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.

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.

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 a...

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...