Great Examples of Social Media Voice

I read a great article from Marketing Land called 20 Great Social Media Voices (And How To Develop Your Own). As a marketing and social media specialist, I have learned voice is very important. Whether you are an organization or an individual, you need to have a consistent voice that represents who you are as a brand.

There are a few things you need to answer to figure out your voice:

1. Who are you? (Executive Summary/Bio/Descriptive Words)
2. What do you stand for? (Mission statement/Values)
3. What do you do/bring to the table? (Products/Services/Expertise)
4. What do you want to accomplish? (Goals)
5. What mediums are you using? (Social networks)

Who are you?

Executive Summary/Bio/Descriptive Words

Who you are is your summary. What is your history? What are some words that describe you? What qualities do you have? If you are a company, you should already have an executive summary, a mission statement/values, and products/services as part of your standard business plan. As an individual, you should have your bio, mission statement/values, and expertise spelled out for your personal brand. If you are missing any of these items, stop what you are doing and focus on items 1-3 first.

What do you stand for?

Mission statement/Values

As any good business person knows, the mission statement drives everything you do for your company and for personal brand regardless of your background and what you have to offer. For example, let us compare two Accountants who both have 10 years of experience, went to the same college, and live in the same city. Accountant A values honesty, integrity, and patience while Accountant B values knowledge, organization, and efficiency. Accountant A is going to get his job done by taking his time to get the right numbers and if he makes a mistake or if something goes wrong, he is going to take ownership and do the right thing. Accountant B is going to do his job by making sure all the information he needs is there in an organized fashion so he can do his work in the most efficient way possible. Both have similar credentials, right? But their values are what will drive and differentiate them. That is the start to finding your voice.

What do you do/bring to the table?

Products/Services/Expertise

What do you want to accomplish?

Goals

Once you’ve figured out items 1-3, you need to decide what you want to accomplish and how.

What mediums are you using?

Social networks

Social media is a form of marketing, customer service, lead generation, communication, etc. Some social media networks are better for posting lots of information, while others are better at facilitating communication. Decide based on items 1-3 what your social media focus will be. Do you have a lot of customers who want more information? Are you looking to connect with a new market? Are you launching a new event that you want to generate WOM? Whatever your goals are, make sure you pick the right channels to accomplish those goals. Keep in mind things like Twitter only allows 140 characters to get your message across; or that Pinterest is a visual way to connect with your audience. Do your research so you know what channels are best for you and your goals.

Creating your voice

Now that you’ve figured out items 1-5 you can create your voice. For example, you are the owner of an ice cream parlor who makes out-of-the-box flavor combinations with lots of toppings using all-natural ingredients. You value the unconventional, strive to be environmentally friendly, and want to drive innovation. You describe your business as eclectic, experimental, and environmental. A lot of your customers are on Facebook and Pinterest and they love seeing the creations you come up with and what inspired you to come up with them.

Facebook lets you tell a story (Timeline) and gain feedback from your customers. Pinterest lets people visualize your story and share your brand. You decide you are going to focus on communicating with your customers to see what they like, don’t like, what ideas they have, etc. on Facebook. On Pinterest, you are going to create boards of your ice cream flavors and toppings, combinations you recommend, combinations your customers created, what inspired your creations, etc. For both channels, you decide your voice should be the same as how you describe your business: eclectic, experimental, and environmental. Now you’ve got the basic tools to create your own social media voice. Like I said, there are great examples in the Marketing Land article (see link above).

I also recommend you check out some of my personal hometown favorites:

• Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants Facebook and the individual restaurant social media pages (visit the LEYE website for the list of restaurants. There are over 80 restaurants to choose from so take your pick!)
• Chicago White Sox Twitter
• Chicago Blackhawks Pinterest

Related articles

• 5 Ways to Position Your Brand for Pinterest (news.terra.com)
• 21 Social Media Marketing Statistics (itzblog.typepad.com)
• “Fueling” Social Media (howtosocialnetwork.com)
• The Rise Of Visual Social Media (updigitalmarketing.wordpress.com)
• Using social media in your business (mamapreneurblog.com)
• Social Media ROI: How To Define a Strategic Plan (searchenginewatch.com)
• 9 Pinterest Board Ideas for Content Marketers (contentmarketinginstitute.com)