Do you want to be a brand that is boring and bland on their website, blog, and social media?
I hope not. Instead, ensure that your brand invests some time, resources, and money – so your brand voice and tone across your content efforts is consistent and enjoyable.
Here are five things to consider as you plan your voice and tone and how it will work across your marketing channels:
The Style Guide: When it comes to revising your brand voice and tone or starting from scratch, it’s important to consider a style guide that your company can follow. This allows your team to ensure they are speaking the same language and not telling a different story across channels.
Be Consistent: Having one tone on your website and another on your blog, may be confusing to some. Although there may be a different audience reading your blog, it is important that both audiences can tie the two to your brand and not feel that the two experiences are disconnected.
Relax on Social Media: Channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram are much more relaxed. Brands should be human, casual, and talk like you would to your friend when conversing over dinner. It’s not meant to be strict, restrained, and forced. Instead brands should consider using each of these channels as the audience does. As a human, which some brands like Tory Burch do very well.
Tweak as needed: Although it’s important to be less “stodgy” on social media, each channel is different and it’s ok to make tweaks as needed. For example your brand may be more formal on LinkedIn, but more conversational on Facebook. That’s cool. Just keep a consistent voice across each about the type of content you are putting out, and who the brand stands for.
Community Management: Sometimes, the style guide gets lost in translation, especially when someone else is handling the community management. Whether it’s a freelancer, a new employee, or a 3rd party, it’s important that the voice and tone is communicated to those people. Some brands have done a great job of letting community managers have their own voice, which may differ from the brand. For example if there is a mascot for the brand, sometimes they may take on a life of their own, which is awesome and audiences may interact even more with the brand.
Not sure if your tone and voice fit the brand or if it’s resonating with your audience? Do a test with a small group to see how they react first, then spread across to your broader audience. Especially if you’re considering a rebrand, it’s helpful not to completely shock your current audience, which favors you. Gently nudge them in the new direction and see how it resonates to test and learn what works best for your current and future branding.
Further Reading:
https://www.distilled.net/tone-of-voice/
http://www.themuse.com/advice/4-steps-to-finding-your-brands-voice
http://meetcontent.com/blog/creating-a-social-media-style-guide/
