ID3AS Blog

Establishing a consistent Social Voice can take your marketing efforts from mediocre to amazing! Building your Social Voice should be a key part of your social media marketing strategy, however, it’s an aspect that is widely overlooked among brands. 

What is Social Voice? Your Social Voice is the overall defining sound of your brand personality. It’s your brand’s human element and is created by naturally engaging with your followers. Nobody wants to follow a business that is constantly forcing their products and looking for dollar signs; your followers crave authentic communication. This is why it is crucial to establish a unique voice and to be consistent when using it across your social platforms. 

Finding a voice for your social marketing can be a challenge. It is not a statistic that you can track or a design element that you are able to tweak. However, as is life, if you can be thoughtful, deliberate and consistent when developing and practicing your Social Voice you have the power to obtain tremendous benefits and the engagement results that your brand needs. 

Voice Versus Tone and Why They Matter

When developing your Social Voice it is important to discuss your Social Tone as well, these two go hand-in-hand and are often used interchangeably. To break it down; your Social Voice can be described in an adjective, and your tone is the application of that adjective. There is one voice for your brand, and your tone refines that voice. 

Creating a voice and tone that work together for your company not only humanizes your brand allowing you to naturally take part in the conversation with your followers, but it can also lead to your followers doing your marketing for you! Sounds too good to be true? It works like this: When your customers are charmed by both your content and your voice, they often return with positive feedback for your company. This can be in the form of their positive reviews, creating new organic content, or positive word-of-mouth. All of which deliver your message and reach current and potential customers with real feedback that they can trust.

D3’s Helpful Tips to Establishing Your Social Voice

1. ​Know your Adjectives: Think of your brand as a person. What words would be used to describe them? Sit down with a list of adjectives and narrow it down to the five perfect words that would describe your brand. These adjectives and characteristics should then resonate in everything you do. From your website to email responses, your voice should be consistent and match the adjectives that you have chosen. 

2. Avoid Jargon: When you use jargon and buzzwords on social, you are alienating a large portion of your followers. Like we said, your followers crave authentic communication and they don’t want to think about what you’re trying to say. Jargon masks real meaning, and it’s important to write like you speak to keep the conversation casual and meaningful. 

3. Stop Sensationalism: Bringing followers onto your website and socials with clickbait ultimately deter them from your brand, often to never return. Using terms such as ‘best’, ‘top’, ‘only’, and ‘worst’ only sets your readers up for disappointment when you fail to meet their expectations. While more people might click on your posts it will only be short-lived and result in the loss of potential customers. 

4. Be Consistent: Consistency is key while exercising your Social Voice, especially when you have multiple people managing your accounts. Perhaps you have one person writing content for your site, another person handling everything social, and yet another person composing emails. That’s a lot of voices. Therefore it’s vital to set the standard and define what singular voice and tone your brand will use as inconsistencies can be self-sabotage. 

5. Listen & Respond: Posting is good and it’s important to keep an updated feed not letting your social accounts go without content. However, engagement is even better. When you keep a real and worthwhile conversation going with your followers, you’re showing them that you’re there and want to get to know them better. Stay up to date with what your followers are saying by monitoring your social accounts and reduce the wait time on responses and keep your followers happy. 

With so much commotion on social media, it can be difficult to stand out. Your Social Voice is the framework for all of your content, and it’s critical to be perceived in a deliberate way. Everything that you post is part of an ongoing conversation. Boost your engagement by exercising your Social Voice and including your followers in this conversation.