New social media platforms appear pretty often, and for each new platform that attracts thousands of users, there needs to be a strategy tailor-made to reach them. Now, here’s the catch, every platform has different requirements - Twitter limits you to 140 characters, Instagram focuses on photos and videos, and LinkedIn users will shun you for talking about anything that isn’t a cheesy motivational quote.
So, let’s have a look at the ways you can stay true to your brand voice, whilst following the unwritten rules and regulations of these channels.
Know yourself
Thanks, DJ Khaled.
This is probably one of the most important aspects in having consistency across social media platforms.
What’s your brand's voice? How do you address your customers? Are you ‘down with the kids’ and an absolute savage to your customers, like Wendy’s burger bar? Or are you calm and authoritative, much like Microsoft, or IBM?
Now, this should’ve been figured out way before you launched yourself into the social media world (which obviously, you’ve already got totally sorted), as it makes it a heck of a lot easier to write copy and create content. This will also help to prevent the temptation to jump on any trends that may not be relevant to your company. For example, we probably wouldn’t see Channel 4 news talking about Kim Kardashian at the beach on Twitter. Sorry, Jon Snow.
Know your audience
Let’s have a look at United Airline’s recent big mistake (well, one of them anyway), they seemed to have thought that they could get away with using the phrase “re-accommodate” (I suppose it does sound better than violently force. Hey, maybe they shouldn’t have done it in the first place?) on a platform like Twitter, whose users tend to favour colloquialism and personability.
Was Twitter happy about this? Twitter was not happy about this.
This doesn’t mean that you should change your brand voice for every platform, but rather that you give consideration to who's engaging on that platform before crafting your message. So that meme that did really well on Instagram? Probably best to leave it off LinkedIn.
If you know your audience for each platform, you’ll be able to create content that reaches each customer, while still remaining coherent to your brand identity.
Keep your look consistent
You have a lot of control over the design of your social channels, from banners, to profile pictures, to colour themes, and even down to the theme of the media you use. If people know your logo, and the colours most commonly associated with your brand, this should make it super easy for them to find you on social media.
Your Facebook profile picture should be the same or very similar to all your other profile pictures, regardless of the nature of the site. The same goes for your banner. You want this to be instantly familiar, so your customers know who you are the minute they see you, no matter what platform they find you on.
Your Facebook profile picture should be the same or very similar to all your other profile pictures, regardless of the nature of the site. The same goes for your banner. You want this to be instantly familiar, so your customers know who you are the minute they see you, no matter what platform they find you on.
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