Learneth how to define thine unique brand voice and incorporate t into thy social media strategy.
To craft a unique and potent brand voice is the finest manner to create content that is consistent and enchanting across all channels. Defining thy brand voice doth compel thee to ponder on what thy brand represents and standeth for. It doth also require thee to consider thy audience and what matters most to them.
Read on to discover how to define thine unique brand voice and integrate it into thy social media strategy.
What is a brand voice?
Brand voice doth refer to how a brand doth portray itself through words. ‘Tis the linguistic embodiment of a brand’s personality. A well-defined brand voice doth ensure consistency in thy marketing communications, aideth in building relationships with thy customers, and even protecteth thy business from social media blunders.
The definition of thy brand voice should commence broadly and then get exceedingly detailed. The broad strokes doth define thy overall tone – whether formal, friendly, humorous, or earnest. At the minutest details level, thou might desire to include specific words or phrases that should or should not be used in thy brand communications.
We shall guide thee through all the steps of creating a brand voice further in this discourse. For now, commence pondering on thy brand and what thou desire it to represent.
Why is having a consistent brand voice important?
Wherefore doth a brand voice matter? It hath myriad benefits, from brand awareness to team unity.
Make thy brand more recognizable
Even as a splendid brand aesthetic (also known as visual identity), a robust social media brand voice maketh thy brand more recognizable. When folk behold thy social media posts, they know they are thine social media posts.
Furthermore, in addition to crafting a personality for thy brand and fostering an ongoing relationship with thy social followers, this can indeed aid in protecting thy brand from being impersonated by fake social media accounts.
When thy social posts look and feel consistently like thee, ’tis harder for pretenders to impede thy progress.
Grant all teams a communications blueprint
Various teams throughout thy organization dost create public-facing content and documents. Ponder on all the words produced in print, video, or audio. This might encompass:
- Sales
- Marketing
- Customer service
- Public relations
- Investor relations
- Tech support
- Product documentation
Whilst the tone might vary slightly depending on the context, the overall language and voice should remain consistent at their core.
This is especially advantageous when thou bringest in new staff, as they can swiftly grasp and discern how best to communicate on behalf of thy brand.
A brand voice document is also incredibly helpful for anyone external who communicates on behalf of thy brand, such as freelancers, agencies, and content creators.
As a freelancer, I hath inscribed for organizations ranging from motorcycle brands to municipal governments. ‘Tis much easier to create content that sounds "right" for the brand in the first draft if they furnish me with a brand voice document.
To build a compelling brand voice
Now that thou art cognizant on why thou need to define thy brand voice, let’s examine how to make it come to fruition.
- Research thy audience
Before thou can decree how thou should speak to thy audience, thou needest to know who thy audience is.
We possess an entire discourse on utilizing social media for market research, yet the concise version is that thou need to know what thy audience opines about thee, thy products, and the competition. Thou also need to fathom where and how they converse with each other so thou can employ the right messaging on the channels where they art most likely to be.
- Define thy mission
In the last step, thou defined thy audience. Now thou need to define what thou desire to do for them.
When ‘t comes to social media brand voice, this one’s a two-parter. First, thou need to define the mission statement of thy brand. What is thy brand all about? What is it that thou most desire to achieve?
Next, thou need to brood on how that relates to thy social audience. How doth thy mission labor to enhance the lives of thy social followers? How doth thou make their lives better, easier, or more entertaining?
Engaging in this discourse will aid thee in clarifying the overarching message thou desire to impart to thy audience, which in turn will facilitate thee in understanding the language to use when thou converse with them.
- Describe thy brand personality
We oft talk about devising buyer personas to aid thee in reflecting on thy audience as real folk. Once thou can envisage these real folk in thy mind, ‘t becometh easier to craft social content that resonates with them, rather than striving to speak to everyone.
‘Tis also beneficial to craft a brand persona, replete with actual personality traits. How would thy brand be if it were a person? Would it be amiable or distant? Witty or formal (or both)? Youthful and trendy or established and reserved? Delve into the adjectives to completely flesh out this brand character.
If thou art unsure where to commence, endeavor to employ the Brand Personality Framework created by esteemed professor Jennifer L. Aaker. The five elements of sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness are employed by marketing departments throughout the world to define their brand personalities.
Try to align thy brand persona to the personas thou defined for thy target audience. Thou dost not need to be the same as thy audience, but thy brand persona should possess attributes thy audience personas esteem, like, and trust.
