It needs to be personal. It needs to be engaging. It needs to be real!

Your social media efforts need to work hand in hand with your web content efforts, your email marketing efforts, and any traditional media efforts; all your efforts are about consistency and the ability to get your message to the audience via the channels they prefer. To that end, a commitment to SMO means a commitment to working across channels to execute a comprehensive strategy and achieve agreed goals.

Put a face on your brand.

People like to have something to talk about, but even more, they appreciate having someone to talk to.
In the field of social media, finding your voice is one of the most challenging topics, but it’s not easily quantifiable. There’s no statistic to track or feature to tweak. This classic soft skill requires the right person. The skill isn’t easy to teach, but it’s something you can practice. With planning and practice, you’ll get better at speaking in an authentic

Social media is personal, and people are very good at detecting fakes. When people ask questions, lodge complaints, or comment on specific items, you need to respond with genuine concern and willingness to listen.

On social media, you don’t broadcast; you engage.

Engaging means taking a personal interest in what your users have to say. No one wants to be talked to like he or she is merely a dollar waiting to be spend. Don’t speak like a brand trying to sell. To succeed, make a human connection.

What’s the personality of your brand? Playful?Authoritative? Maternal?

Your brand personality should be reflected in your social media voice.

If your brand is playful, your social media publishing and engagement should also be playful.
Whereas voice can usually be characterized by the simple adjective, a tone is a different matter. The tone of your posts needs to reflect the audience being addressed and may playful, if a customer has a complaint, your tone must not be frivolous. Your brand has one voice, the button must vary as circumstances dictate. This concept is easy to grasp but hard to enforce. Your social media team needs to understand the importance of projecting a consistent presence for your audience.

Your voice doesn’t change.

Your tone adapts to respond to the audience and the circumstances.
In formulating the guidelines for your social media interaction, try looking at the issue from four angles:

Brand personality:

What feeling does your brand want to communicate?
This feeling should be expressed as a simple adjective: playful, expert, helpful, and so on. This feeling is your overriding personality that influences all your communications.

Tone:

Define the tone to be used for various tasks. Your tone may be informative, sympathetic, or humble, depending on the circumstances.

Language used:

The words and phrases you use in your communications should reflect the words and phrases used by your audience.Although you want to set global parameters in this area, you also want to make an attempt to be flexible and mirror the language patterns, specific users, when you’re engaging one-on-one.

 

Purpose:

Always ask yourself “What is the purpose of this communication?” The answer will influence your choice of tone and language and help you communicate more effectively.

 

If you get your approach right, you’ll find that people start to do some of your marketing for you. Sound too good to be true? It’s not. When you speak to people in a voice that resonates with them, they ‘re more likely to repeat what you say to others.

 

// Rikard Lindholm