What would happen if you switched your brand’s logo with the logo of a competitor on your brand’s social platform(s)? Would it matter? Would the presence, outside of the brand logo, be any different?
Social media requires brands to be always on, which can mean multiple team members are often involved, the brand is creating more content more often and the brand is trying to balance “being human” with working toward business objectives. It’s no surprise that it often feels like a brand’s social presence lacks consistency and has multiple personalities, or it caters to the lowest common denominator and has no personality at all.
What’s Your Voice?
Identifying your brand’s social voice gives it a POV in the social space. It provides a defined personality with how it relates to and interacts with your audience. It also defines what content your brand is likely to create and share and the language it will use to communicate it.
These are the elements that differentiate a brand in the social space. These are the characteristics that give definition and allow the brand to interact, share and behave in a way only it can. A brand can behave like a human without forcing “brand humanization.”
A voice is something consumers can forge a relationship with and develop an emotional connection. It allows a brand to communicate its values without needing to state them overtly. It’s in the brand’s look, feel and behavior.
Grey Poupon uses phrases like “Select LIKE” instead of the more common “Like this post if…” It also uses “dabble of Dijon” and “crown of kraut.” You could take away the brand logo and still have it feel like this content could only come from Grey Poupon. The topics are relevant to the brand, but they’re not just reposted to the Page. Instead, the brand’s POV comes across with subtlety in every post.
Get Everyone on the Same Page
It’s one thing to identify the need for a social voice, and it’s something completely different to create it. However, it’s imperative to put pen to paper and lay out how the brand looks, feels and sounds if you hope to align your team and maintain consistency across social media channels and team members.
The good news is you don’t have to start from scratch. Leverage your brand architecture and existing collateral and start to identify the personality traits of the brand even if they haven’t been clearly defined already.
You can also look outside the brand to other recognizable personalities like celebrities or inspirational brands. Identify their traits, the language they use and how they interact with others.
Finally, pull it all together by identifying the grammar your brand uses, the personality traits it has and the ones it does not. You can and should get as specific as whether or not your brand goes on-and-on or is short and to the point. These are the elements a team can look to when creating content on behalf of the brand.
Who Are You?
Is your brand the social media version of vanilla ice cream, or have you defined who you are and how you behave? Consumers are online to connect with personalities, not faceless corporations. Give your brand personality. Make it stand out. Be more than “just another brand with a Facebook Page.” There are enough of those already.
