Digital Skills - Understand Audience

An introduction to the tone of voice with s ome useful expressions The tone of voice how your business speaks – the expression of your values and identity through spoken and written language. Shortened to TOV. Conversational - This is used to describe a personal TOV that speaks to your audience in an informal, genuine and friendly way, which is especially important on social media. Feed - A list of content relevant to an individual user, that is curated for them by each social platform. It’s often created by gathering a recent selection of social posts from within that platform. Each platform gives it a different name. On Facebook, it is called News Feed. TOV Guideline Document -  A definitive description of what your business’s TOV actually is, and how it should be used. It’s designed to be shared with your employees so all communications from your business are consistent.

Build relationships with your followers Retain your new followers by keeping them interested and engaged. The more you listen to them, the more they will feel valued. Respond to people’s comments on your posts and create your own comments too. This can spark a conversation and engage even more people. For example: Imagine you run a restaurant business. Posting your opening times and prices is not very engaging content. But if you share a new dish, ask for opinions or encourage audience participation through polls, discussions, and competitions, this could lead to a more engaged, and potentially bigger, audience. Make sure to spend time with your online community to gain valuable insights into your audience’s needs and interests. This information can also help you shape your business and the products and services you offer to ensure you remain competitive. Consider your followers as a focus group from which you can gain knowledge that will inform both your business and your soc

Consistency is the key Shifts in TOV can be incredibly confusing for your audience. Once you’ve defined your voice, use it consistently in all of your communications. People need to know what they’re getting from every interaction with you – it’s reassuring and lets them know you’re a reliable business. However, while your TOV needs to be consistent, it also needs to be adaptable in certain situations. For example, you might be a fun, chatty brand. But while you might post something humorous to engage people on social media, you wouldn’t respond to a customer complaint with a joke.

Making your social media marketing more effective Understanding your target audience is key to the success of your social media marketing strategy. Remember: The social media community is vast and it can seem tempting to try and appeal to absolutely everyone. But this is not the right path to take. Engaging everyone means broadening your message and, as a result, losing your unique identity. Instead, be really clear about who you are targeting. This will help you understand how to appeal to them on social media, ensuring you engage with the right people at the right time. Go beyond their demographics and consider when and why your business would appeal to people. Focusing your efforts on the right people is the first step.  What else can you do to ensure the success of your social media activity? Let’s look at how Vihaan used a deep understanding of his audience to make more informed decisions: Toy shop owner, Vihaan, knows the importance of understanding his target au

Informing your social media marketing strategy Placing your target audience at the core of your decision-making process can inform many elements of your social media marketing strategy, such as: The type of content you post (images, videos, and blogs) The way you highlight your business’s unique identity The way you share information about your products and services The best time of day to post The best channels to post on For example , You wouldn’t advertise your Mumbai street stall to an audience in Bangalore, and you wouldn’t advertise your restaurant’s breakfast menu at dinner time. It may sound obvious, but these are easy mistakes to make when first starting out. A clear understanding of your audience allows you to use your time and energy more effectively when you’re creating your social media marketing strategy. You can plan your activity around your target audience, only publishing posts that are relevant and exciting for your audience. We will discuss how to

1. Some useful expressions 2. Why is it important to understand your target audience? 3. Making your social media marketing more effective 4. Informing your social media marketing strategy 5. Defining your target audience 6. Key takeouts Quick Links Digital Marketing      Target Audience      Social Media Marketing      Online Presence      Content Marketing Audience Traffic

Question 1  of 3 Which of these three statements accurately describes what TOV is? A by-line to include in every post, which describes your business's personality and offering An expression of your business's personality through the language you use A set list of words that businesses must use in every social media post Question 2  of 3 Changing your TOV frequently can help to keep people engaged. True or false?  True False Question 3  of 3 Creating a unique, personable tone of voice for your business can:  Help your customers feel they are developing a real relationship with you  Make your social profile rank higher in search listings Mean you don’t need to post as much visual content on your profile page Click Here to Check Answer

Q.1 Q.2 Q.3 Your knowledge check results Q.1 Which of these three statements accurately describes what TOV is? An expression of your business's personality through the language you use Q.2 Changing your TOV frequently can help to keep people engaged. True or false?  False Q.3 Creating a unique, personable tone of voice for your business can:  Help your customers feel they are developing a real relationship with you 

