Social media: Finding the right tone of voice for each platform

With around 3.2 billion users of social media worldwide (about 42% of the world) an optimised social media marketing strategy is a great way to connect with consumers and build your brand identity. To do so, it’s important to maintain a consistent voice across every social media channel, while taking advantage of what each platform has to offer.  

Here we’ll explore the right tone of voice for the three main business social media platforms, giving you some pointers on how to best get your message across to your audience.

Brand voice and social media

Your brand voice comes down to your business’s identity. However, each social media platform is unique and users will have different expectations. While it’s important that your identity remains recognisable across multiple social media platforms, you can tweak it depending on the platform. Use your social media accounts as an opportunity to show off different aspects of your brand’s personality.

Facebook

A whopping 32.7 million Brits use Facebook and it is currently the most popular social media platform globally, so it’s really important for your business to get the right tone of voice when sharing content on this site.

Facebook is the best social media site to use an informal, playful and engaging tone of voice. Aim to be personable, friendly, and humorous when crafting updates. A Facebook content strategy including images, blogs, competitions, well-chosen memes, Facebook Live, and helpful advice is a great way to build consumer engagement and target potential customers.

Twitter

Twitter is all about interaction, so your tone of voice should be human. Being bold can be profitable, although it’s always best to err on the side of caution, especially when commenting on anything political. 

Your Twitter marketing strategy should take advantage of Twitter’s features, including images, hashtags, threads, polls, and questions. Since retweets can help your content reach a much wider audience, driving traffic to your business in the process, it’s definitely worth spending time thinking about how you want your Tweets to be received and how you can encourage them to get shared.

Are you creating opportunities to interact with your followers? Does your social media presence encourage interaction? Responding to social media interaction lets you take control of your brand image, increase consumer engagement, and helps you reach untapped markets.

LinkedIn

A strong LinkedIn marketing strategy is important for B2B companies, which can naturally profit from marketing on the site. On LinkedIn, you’re selling your business and the people behind it, rather than the product or service that your business provides. Optimising your presence on LinkedIn can help you to find high-quality B2B leads and strengthen your brand identity along the way.

Given that LinkedIn is a professional networking site, it’s best to keep your tone of voice reasonably formal. The type of content that you share needs to reflect the professional focus of the site. Show off your industry credentials, share articles, webinars or expert opinion. Leave the memes to Facebook!

Instagram

Instagram is all about pretty things and good aesthetics. People may think that Instagram is just for younger people but it’s a great tool for showcasing your products and services to the world for free. All you need to crack this app is good quality pictures and a light hearted, inviting tone. Use the captions to ask your customers questions and share updates, don’t forget to use hashtags – it’s okay to go wild with them. 

Make people want to click on your page by using features such as Instagram Live, IGTV, polls, questions and mini quizzes on Instagram stories. Having an Instagram Business account makes it really simple for your customers to shop for your products directly from the app. The e-commerce functions in the app lets you promote your business and creates an easy shopping experience.

If your business gets their tone of voice right when using social media, you can build strong and organic relationships with consumers that will serve you well for years.

Learn more about how to grow your business with digital marketing.