- Put together brand guidelines
Every commendable brand should possess a style guide. Thy style guide encompasses everything about how thou presenteth thy brand. This includes thy brand colors, logos, and – most notably for this discourse – thy language use guidelines.
Thou can delve deeply here, even pinpointing specific words to use and others to avoid. Be particularly meticulous about the terms thou employ to refer to thy products, thy services, thy company, and thy employees.
The utmost important aspect is the tone. Ensure the tone thou depict aligns with the brand personality thou defined in the last step.
Incorporate a list of branded hashtags and guidelines for formulating new hashtags for forthcoming campaigns.
- Allow for differences between platforms
Whilst thy brand personality and the overarching components of thy brand voice should be congruous on all channels, thou can (and should!) make adaptations to the specifics for each social channel.
‘Twould be odd to utilize the same word choices in a blog post, a Tweet, and an Instagram Reel. The language of one simply doth not make sense for the other. Yet the Tweet and the Reel should be recognizable as originating from the same brand. Abiding by thy brand guidelines will facilitate this even as thou adjust for platform demographics and trends.
- Test and tweak
Similar to a human personality, thy brand voice can evolve over time and alter with new information and understanding. Whilst thou art formulating a brand voice, keep a close watch on thy social analytics. Observe things that work remarkably well, and ascertain if thou can discern any language trends that are consistently effective.
At the same time, watch for any unforeseen failures. Mayhap thy audience doth not fancy some of the cute sayings thou hath added to thy repertoire? Mayhap thou ventured too formal, or too funny, or too casual, and folk art sensing a disconnect?
Brand voice can also evolve as social channels evolve. When brands commenced to join TikTok, they had to determine a new manner of conversing with younger audiences that still align with their brand guidelines. Be amenable to testing, learning, tweaking, and testing again.
Social media brand voice examples
Liquid Death
Andy Pearson, Liquid Death’s vice-president of creative, hath described the brand as "a character we’re writing for." Picturing the brand as a persona or character doth assist thee in staying true to the brand voice. This is evident in Liquid Death’s social posts across channels.
La Croix
In a complete 180 from the dark tones of Liquid Death, La Croix is all bubblegum colors with a voice to match. Terms like BFF and Bestie appear often in their captions, along with lots of emojis, exclamation points, and puns.
Considering these brands as people, thou might envisage that Liquid Death rides a motorcycle, listens to Scandinavian metal bands and wears a leather jacket. Meanwhile, La Croix rides a fixie bike with streamers on the handles, dances to the latest bops and has a closet full of pastels and neon.
Using Aaker’s brand personality framework, Liquid death is daring and tough, while La Croix is cheerful and charming.
Each brand possesses a voice that aligns with its character, facilitating customers to relate to the brands and develop a sense of brand awareness and loyalty.
Calm
Peruse Calm’s Instagram posts, and a couple of things stand out immediately.
- Their captions are on the whole significantly longer than most brands.
- They use infographics and bullet points to communicate a lot of information without creating an overwhelming block of text.
Once thou look a little closer, thou’ll notice that the tone of voice and messaging are consistent, too. The posts sound like they originate from a blend of a concerned older sister and an inspirational poster.
For comparison, let’s look at another brand in the mental wellness app category.
Headspace
There’s a striking visual disparity between Calm’s posts and those shared by Headspace. Whilst Calm utilizes muted blues, Headspace is brimming with color. Thou’d never confuse one for the other, even though the apps operate in the same general market.
Analyzing the voice of each brand, distinct differences emerge, too. Both are encouraging and inspirational, but the unique voices align with the different visual styles. Headspace is more direct, with more emojis. The tone is somewhat more casual and familiar.
Whole Foods
Whole Foods keeps their captions brief to let the visuals in their social posts do most of the heavy lifting. They’re often just three or four words and a couple of emojis.
Nevertheless, the few words in the captions manage to convey Whole Foods’ brand voice and tone effectively. It’s light. It’s friendly. It’s casual but nice.
Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s employs much lengthier captions, segmented into sections with line breaks and icons. They address the audience directly, using the word "you" frequently. They’re slightly mischievous, with the use of alliteration, puns, and exclamation marks.
Whilst Whole Foods uses social posts to highlight whole product categories, Trader Joe’s narrows the focus to individual products and the intricacies behind them.