Key takeouts Your TOV is a key element of your business’s identity, and will help you stand out from your competitors Your TOV should be unique to your business it’s how you interact with your audience Be consistent, but give yourself room to adapt your TOV depending on the situation Create a TOV Guideline Document to share with other employees

Create a TOV guideline document It’s time for you to start creating your TOV. Think about what your business does, and the personality that best represents it and you. Start by writing down your business’s values and personality and then think more about what these characteristics actually mean. Thinking of opposites can help here. For example: Witty NOT Slapstick Friendly NOT Stand-offish Human NOT Corporate These are the most important elements of your personality to convey when writing social media content. Once you have those written down, start to think about how you can convey these characteristic’s through your TOV – how can you apply this insight to your business’s personality on social media? Equally, what should you avoid doing? We have some examples to illustrate this below: Characteristic (value):  Enthusiastic Description:  We’re enthusiastic and passionate about our products, and our customers enjoying them Do:  Show your thought leadership and what makes

Be conversational Social media is conversational by nature. People don’t want long, dull corporate messages filling their feeds – they want engaging, entertaining, informative content from everyone they follow, including businesses. So be professional, but include personality. Be friendly. Invite responses. Stay relevant and be interested in what your audience are into. A good way to start your thinking is to recall times you’ve delivered great customer service, or had a really fulfilling chat with a customer. What did you do to make that a special, or fun, experience for them? Take this style of verbal conversation and apply it to your written communication. Top tip: Remember that social media is an opportunity for a casual and fun two-way conversation with your audience. Try and avoid sounding overly formal.

Why is tone of voice important? A unique TOV helps differentiate you from your competitors. It gives your business a distinct identity, and helps build an emotional connection with your audience. Get it right and they’ll feel like they’re developing a one-to-one relationship with a person rather than a business. Your TOV also lets people know what sort of business you are and what they can expect from you. For example, a bank will often speak with a factual, authoritative and reassuring tone to let you know they are experts you can trust with your money: “Our secure saver accounts offer steady returns year-on-year.” On the other hand, a clothes store might take a lighter, more personal and conversational tone to show that they’re a fun, friendly place to shop: “It’s time to get dressed for summer – and we’ve got the latest looks!” Top tip: Think about how you speak to your customers through your traditional marketing. You should mirror this through your social media ma

Q.1 Q.2 Q.3 Your knowledge check results Q.1 Posting a funny meme which is unrelated to your business is a good way to engage with your audience. True or false. False Q.2 Why is creating engaging content important? It deepens your customer relationships and puts your business front of mind It can help to grow your business's audience. As your current audience engage with your business, your content will appear in their friends' feeds too All of the above Q.3 An effective way to engage your audience is to ask them to “like”, comment or share an interesting and relevant post. True or false? True

Question 1  of 3 Posting a funny meme which is unrelated to your business is a good way to engage with your audience. True or false. True False Question 2  of 3 Why is creating engaging content important? It deepens your customer relationships and puts your business front of mind It can help to grow your business's audience. As your current audience engage with your business, your content will appear in their friends' feeds too All of the above Question 3  of 3 An effective way to engage your audience is to ask them to “like”, comment or share an interesting and relevant post. True or false? True False Click Here to Check Answers

Key takeouts Engagement is when your audience interacts with the content you post on social media by following your business profile and commenting, “liking” or sharing your posts The more engagement you have with your audience, the better your relationship – meaning they're more likely to make a purchase The more interesting and relevant the content you post on your profile is, the more engagement you’re likely to receive Your personality can set you apart from your competitors, so make sure your content reflects you and your business Encourage audience participation on your posts, by asking them to comment with opinions, “like” or share

Encourage audience participation On social, all conversations are two-way. Your content should never be talking at your audience. In fact, the best posts often encourage interaction. To grow engagement through participation, ask your audience to comment with their thoughts underneath a post, to “like” if they agree or disagree or to leave another reaction indicating how they feel. It’s quick and easy. As long as you’re posting useful information and sharing valuable content, there’s nothing “spammy” about gently urging your followers to help grow your business awareness. For example: Jai’s regular “catch of the day” posts aren’t receiving as much attention as he’d hoped. This time he shares two very different dishes made using his catch of the day. He asks his audience to vote for the one they want to see on tonight’s menu: “Like for option one, and share for option two”. He sees a huge uptake for the second option, his Kerala Prawn Curry, and notices a few more table bookings

