone will find appropriate and enjoyable. Like in their ads, they use their shows and films to illustrate, but it’s their personality and voice they use to talk to their followers. And it feels like a shared conversation because they’re talking easily and naturally to everyone about things everyone is thinking and feeling and doing.

Their relevant principle always plays out in their Twitter account header.

This was when their film account promoted a new release on Netflix. But rather than announce it like a promo, and just saying something straight like the second part of that line in their bio there, they leant on their fan personality and relevant tone of voice principles and pulled a line from the script so everything’s more interesting and meaningful.?

Too often, too many brands seem to adopt the same tone of voice on social – that sort-of over excited millennial tone. Either because they haven’t invested in what they’re going to say and how they’re going to say it, or they just don’t care about their brand identity and reputation. And followers notice.

So tone of voice guidelines must include examples of how to write for social with examples of befores and afters or dos and don’ts. But what’s also helpful is a list of words and phrases a brand always uses so people always know it’s them talking.

For example, Carlsberg’s slogan is “Probably the best beer in the world” and they use “probably” in most of their copy to always connect what they say back to who they are.

Here they are on Instagram...

...and here’s another Instagram post from our summer in lockdown:

Most brands have at least one word they can claim they own if they use it regularly and consistently enough.

When we’re writing for a brand, we should always have its typical words and phrases at the ready. That way, whatever we say will feel on brand even if we haven’t nailed the tone of voice in every single line we write.

Then there are the typical ways we talk as a brand too – our language style – so we should prepare an A-Z glossary of things like how we greet people. For example, if we’re writing for a brand with a relaxed personality, we might say “hi” rather than “hello” and if we’re writing for a brand with a straighter more serious personality, we might say “thank you” rather than “thanks.”

So when you have all of that nailed, like a cheatsheet for writing for social, you have everything you need to write copy that’s always on brand.

Know your product

If we have a product, we’ll probably want to talk about it when we can. But remember, on social, we’re talking not selling – this isn’t the place for straight-up ads or announcements. Talking about our products must feel like part of a natural conversation.

Copywriting is a conversation. And it’s a conversation everywhere but, most importantly, on social. This is where brands are having conversations with people – and even other brands – live in an environment unlike an ad, a webpage or an email, so the product must feature naturally and seamlessly.

A couple of years ago, Disney launched Disney Plus – a platform for people to watch all the Disney channels – and to announce it on social, they took to Twitter and tweeted this:

Then they tweeted from each of their channel accounts where each brand referenced a product, and did it all in their brand personality and tone of voice. The tweets went on and on, and it was lovely to watch.

So when we’re writing about a product on social, we should include it as part of a natural conversation, not shoehorn it in so what we say feels clunky and uncomfortable. And when we show we know our stuff, we sound confident, so what people see is believable.

We should plan ahead too. We can plan for most events, so if we align with marketing calendars and world events, we can post quickly and effectively rather than being late to something, looking out of touch, or like we’re trying to get in on something that doesn’t suit our brand.

We can only do all of this if we’re sure we know our brand and our product. But we also need to know our followers.

Know your followers

We need to be sure our followers will know what we’re talking about, and that they’ll get it. We also need to be sure of who they are and what they’ll find incredibly interesting. They’re watching, so even when we aren’t talking directly to them, we have to make them feel part of what we’re talking about so we need to engage them with what they want to know, or what they’ll like seeing.?

We can even mirror their language – if it’s right for our brand – so they feel comfortable when they’re with us. Or we need to educate them if we’re talking about something new or explaining something, like in a reply to a question or complaint.

If it’s right for the brand, we should entertain too, so followers feel something when they’re with us. People are always watching on social media. Some people actively look for brands and follow them, but we shouldn’t take their interest for granted. We need to earn it. And keep it.

Here’s how Sainsbury’s engaged, educated and entertained their followers – and non-followers – all in one go. You may have seen this as it got loads of media attention at the time but Marty Lawrence tweeted this...

...and they replied!

And Marty replied. And Sainsbury’s kept replying. This went on and on and on. And it was a hit! And it probably made people feel warmer towards the brand even though it wasn’t speaking to them directly.

The other thing we need to know when we’re talking to followers on social is – like I touched on just before – timing. We must be sensitive to when we’ll be welcome, and when to join in. Of course, if a follower tweets us, we have permission to reply – that’s an easy one. But we can’t just jump in uninvited on conversations people are having, unless they bring us in. And we can’t post about things that affect people personally without taking a personal approach ourselves, because people don’t like it if we get it wrong.

So when we’re writing for social, we need to know our brand, know our product and know our followers so we always say the right thing at the right time in the right way.

?

Further reading: #RealTalk from Twitter

And here's Sophie Trinder and Ben Bowdler-Thomas talking about what people expect from brands on Twitter