The ease of publishing content to the web has possibly created an attitude that forming an effective social media campaign involves merely gathering text and making it live with a simple click. However, as more brands discover the business potential of social networking, a company faces growing competition when entering into the arena. In this increasingly crowded field, an organisation's digital marketing director might find that crafting an engaging social media campaign is not as easy as it might seem.
Every bit of language your company puts online should be aligned with your brand's messaging, targeted goals, and SEO objectives. This is where the elaboration and implementation of a consistent tone of voice can be vitally important in achieving exactly what you want with social media.
Simply put, tone of voice is the way we say things. In a subtle manner, the tone of communications can reveal the attitudes and personality of a brand. Differentiating your company from a growing number of competitors across social media communities like Facebook and Google + can be difficult, but using a distinctive tone of voice that is true to your brand's identity can help you to stand out from the crowd.
Due to the immense amount of language flowing out of a single in-house digital marketingdepartment, it might seem impossible to regulate the style of every single tweet, status update, or comment. This is why tone of voice considerations within your overall global social media engagement strategy can be especially beneficial. For example, rather than policing every letter of content, a VP of digital marketing can work to clearly communicate the key facets of the brand's personality, and copy can flow directly from this source.
Of course, there are general considerations to think about when coming up with an appropriate tone for your social media communications. Overall, the language used on sharing services such as Twitter or blogging platforms like Tumblr is more personal and conversational. When considering tone, a global head of digital services should keep in mind the fact that most social media networks were created for individuals, not for companies. Thus, it is imperative to be authentic, approachable, inclusive, expressive, and to keep your ears open, just as you would with any conversation.
Within these overriding caveats, you can develop your brand's voice by looking at it as a personality rather than a company. Drawing upon existing messaging, think about ways to translate your identity into words. For example, a skateboard retailer might have a more playful, catchy tone of voice to have fun with its audience while an academic publisher might use more formal language to spark intellectual debates.
One of the greatest appeals of social media as a communication tool is that consumers can have direct contact with their brands of choice. If your tone of voice is inviting and appropriate to the core character of your business, then people are more likely to engage with your company online.
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