Use images and video To easily capture your audience’s attention, share images and video. The more exciting and engaging they are, the more likely people are to stop and look while scrolling through their feed on their smartphone or computer. Make sure you always have your audience in mind, and constantly be asking yourself: what content would be most interesting and engaging to them? Top tip: While it’s tempting to post adorable pet photos or funny memes, if these aren’t relevant to your business they may just irritate your followers. Remember to keep your content appropriate to your business and interesting to your audience.

Show your personality It’s common for businesses to feel they need to be professional and formal when talking to customers online, but remember that your customers love what makes you unique – and that’s you. Showing your own personality, expertise and opinions creates a much more enjoyable and authentic experience, and it’s this that can help to differentiate you from your competition. For example: Jai recently shared a short video of his kitchen staff picking the “catch of the day”, and to show his funny side, he included a clip of his sous-chef, Rohit, getting nipped on the finger by a crab. Showing this “real life” humour led to an increased number of shares.

Post interesting content To really drive engagement, you need to focus on sharing interesting and relevant content. Offering your audience unique articles, videos and stories will encourage them to keep coming back for more. So, always try to go beyond simply promoting your business or products. For example: Jai owns a seafood restaurant in Goa. He often posts about changes to his menu and opening times, but was receiving very little engagement. After sharing a few pictures and short video clips of his staff picking the best lobsters and cooking up a storm in the kitchen, he began to notice a spike in activity. He also noticed that people engaged more with his informational posts when they were mixed with more personal stories. Posting content that is exciting and intriguing to your audience can lead to high levels of engagement. We’ll cover off how to create great content in much more detail over the next few lessons.

Post often is the best way to engage your audience Your followers will stay interested if they hear from you on a regular basis, and the more you post, the more likely people are to see your content. The “recommended number of posts per day” is a bit of a myth. Some marketing experts advise sharing content at least once a day and some say as often as 2-3 times per day across your social platforms. The key is to find what’s right for your business. As long as you have something worth sharing, it’s fine to post. However, you should be wary of spamming your audience, as this can create a bad user experience. Think about the social channels you’re using. One may be very fast moving and suit a business that is able to publish quick, small pieces of content. Another may be slow-paced and suit a business that is more likely to publish once or twice a week. Really think about how you can keep up with the pace of the channel you’re active on. As you post, make sure to look out for com

How can you engage your audience? You’ve most likely already created great customer relationships and know how to capture your customers’ interest in the real world. In earlier lessons, we also explored your target audience – understanding their needs, interests and ambitions. This is a really good place to start when building your social presence, and we’ve got some great tips to help you keep your business at the top of your audience’s mind.

Why is engagement important to your business? The more engagement you have with your audience, the stronger your relationship. If users are interested in your business, and its content, they’re more likely to engage with you on social media. For example: Manish recently started using social media to attract new members to his gym. As he always tracks and reviews his engagement activity, he starts to recognize the names of people who like and comment regularly. When he runs classes, he also starts to see their names appear on his class list. His social media presence helped convert these passive readers to active participants. The more a user engages, the more likely they’ll purchase. Users that engage with you are likely to have your business front of mind, which means they’re more likely to purchase from you, and more likely to recommend your business to friends and family. For example: Deepak is looking to buy a new cricket kit. His brother recommends Kumar’s Sports Store

Question 1  of 3 Inviting all of your friends to follow your business profile, regardless of their interest in your business, is the best way to grow an engaged community. True or false? True False Question 2  of 3 Complete this sentence: Growing an online community is important for your business because... A large follower count intimidates your competitors It helps you build relationships with new, and existing, customers It means you don't need to deal with customer service emails  Question 3  of 3 Which of the following is least likely to build an engaged following on social media? Including your custom URL on traditional media such as posters, leaflets and business cards Creating interesting and engaging content relevant to your audience Repeatedly posting on the profiles of other businesses asking people to follow you Click Here to Check Answer