Happy New Year’s Eve and Welcome All! Brand Yourself in 2019!

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Brand Voice – Should It Remain the Same Across All Social Networks

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How is your brand personality determined?

It is largely determined by the words you use in communication, as well as the kind of sentences you write. Your brand voice reveals whether your brand is corporate, academic, deadpan, grave, serious, witty, funny, clever, and so on.

When defining a company’s brand voice, the problem is that rigid guidelines can stifle you. Your brand’s personality has to appeal to different people in different locations, so like a human personality, it has to retain some elasticity. Like, a central character that can convey a message in different tones. For example, your blog posts may appear enthusiastic and professional, while the promotional copy for your social media shares should probably be less enthusiastic.

Here’s what you should know about ways of using your brand voice across different social networks.

1. Instagram

Instagram is the place for B2B and B2C companies. On this platform, you can drive brand engagement and awareness with positive visuals and copy. Thus, on Instagram, you can use the classic marketing tone.

On Instagram, the line that divides branded content and UGC (user-generated content) is quite blurry. Also, it is more challenging to spot Ads, especially from influencers with undisclosed relationships with brands. When it comes to hashtags, Instagram is quite friendly towards the use of hashtags. According to SproutSocial, about 80% of all users follow at least one brand, while 7 out of 10 hashtags on Instagram are branded. It means that you should be as clear as possible about what you want your followers to do – click the link in Bio, tag a friend, or swipe up for a free trial if you are running ads.

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2. Facebook

Facebook is an exciting opportunity for any brand being that it’s the most extensive social media network in the world. With 2.27 billion monthly active users, it’s very challenging to stand out and maximize your reach. You need a distinct brand voice and identity.

What makes an effective Facebook copy? It should be accessible, familiar, and slightly informal. Unlike Twitter or Instagram, Facebook’s user group is more intergenerational. That’s why the emotion that dominates the platform is nostalgia. The content that can recall the “golden years” of your readers resonates best, whether you want to reach out to Millennials recalling the 1990s or Baby Boomers.

On the other hand, if you can’t appeal to nostalgic content, you can use particular calls to action, such as – join the debate, develop an opinion, and inform yourself. Have the copy tell your audience that there’s a larger conversation happening without them. Facebook audiences want to be entertained, so hit them with your most potent and most human content.

4. Twitter

Active Twitter copy is quick and witty. There is so much conversation happening so fast that brands often can’t move quickly enough to keep up. It is the platform of instant information, and people there want to know what’s going on this very second. Twitter is no place for old news. That’s why you should use it to experiment with your brand voice because Twitter users appreciate a more daring and experimental voice. If you have any humorous and funny content where you’re trying out some jokes, you should use Twitter as your experimental ground.

If all you’re sharing are dull press releases, people most likely won’t follow you. Better have something funny or something valuable to add to a conversation.

5. LinkedIn

According to Pew Research Center, LinkedIn is mostly used by people in the 30-49 age range. Most of them are college graduates in urban areas. The number of LinkedIn users increased to 500 million between the years 2016 and 2017. Being a professionally-oriented social network, people go there to look for jobs or to offer them, as well as share valuable content. That means that your LinkedIn copy should take the readers straight to the point, without beating around the bush. The competition is a lot less fierce than on Facebook, but you’ll still need to give a fresh and unique angle to your material to attract your audience.

To conclude, your brand voice does have to stay coherent across all social media channels. However, every social network is specific and attracts different people. The best brand voice strategy is to have an inner brand voice, but deliver your messages and engage in slightly different tones that resonate the best on each social network.

So in the coming in NEW YEAR, make sure you Brand Yourself effectively throughout Media and Social Media TOO!

Please visit my friend Jason of StrongSocial for more amazing tips and articles all of 2019! Cat