Having an online presence is a crucial part of any business strategy, and being available online can move your business from “just OK” to becoming a go-to resource for your community.
Although people love connecting with their favorite brands on social media, it takes a highly catered and personalized content strategy to develop an engaged audience on social media platforms of any kind.
Today, brands need to put in a lot more effort to create content that entices users, builds up their brand’s overall trustworthiness and authority, and gives them a reason to come back for their services later.
Many online relationships today start with a free sample or service that introduces people to your business, without them knowing they’re interested yet and without brands cold-selling their products to unwanting customers.
Brands want to bridge the divide between their expertise and their target market in a way that attracts and compels individuals to trust and advocate for their work, bidding others to join in on the conversation through developing social channels.
So, how do you build a brand that’s unique? It starts with a “voice”.
The difference between voice and tone
Building a brand often starts with a few brainstorming sessions which generate ideas that lead to people getting behind one idea to build a business. In today’s economy, one of the first steps is buying a domain and setting up hosting.
Your brand’s voice determines how people will perceive your company’s personality, and your tone is how every communication or piece of information is delivered.
Think of a character that resembles your company’s core values and mission statement as your voice, and the tone the character uses will change according to the situation, but a customer will always be able to appreciate the character’s special traits and resolve to help them with whatever issue they have, thus reinforcing their trust in your brand.
How to Create a Durable Brand Voice that Supports Your Mission
1. Identify your current voice/tone
As with the rest of your visual brand guide and strategy, you need to make sure all your communications are coming out exactly the way you’d want them to, this includes social media posts, email, blog posts, and any other form of written or verbal communication.
Take care to create documentation that describes your brand voice in the same way you describe your brand’s visual and content guidelines.
Make sure this material is readily available to those who might need it the most, such as customer service representatives, visual designers, product managers, and writers. This will serve as a reference for those who write in the brand’s voice, whatever the case.
Studying your brand’s current voice/tonality will help you identify what’s not working in terms of achieving that customer engagement which should be top priority.
2. Identify your audience
Use language that resonates with your target personas. This means adapting your communication style so that it resonates with a particular group of people. Use your mission statement to clearly communicate your goals and help people understand what you offer, what you stand for, and what they need to know to move forward.
What are the demographics for your ideal audience? Envision yourself as a person coming across your brand for the first time, and ask yourself: What do I want to accomplish?
3. Choose your marketing strategy
Social media is a mean driver of leads which can effectively become your biggest marketing asset in your quest to build up your brand.
Many factors will decide whether or not you should invest in a social media marketing strategy, but the following questions can help you identify some of your audience’s pain points and intentions when seeking out services such as yours:
- Is my target audience actively on social media?
- What are their demographics?
- Which social media channels do they frequently use?
- What strategy will work best for my brand?
Study your audience to get a better understanding of their goals, who they are, and what they want to accomplish through your brand. Treat social media as a tool to discover new trends across your industry.
A final word
Developing your brand’s voice is all about reviewing your company’s current language and making adjustments that will cater to your audience’s specific needs.
People want to be heard, understood, and most importantly, validated.
As blogging becomes more and more popular, it becomes tougher for small businesses to stand out from all the noise that’s happening right now on social media.
People are taking to the internet to build their own brands from the comfort of their own homes, and social media often becomes a great sourcing tool that allows business owners to find the most suitable candidates to help propel their brand forward.
You can also read up on our top ways to build a brand for small businesses.
Guest post contribution by Wally de la Rosa from Money.com
