by Fiona BeckettSocial media offers exciting new potential for all businesses large and small. It is one of the most popular online activities and current projections expect c 3.1 billion users worldwide in 2021 (about 45% of the worldwide population).
It's not surprising then that customers increasingly have an expectation of being able to research and engage with a brand or business using social media and companies not servicing these channels will be falling short.
Most people think of a business’s brand being all about how it looks on paper or on screen - the logo, it’s colours, the tone of voice. For social media you want to bring the brand personality to the fore - is your ‘sociable brand’ serious in tone or light hearted? Are you wanting to be fun and entertaining with content or more serious and positioning the business as thought leaders?
Innocent use a light hearted tone and talk to their audience about topics often unrelated to their product which keeps their followers engaged.
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To understand the right tone of voice for your brand think about who you want to talk to and your ideal customer. How do they like to engage?
By profiling your audiences and building out a few ‘user personas’ you can really get under the skin of what makes them tick. How do your interests overlap and on what subjects could you connect?
Farrow and Ball know their audiences love interiors and home design so they create content around this.
Take a look here at their clever take on #BlueMonday.
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Remember, no one is going to want to follow you if your content is always tring to sell your product.
Create content that will be useful to your followers - it could be tips on how to use your product, how other people are using it or even highlighting trends within your industry.
Think about how you can associate your business with subjects on social media where you know your audiences hang out.
Take a look at Hobbycraft who know that parents find it hard to keep their children entertained during the holidays and have cleverly tapped into that conversation with ideas to keep them busy.
Once you’re clear on your ‘sociable brand’, who your target audience is and the kind of content they’re interested in, you can choose the social media channel/channels to suit.
Twitter offers you a more conversational style of conent, where as Instagramfocussing more on curated images. Ensure you put your effort where it’s likely to have the most impact.
Here we explore choosing the best platform for your business.
Maybe* hosts a library of articles each covering a bite size piece of learning so you can lean in where you need the support most in the time you have available.
Use our channel 'getting started' guides if you're brand new to social media.
Getting started with Instagram
If you're already using these platforms but are looking for support to work your channels harder, check out our 'Getting better on Social Media' guides.
