Better Social Media Connections Start with Authentic Personas

Consumers who follow brands on social media aren’t there just because they like your products. They’re looking for something more – content that stimulates and entertains and that they can engage with. Your followers are yearning for a personal connection to your brand. Are you making it easy for them?

Establish a personal connection with a follower, and you have a brand advocate in the social space. Brand advocates spread positive sentiment about your brand and drive meaningful engagement. The most successful brands on social media have an authentic social media persona and stick to it to make it easy for followers to connect and engage.

Where do you start?

To make better connections and leave even better impressions, you need a plan. Start by making consistency one of your goals. Brands without a proper social media strategy risk lack of alignment with their brand, opening the door to negative interactions, and miss out on the opportunity to consistently and meaningfully connect with their audience.

A well-crafted persona is your online voice and can be used to guide how you publish content. Social media users are served content from countless brands every day, and they build relationships with those they feel a strong connection to. While content is important, how you share it also matters. With a persona in mind, you can share content that resonates with your ideal audience. Consider how much harder your brand has to work if you’re not consistent in language, tone and voice.

Consistency Matters. 

Consistency is key for growing your engagement, reach and audience. Brands needs to be recognized by their current audience in order to attract a larger one. Establish a personality for your brand that all members of your organization can get behind. Ask yourselves, if your brand was a person, who would they be? What would they sound like? What makes them different and memorable?Are they firm? Flexible? Professional but approachable? Are they technical? Familiar? What do they do in their spare time? Can they speak in a way that’s relatable to Millennials and Gen Z? If they were a celebrity, who would it be?

Users create their own impression of your brand in their mind. Make it easy for them to imagine one that is impactful and authentic. Challenge yourself as a brand to dig deep. 

Social Media Persona. 

There are three key components to consider when developing a social media persona.

Personality: What are your brand’s attributes? Pick eight. Humanize your brand and align it with a real person, whether someone in your personal life or a celebrity.

Tone of Voice: Determine the adjectives that describe tone and how you speak. i.e. professional, approachable, humble, caring, warm, authoritative, creative, pragmatic.

Language: This describes how you carry the tone of voice. Do you use slang occasionally, or is your language very formal? What does emoji use look like for your brand’s persona?

If your brand is well-articulated, it won’t be difficult to define its persona. By consistently crafting content with a distinct and recognizable voice, you’ll start to see higher rates of engagement and more positive sentiment on social media. Pop by a few of your favourite brands or competitors you consider best in class on social media – what persona are you picking up? They’re sure to have one.

Asheley Elkin leads Revolve’s social media team, and oversees social media audits, strategies, content and engagement strategies. Revolve manages how our clients show up on social media for brands like Cavendish Farms, TIMBER MART, Kohltech Windows & Doors, Red Wing Canada, Fish Nova Scotia, Inclusion Nova Scotia and more