How to Find Your Social Media Voice (+ A Free Worksheet)
Do you know why some brands have such an epic social media following? Take Taco Bell, for example. Their food is mediocre at best. Yet you talk about awesome brands on social media, and they always take the cake.
Why is that? Well, because they post tweets like this:
Time will heal a broken heart, but Taco Bell will heal it faster.
— Taco Bell (@tacobell) May 12, 2015
And not just occasionally. Consistently.
DiGiorno is similar. Who really thinks that they’re better than delivery? No one, that’s who. Especially if you’ve got a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza coming from Pizza Hut. Nothing is better than stuffed crust from Pizza Hut. But their social media presence is awesomely obnoxious and it makes you love them.
Things better than pizza: 1. 2. 3. — DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) April 25, 2015
Even General Electric has been able to get lightbulbs and whatever else they sell an enormous following on social media because of posts like this:
Who knew #efficient energy solutions could look this good? #wind pic.twitter.com/C5a4cVYtro
— General Electric (@generalelectric) May 13, 2015
These brands have gone to great lengths to perfect their social media voices and gain a loyal following who loves them because of it.
And today, that’s your job as well.
Self-promotion (or any kind of promotion, really) can be weird and sometimes our words and sentences can come off stiff and unlike how we normally speak. Finding your social media voice and sticking to it helps all of your posts to be cohesive, sound exactly like you, and not be overly promotional.
This fantastic Entrepreneur article says that “your company’s social media personality should be your company’s corporate personality after exactly one beer” and I couldn’t agree more. You want to be comfortable, friendly, welcoming. Social media is about lead attraction, so be your awesome self and attract some leads!
So how do you go about finding your social media voice?
1. Act like you’re talking to a friend
For some reason, so many people adopt this whole “other persona” when they’re online. They think that they must be someone different from who they really are when they’re on social media for their business.
Don’t do that.
In order to really develop a consistent social media voice (and to really allow your audience to get to know and love you), then you need your voice on social media to be the same as you speak in real life. You are trying to attract new readers, clients, customers, friends, or whatever it is that you’re trying to attract. So be yourself! Let your people get to know you.
In order to make your social media posts sound as natural and you-like (yes, I’m making up words, but go with me here) as possible, imagine that you’re speaking out loud to a friend each time you create a new social media post. This will help you to write down the most natural thing that would actually come out of your mouth.
You won’t have to do this forever, but continue to use this trick until you really feel comfortable with your online voice.
2. Think about your natural voice
What does it sound like? If you were to sit down and pick three words to describe your voice, what would they be?
And now think about it the other way. What are three words that do not describe your voice at all? Three words that describe the type of voice that you try to stay away from when you’re speaking?
Keeping these adjectives in mind every time you’re posting to your social media will help you to stay consistent with your voice and brand.
3. Try this exercise
Answer these questions with your own personal voice. Are you cheeky? More straight-forward? Super serious? This will help you to see your own voice in action and allow you to create social media posts more naturally.
1. Think fast. What do you do if a zombie broke into the room right now?
2. Caption this image:
3. A fellow blogger/business owner has just given you the compliment of a lifetime. How do you respond?
4. When someone lands on my blog/website, I want them to _____________________.
5. When there is no food in my refrigerator, I want to _____________________.
6. If you try to wake me up in the morning before I’m ready to be up, I will _____________________.
7. If I could only watch one video for the rest of my life, I would want it to be a video of _____________________.
8. If my workspace isn’t immaculate, _____________________.
9. My blog/business is important because _____________________.
10. List 5 things that your blog/business values.
By using the last question, what does your blog/business value, you’ll be able to determine your unique qualities and you should use those to help you and your voice stand out.
Take all of the answers that you write down and use them as a guideline for your social media voice. You want all of your Facebook posts, tweets, Instagram captions, blog posts, YouTube videos, and more, to have obviously been written/spoken by the same person.
Want to do these exercises and find your own awesome social media voice? Download this worksheet to follow along.
P.S. What keywords describe your own voice? Mine are cheeky, supportive, and friendly.
P.P.S. Why You Need to Brand Your Blog Post Images & What to Post on Each Social Media Outlet
15 Comments
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Devan Danielle
Loving this Chloe! I was just talking branding with another designer the other day, and we got on this subject of a brand's voice. You are spot on with just tweeting / posting like you talk in real life. I said the same thing about a brand. It's a lot easier to inject some of you in your brand / be your brand vs trying to be a brand that you're nothing like. At the end of the day, it's better to just be our own voices + brands! :) Ps. This quote is amazing: “Your company’s social media personality should be your company’s corporate personality after exactly one beer.” Going to check out this article next.
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Chloe
Yes, you are so spot on! Especially if we are our business, then there's no reason to act like anyone other than ourselves!
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Jessica
Oh my goodness...THANK YOU!! This is such an amazing post. Will be sure to share. xoxo Jessica
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Krista
Oh my goodness, so glad I just found this post! I definitely struggle with sounding like myself on social media and your example with "Wow, check out this awesome tutorial..." is totally something I'd post on social media, but not something I would say. I'm definitely going to start saying my posts out loud. Thanks for the tip, Chloe! :)
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Chloe
Hey Krista, thanks for your comment! Saying my posts out loud definitely helps me out a lot as well. :)
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Emmaly Knecht
This was a great article, I always try and follow trends but I am becoming more comfortable just being me. I am funny and outspoken, damnit I should be that on twitter too!! Though sometimes wit in 140 characters is tough.
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Chloe
One liners are one of my favorite forms of humor, and those are perfect for Twitter! :) Let the world see YOU!
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Aishwarya
Hey Chloe! This was simply perfect post.! it clearly gives the true idea of social media content. the worksheet has been helpful. the quote “your company’s social media personality should be your company’s corporate personality after exactly one beer”.. so true. someone aptly explained that.! Cheers !
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Barbara Schmidt
This is really helpful. I see so many posts of people I know personally where I think "you would never SAY that".. I think I have to work through my own posts now to see where I make the same mistake :) Thanks Chloe!
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Cheryl Lengemann
Great Post. Thanks!
Comments are closed.
Holly
This is a great post, Chloe! I've been thinking a lot about my social media voice recently and I've just printed the worksheet to fill in. Great resource!