7 Steps to Creating a Consistent Brand Voice on Social Media

7 Steps to Creating a Consistent Brand Voice on Social Media

Managing social media is a very important but time-consuming task for any online brand.

Chances are that in order to be sufficiently present and in contact with your audience,  more than one person is managing your brand profiles over multiple platforms. 

As a result, the tone of voice and general feel of your brand is not consistent, and as a result, your users may have a hard time relating to it. This is because, on each platform, or even on the same one, your brand may be displaying a communication style that changes on a daily basis.

Social media allows for brands to become personified through the use of text, images, and video, but if these tools are used inconsistently, then the personality you are trying to display is going to be confused and unclear. 

How can you manage your social presence, so that your business presents itself in a more consistent and convincing manner? At the end of the day, a brand is a promise of consistency.

Well, it’s actually quite easy to do that, by following our 7 steps to creating a consistent brand voice on social media. 

With no further ado, let’s dive into it!

#1 Define Personas

The first step to managing your brand voice consistently is to clarify the audience you are talking to.  

Identifying the recipient of your message is essential to creating effective communication strategies.  

In general terms, when segmenting your audience it’s important to realize if you are approaching your online community because of some “descriptive” elements (age, income, area of residence, etc.) or if instead, you are focusing on the “job” they are trying to get done, for instance, finding a suitable dress for a cocktail party, looking for a specific construction tool, or, more simply put, finding a solution to a problem they are experiencing. 

Understanding how you are going to identify your audience is a challenge in itself, and if you’d like to read more on the topic, here’s an article that helps you avoid the most common mistakes when defining your audience. 

Make sure you are running a meeting with your team, so that every person knows the essential traits and needs of the users you are targeting with your social media communications.

Unless you have defined your audience, you can’t progress onto the next steps, but if instead, you are able to identify your users confidently, then you should move on to step 2.

#2 Define Tone of Voice and Use of Jargon

The next step is defining your tone of voice. What is the purpose of your interactions on social media? Is it to inform? To educate? To persuade? 

Do you use a particular jargon to get your message across? Are you using your local slang? Are you being very formal in the use of language? 

It’s time to notice what kinds of decisions you may have already made on the topic so that you can pinpoint the specific mood of your communication, and keep it consistent. 

Of course, we don’t mean to say that the tone of voice or approach to communication can’t change over time, but you should still be aware of the “norm” so that more sales-focused communications can fit better into your general community conversations.

#3 Define Sentence and Paragraph Lenght and Use of Emojis

Moving into a more practical aspect of the tone of voice consistency, pay attention to what we call “syntax” or your style and sentence structure. 

What is the average length of your sentences? How many lines make up your paragraphs? Do you use a lot of images or emojis? Which ones?

Again, paying attention to these details will allow your users to better identify your communications and posts in their feeds, as they’ll be able to notice these small, but meaningful structural elements that connect to your brand.

#4 Establish How and Where to Use Call to Actions

What about the call to action? When is it a good time to push for a sale?

When is it that your copy should compel your users to buy?

If your social media communication revolves around call-to-action messages, it’s a good idea to define when and where those messages can be more likely to be found.

This is also helpful to make sure that your social media communication does not become to sales-focused, as social media works best when users are able to process the information without being prompted to buy at every scroll.

#5 Establish Grammar Consistency Rules (UK vs. US English)

Spelling, punctuation, and some other writing formalities differ from the US to the UK.

It’s important what type of English language format you are using. In general American English is more commonly found on social media if you are addressing an international audience, but using British English can still help add an additional nuance to your brand’s persona.

As for the rest, when you choose one of the two, stick to it.

#6 Define Hashtag Use and Branded Hashtags

What about content circulation within the platform? Well, hashtags can help you get a more organic reach to your posts, but they do need some hard work as well.

Focusing on the most commonly used hashtags will not keep your posts fresh for very long, and developing branded hashtags too soon could not achieve any tangible result. 

Spending time to create a good mix of broad, medium, and niche hashtags to use more frequently can help your brand succeed in attracting a wider audience.

#7 Define Design Guidelines with Colors, Fonts, and Logos

Last but not least, make sure you are setting clear design guidelines. Define the particular RGB color of your pictures and color palettes, define your logos and fonts.

By doing so, each individual who will be posting on your social media will be able to create consistent content, able to bring your brand to life.

Here’s a summary of the 7 topics we have discussed in this post. Now that we’ve touched upon all relevant matters, it’s time to draw a few conclusive remarks.

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Conclusions

There you have it! In this post, we’ve covered 7 steps to creating a consistent social media voice for your brand.

As we’ve seen in the post, there is no magic trick, it’s just a matter of paying attention to detail and establishing clear guidelines for your team to follow. 


If you’d like to learn more on the subject, here’s a book we recommend reading on the subject that can help you go more in-depth on the best practices of social media: Social Media Strategy: Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations in the Consumer Revolution

Moreover, don’t hesitate to visit our blog, where we’re sharing a wealth of information on how to approach social media management successfully.

If you’re interested in learning more about Content Marketing, don’t hesitate to take a look at our course “Content Marketing for Creative Rockstars“. Our short and to-the-point, online class covers a wide range of topics spanning from developing blog posts capable of driving profitable traffic to strategies for getting strong conversion rates on your landing pages. Here’s a link to the course, if you use the discount code BLOG20 you can access a 20% discount. Enjoy!

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7 Steps to Creating a Consistent Brand Voice on Social Media In this post, we're looking at 7 simple steps to making sure your brand voice stays consistent in social media.
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