Social media is the noisiest place on the planet. Every day, there are over 1 billion Facebook posts and 400 million tweets. If you're straining to be heard amid the social-media din, try using one of your most powerful marketing assets: the voice of your brand.
A great brand voice is so well defined, customers can recognize it anywhere. This helps build trust between marketers and customers because people know what to expect. Using the voice of your brand in a social-media setting can help you be more recognizable, more relevant and more successful with your communications. Here are five tips to help you develop your brand voice:
1. Define your brand. What is your company about? What value do you—and only you—bring customers each day? This is the foundation for building a distinctive brand identity that sets you apart from competitors.
2. Pinpoint your brand attributes. Think of the adjectives that best describe your company and how your customers feel about you. Are you smart, helpful, savvy, friendly, warm, expert, sophisticated, elite? Use these characteristics to shape how you want to be perceived.
3. Use social-media real estate wisely. Most social media platforms give you a place to profile your company. This is prime real estate for branding. Select a single visual icon (your logo?) for use across all social media. Use every opportunity to personalize your pages with consistent messaging and visual imagery.
4. Be real. On social media sites, you should be immediately recognizable to people who know you from elsewhere. Authenticity is crucial. Adopt a tone and style that match your brand persona. Speak in your natural voice as if you were in the presence of a client or prospect.
5. Strategize your content. Great content drives social-media success. What do your social-media followers expect from you? It is very important to develop a plan for creating, curating and sharing high-value content that showcases your expertise, supports your brand position and makes your voice one that others want to hear.
