The voice of your social media says a lot about your brand. The tone and content of social media messages should align with your overall industry and goal. Your social media accounts should serve a larger purpose while offering value to followers. No two social media personalities are the same – how can you make your accounts as unique as your product? Here are four potential voices for your account.

 

1. All Business

For more serious brands and industries, social media can provide a great platform to provide information for loyal customers and promote your brand. But it doesn’t have to just be about you: use this chance to provide industry news, share interesting articles, and share sales and promotions. Content is king here!

 

To do:

• Vary the content provided
• Share information in the industry. Your followers want more than just your company
• Give regular product updates

Need inspiration? Check out Rite-Hite on Facebook for industrial expertise.

 

2. The Nurturer

Many companies struggle to maintain quality customer service. Social media offers a way to react to issues and celebrate small wins in a timely manner, demonstrating that you care about the customer’s experience with your product. A nurturing social media voice demonstrates integrity; your customers want a personal experience. Using this voice helps you show how much you care about each individual customer.

 

To do:

• Be sincere! You have to prove that you do care
• Understand the customer’s experience
• Know when to take it offline: DM sensitive information and info that could look negative
• Celebrate wins! You should have crisis management but also thank customers that share accolades

Need inspiration? Check out the Twitter account of Southwest Airlines, recognized for their commitment to customer service and caring responses.

 

3. Work hard, play hard

The middle of the road voice lets your followers see a little bit of humor and lighthearted content while still providing the meaty information that they need. Being able to balance both more serious voice with intermittent humor can be difficult, but it’s definitely possible!

 

To do:

• Mix up the content
• Have light humor and provide more than just product focused posts
• Know when to be serious

Need inspiration? Ford is on Instagram to share product updates while maintaining light humor. A break from all product-focus can be a good thing!

 

4. Smart and Sassy

Up for the challenge? This is the social media voice that depends most on timing and humor. This voice features a great deal of sarcasm, occasional puns, and friendly competition, all in good fun. The Smart and Sassy account should make references that are relevant and timely. Depending on your brand, this could be an opportunity for a little risqué humor. This voice helps provide humorous content, making it easy to garner likes and followers.

 

To do:

• Use pop culture references
• Vary the content: GIFs, emojis, and Boomerang, oh my!
• Encourage friendly competition and rivalry
• Keep it light

Need inspiration? Taco Bell’s twitter account has more than enough sass to go around.

 

 

These four voices aren’t even the tip of the iceberg- feel free to mix it up! Your voice should be as unique as your company. Make it personal, but maintain your overall goal: provide quality content that’s relevant for your followers.

 

The voice of your account can also determine how you’ll react to issues. For more info on crisis management, check out this post on Social Media Mishaps. Your reaction (and apology, if necessary) should maintain your brand’s character while working to resolve the issue.

Valerie Kukla is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduation, she will be working in the retail industry in the Kohl’s buying office. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.