A killer social media strategy can elevate your brand's promotional outreach tenfold. However, this marketing subset is governed by its own Emily Post-style etiquette code, of which the reigning golden rule dictates that brands must communicate as humanly as possible via their social media platforms. But a brand is not a human, so the question arises... how exactly can marketers feel more human on social media? Here are 5 easy rules governing how to bare your soul on social media.
1. Who is Your Brand?
So your brand needs to feel human online. Great. But there are many different kinds of humans out there. Which kind of human is your brand? Who are you? What are your values? What problems do you solve? How do you do what you do? Establishing the humanity of your brand is a process. Don't fear it, just jump right in.
Sometimes we have to surrender who we think our brands are to who our customers feel we should be.
You may think your brand's messaging effectively communicates your point of view, but the public may not necessarily agree. To test that you are indeed in agreement, look to the people who use your products and services. Read the reviews, both good and bad. See what people are saying when they call customer service or post on your Facebook page. Look at BrandWatch to see how people are mentioning you across multiple platforms. Use Experian Marketing Services, or a similar service, to study the personas attracted to your brand. Once you've mined that data and discovered who others think you are, marry that with who you want to be, and use your new voice to connect with these personas during future interactions.
2. Continuity Counts
We humans are each gifted one voice during our lifetimes. Though the tone of our voice may vary slightly based on the audience whom we're addressing, at its core, our voice always communicates a consistent point of view. Your brand's voice must interact on social media, and in all advertising content for that matter, with that same dichotomy; slightly varying tone to suite the specific audience, while always maintaining continuity in message. Whether you are posting on Pinterest, in television spots, or responding as a customer service agent, every interaction your brand has with the outside world, on and offline, should use this balanced voice, ensuring a seamless and satisfying experience.
3. Robots Don't Run Good Campaigns
Customers often ask brands questions on social platforms, perhaps about specific products, upcoming promotions, events, and so on. We all know there is nothing more frustrating than getting a canned response that doesn't even feel remotely like the answer the question needed, and on social media, spotting those generic responses is seriously simple. While, yes, it's a good idea to automate initial responses to these sorts of tweets or posts, promptly notifying the customer that you've seen their question and an answer is on its way, keep that promise. Always follow-up inquiries like these with specific answers, penned by real, living, breathing customer service agents to better help your customers feel heard. To make this easier to manage, remember that you don't need to be on every channel. Use only those that speak to your brand audience, lend themselves to your brand voice, and that you have the resources to fully support.
4. Troll Patrol
As the above section notes, succeeding in the social media game relies heavily on your ability to provide personalized customer service. Now, say your brand is under attack by, oh I don't know, a pesky hoard of online terrorists, a.k.a. Trolls. What do you do then?
If your followers post comments mostly profiling problems with your products, fix them. Then take to those platforms where people lodged complaints and communicate that the problems have been remedied. Engaging with your customers in this vulnerable way, showcasing that your brand is open to change sparked through social interaction, enables your brand to further cater to its customers' needs and further validate the notion that you exist to solve their problems. These actions tell your customers that you take your mission seriously, and are willing to take action when necessary to better serve their needs.
5. Play with the Rules
As marketers, we have all felt that push/pull, on occasion or frequently, with Legal, the department tasked with protecting us from offending the masses with our broad outreach. The immediacy of dialog between your brand representatives and followers on social platforms especially can increase tensions with Legal. To ease this tension, educate yourself and your team on the legal boundaries in existence. While we certainly would not advocate letting legal overrun your brand marketing, Legal has certain requirements, especially in markets governed by FTC, FCC, or SEC rules they must abide. So, let Legal establish the rules and then operate within those rules. As long as you avoid Legal's "no go" language or claims, you should be able to speak to customers at their level free from drama.
All in all, social media outreach may feel tricky, but as long as you stay true to who you are as a brand and engage with your customers at that human to human level, you're sure to succeed.