Decisions to Consider When Crafting a Social Media Brand Persona

Social media marketing is a back-and-forth; it’s a kind of conversation between a brand and its customers. Traditional marketing is more of a one-way communication, but with social media, you aim to make meaningful connections with your target audience.

To do that, however, we must first recognize that human beings tend to connect more effectively with human traits. It’s a challenge to feel a connection with a logo or a product. As such, businesses that experience success on social media humanize their brand.

When we give human traits to our brand on digital platforms, we develop our social media brand persona. Your social media persona will determine who connects with your brand and how easily that is accomplished.

The first step to developing a social media brand persona is determining the persona of your potential customer which is also referred to as your target market. Once you’ve identified the demographics that are most likely to become paying customers, you will have a better idea of what they’ll respond to in terms of your own brand’s persona.

Your brand’s persona is a combination of human personality traits that your brand will adopt with each digital communication it makes. Essentially, it’s a human face you put on your brand each time it interacts with customers.

Crafting a social media brand persona

A business that has set out to launch a marketing campaign on social media will face several important decisions to determine its brand persona. The decisions include:

• What is the overall tone or voice of your brand?
• What does your brand’s persona look like?
• Will the use of humor benefit your brand?
• Do you think your audience will respond to specific values?
• What motivations move your brand?
• Does your brand have a particular style?

What is the overall tone or voice of your brand?

Your brand’s voice is how you sound online. It’s crucial to get this right, and that means considering your target audience. What kind of voice would your market’s demographics best respond to?

Take, for example, Keebler. The name is synonymous with cookies, and it invokes comfort, happiness and joy. As such, their brand voice is kind, generous and optimistic.

Source

What does your brand’s persona look like?

Think of your brand’s persona as a fictional character. What does it look like? What kind of clothes does it wear? What is its profession?

It may feel silly, but it has been enormously successful for many brands going even further back than digital media. Many companies have shown us a physical representation of their brand’s persona. Think of Colonel Sanders, Flo from Progressive or even Mr. Clean.

In developing your brand’s persona, it’s important to note that while it’s good to nail down some physical features to help develop your voice, you don’t necessarily have to depict it to your audience as the above brands have.

In short, pinpointing some physical traits of your brand will help you to carve out that persona and keep your voice consistent.

Will the use of humor benefit your brand?

Humor is like the gold standard of social media. Nearly everyone responds to humor in some way or another, making it a powerful tool for marketing.

Many social media users share content they find humorous, which can help to expand your reach exponentially. However, humor is not for every brand. For some, like Netflix, it works well:

Source

For other brands, it may not. A custody lawyer, for instance, may feel it’s best to refrain from a humorous social media persona.

Do you think your audience will respond to specific values?

When you consider your target market, do activism and a social conscience resonate with those types of people? Is your audience concerned about climate change? Do they speak out about human rights or current events?

If your audience is likely to respond to a socially conscious brand, you might consider incorporating activism into your brand values.

Take a look at how openly Ben & Jerry’s social media discusses their own values:

Source

This approach has been an ongoing win for Ben & Jerry’s but it may not be right for your brand. Consider the fact that voicing controversial opinions can bring a lot of hate as well as love, and it can alienate large swaths of potential customers.

Every brand has values, and yours is no different. Incorporating those values into your social media campaigns is a great way to connect with like-minded people, even if you don’t get quite as controversial as Ben & Jerry’s.

What motivations move your brand?

Your business has goals and targets like any other. But what motivates you to want to hit those targets? Why was your brand founded in the first place?

For a business like Oak & Willow Eco-Friendly store, TikTok has been the key to success. By producing short videos on how to go zero waste, this brand has erupted with       new business. Check out this video they’ve created that saw over 3 million views.

You can see that the Oak & Willow brand persona is purposeful, informative, helpful and socially conscious, and you can instantly understand the motivations behind the business.

Does your brand have a particular style?

Many brands stick to a style guide for posting on social media, so each communication with its audience is consistent with all of its other branding. Consistency helps to solidify your brand’s persona and build trust with those who follow you.

As an example, a brand with a clear style guide is the renowned makeup brand, Charlotte Tilbury. Just one quick glance at the brand’s Instagram feed returns images with lots of pinks and golds. The fonts used in each post are all streamlined, and the persona is clear.

Charlotte Tilbury’s beauty marketing agency has done a spectacular job of creating a style that returns to a 1920s-esque opulence and luxury with hints of old Hollywood glamour. It's infectious and visually stunning, and judging from the brand’s $2.5 million-dollar year in 2021, its online persona is working.

Keep your brand’s social media persona consistent

Now that you’ve established your brand’s online persona, it’s time to make use of it. This persona should ooze from every post and every comment. It should be apparent on your website and any email marketing campaigns you send to your customers. Your brand’s online persona should be felt in your marketing copy, in your graphic design and in your fonts, colors and styles.

Once that persona is out there, people will begin to connect with your brand and you’ll see just how positive an impact a solid brand persona can have.