What is brand voice? If you’re a social media manager or social media marketing agency, you know that brands have their own distinctive sound. That’s brand voice. Read on to find out why it’s important and how to create them for clients.

Businesses and social media managers alike have all seen social media accounts that are lively, with engaged followers and distinct, well-formed brands.

As much as we’ve admired those accounts, we’ve also hated them (at least a little) and been a tiny bit jealous of how amazing they are.

If you’ve ever had this experience, I’ve got good news: You can make this happen by developing your own brand voice as well as creating them for clients of your social media agency.

Crafting and maintaining a brand voice unique to your social media marketing agency is an essential part of establishing a strong social following and using your social marketing to make a bigger impact on and off-platform.

In this post, we’re going to show you exactly how to do this, look at examples of brand voices on social media, share how to develop yours, and examine the ways you can keep it consistent across your social accounts.

What Is a Brand Voice?

We all have our own “voices,” or distinct ways of talking to and interacting with others or the world around us.

Sometimes, those brands are simplified.

For example, I think of one of my best friends, for example, as the “funny one” and another as “the smart one;” one spouts off jokes in conversations like nobody’s business, while the other has enough fast facts to rival an encyclopedia. These people communicate differently.

A brand can do the same thing, only it will typically be even more exaggerated. (And a brand will need to know why the brand voice is being used. What is it conveying? What’s the
goal?)

Wendy’s, for example, has created a unique brand voice both hilarious and a little ruthless; the company frequently roasts competitors and customers alike.

brand voice example

Casper is another brand with a friendly, lighthearted voice that’s appealing to its target audience.

Casper jokes with its followers and engages passionately, and its social team is clearly top-notch.

brand voice

 

You don’t need to be a big brand with a big social team to establish an extreme voice, though.

Social media managers can create them for their social agencies and also for clients.

You need a clear voice, solid writing, and know the reasons for using the brand voice that you have chosen.

A CFO I follow has created a voice that’s positive and informational, focusing on positive potential messaging instead of just writing anxiety-inducing messages about debt and taxes.

how to craft a brand voice for social media

How to Create a Brand Voice

Your brand voice must be consistent across all platforms for it to be most impactful and help you define your brand overall.

This means you’ll want to choose a voice that you can maintain and that will appeal to your overall audience.

Here’s what I recommend considering when developing your voice and your brand identity:

What will they respond to? I know my very traditional father would probably run from an accountant talking about “abundance mindsets” and didn’t just stick to the numbers. However, as a Millennial who owns a business, I find that to be the exact content I want to see. And I’m that CFO’s audience, so it’s a good choice.

Helpful reading: How to Captivate Your Audience

What your relationship with your audience is

Insurance companies may not want to rely exclusively on hard-hitting humor because the people they’re dealing with regularly are dealing with at least some sort of hardship.

Opting for a useful, empathetic, prevention-oriented approach would typically be the way to go.

Helpful reading: Tips and Tricks for Greater Engagement on Social Media

What’s already out there

While your brand identity should be all about you, it is still important to consider what your competition is doing and how you can be different.

Being unique, if even a little, will help you stand out.

Take all of these factors into consideration when deciding what voice would help improve your relationship with your audience and keep them interested in what you have to say.conquer social media inbox with agorapulse header image

How to Keep Your Brand Voice Consistent Across All Social Media Channels

Once you’ve settled on a voice, keep it consistent and maintain it across all social channels. Here are a few ways that you can do that.

Have brand voice guidelines

When I develop social strategies from scratch from my clients, this is typically something that I recommend doing.

I compile a “guide” of the brand voice (what it is and how to use it). I’ll have examples of appropriate posts and responses, and an explanation of why they fit into the voice.

You should even consider whether you want to use emojis regularly and how intensive you want the voice to be.

Is there ever a time where the facade is dropped? If your voice is super-perky and upbeat, you may want to consider how that will come across to an enraged or distraught client.

Guidelines will not only keep you on track but also can be something that you can hand to any other team members to make sure they’re staying on track, too.


Keep everyone on the same page with social management software

When you’re implementing your brand voice, social media management software is an enormous help. Agorapulse has several features that can help you keep your brand voice on track, including the following:

  • Post review features, which allow a lead team member to review a post before it ever goes live. You can evaluate it to ensure it aligns with the brand you want to create first, even if you aren’t the one who wrote it.
    how to craft a brand voice
  • Oversight for message responses, which allow any team member (for example, you) to see what your team is responding to and how. If anything doesn’t fit the tone you’re going for, you can catch it quickly.how to craft a brand voice for social media
  • Consider using canned responses, especially for private messages and when you’re first putting the brand voice into place. Agorapulse has a Saved Replies feature that allows you to essentially create customizable templates, which your team can use as a base and tweak as needed for each response. This gives everyone a brand-safe go-to while speeding up the process.

In Conclusion

Having a clear voice for your brand that’s distinct, well established, and recognizable will work to your advantage. Your social team will know exactly how to interact with your followers on every platform, and you’ll present a united front that your audience will appreciate, especially since the voice was developed with them in mind. Remember that you can always rebrand if needed, so you can change it up and evolve your strategy as time goes on. 

 Get started on saving time and energy on your own social media management! Check out our free trial of Agorapulse to help you schedule, track, and measure all your social media efforts.

How to Craft an Authentic Brand Voice & Maintain It Across Social Media Platforms Successfully