Hello Everyone!
In my last Blog I talked a little bit about the first couple Social Media Best Practices according to the website Sprout Social. I told you guys that I would be posting the rest of this information in my next blog so here it is… I hope you all enjoy and that you find it helpful.
The second best practice that was stated according to Sprout social is: 2. Consistency is Key to Your Brand Voice. The website went on to say “
Defining your social media personality isn’t uncommon, but you must keep it consistent. Maintaining your brand voice helps boost engagement, trust and reliability. Without consistency, you give a lot of room for error in communication between your brand and customers.
In fact, an Oracle report found 43% of social media users only interact with brands to get a direct response to a question or issue. This means people will often come to your brand for a simple question or concern. The key is to be consistent with your brand’s messaging and voice.
Why are users so cautious with your brand? It’s due to the fact so many people have felt tricked or swindled about information on social media channels. Contently found roughly 66% of internet users have felt deceived by a brand through sponsored content, video or social post.
You lose the trust of your audience when you change your brand voice and you’ll see it first in your follower count. Our Sprout Social Q3 2016 Index discovered 41% of social media users have unfollowed a brand due to posting irrelevant information. This means you have to diversify your content without being too promotional.”
It is important to remember not only how to make your brand voice unique, but also how a business can maintain their brand voice on social media. The website goes on to talk about a few areas to stay consistent with in order to maintain your voice and presence on social media. These areas are:
- Replies
- Call to Action Phrases
- Captions
- Social Media Bios
- Direct Messages
- Visuals (Text on Visuals)
- Ads & Promotions
- Hashtags
If you go on to read the article on this website it talks about the third Best Practice. The third best practice is…
3. Leave Bae & on Fleek to the Teens
The website said,
“As we mentioned before, there’s a thin line between being a comical and offensive brand online. One way to avoid being in the news headlines for your social media is to not jump on the latest trends before doing your research.
Unless you manage social for companies like MTV or Teen Vogue, your brand really has no business using trendy slang or internet terms. This makes you seem out of touch and hurts engagement.
annoying actions brands take sprout index example
Don’t believe us? The same Sprout Q3 index discovered 38.4% of social media users said using slang or jargon was the most annoying action from a brand. To add to it, 29.9% said they would unfollow a brand for using slang or jargon on social media.
Being an embarrassing brand on social isn’t as hard as you think. The same index found 71.3% of people have unfollowed a brand due to embarrassment. It’s actually pretty easy to seem out of date on social, so always treat your audience with respect.
What Slang Says to Customers
Whether it’s bae or on fleek, your brand only hurts audience engagement when you go the route of using slang on social media. Here’s a few things it says to your audience when you use slang:
You‘re out of touch with your demographics. This comes off as abrasive to several users. Most know they’re being marketed to, so respect your audience by avoiding gimmicks to reach them.
You’re willing to risk funny for cultural insensitivity. You might not realize certain slang, jargon or social memes are meant for certain cultures. Abusing them for marketing purposes can turn off an audience immediately.
You’re pretending to be something you’re not. It’s always a great social media best practice to be yourself. That means follow your brand values, know your core audience and steer clear of quick marketing ploys that could turn off your current customers.”
These are all very important things to keep in mind when looking at and evaluating how you approach your social media. If you are looking to grow your business voice or just your personal voice on social media, then it would be smart to apply these Best Practices. I will be posting about the last two Best Practices in tomorrows blog. I hope you all enjoyed and stay tuned for the last two Best Practices.
Website Link: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-best-practices/
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