What is your business tone of voice? Is it something you’ve consciously thought about and developed? In today’s guest blog, Claire Fryer from One to Three Marketing Solutions tells us exactly why business tone of voice should be at the front of your mind (and your communications!). And if you want to read more about developing your brand and refining your messaging, have a read through our Definitive Guide to Starting a Small Business.
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Social media tone of voice refers to the persona of your social media accounts. It’s the way you speak to your audience, and it affects how people perceive you and your business. When you first set up, chances are you didn’t think to much about brand, or business tone of voice, or persona – you were likely in a whirlwind of getting started and juggling what feels like a million balls!
Taking a step back to consider your ‘business tone of voice’ is a really worthwhile exercise, one of the areas where this is important is on your website and social media content.
Ask yourself how you want to be perceived, professional, expert, warm, fun, organised, approachable, busy… the list of possibles is almost endless. There is no right and wrong but please remember to be authentic. Pretending to be someone you are not is never a recipe for success.
Be authentic
For example, I run my business alongside my best friend Lisa. We set up our business almost 12 years ago and one of our main aims was to be able to work around our children. We have made a conscious decision over the years not to grow beyond the point of us not being able to deliver the majority of our work ourselves and we also decided to work primarily from home.
We have never pretended to be anything else – we don’t need to be seen as an agency with a fancy office and staff – we are truly ‘us’ and authentic. Our tone of voice is expert, fun, approachable and supportive. We remember this in everything we share and because it’s truly authentic it’s not that hard!
Be sensitive
Another really important point here is to be sensitive to the wider world when it comes to what content you share and your tone of voice.
One example I can give is when we were put into Lockdown in March 2020 one of the first things I did for my clients was review the content scheduled to go out on their social media platforms in the coming days and weeks. It wasn’t the right time to talk about events, holidays or the time to be share jokes or be too ‘light’. Lots of businesses I follow did not do this and I believe it was quite damaging to their brand.
Another example is on anniversaries such as Armistice Day and 9/11 – the overall ‘tone’ online is sombre so sharing anything that goes against this can feel very tone deaf.
Careful planning
The key here is to plan your content with not just your own objectives in mind but what is happening in the wider world. By all means schedule some posts but be aware of when they are going out and if the world turns upside down (!) be ready to review.