9 ways to humanize your brand with social media
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9 Ways to Humanize Your BrandWith Social MediaBy Ishita Ganguly
Published April 7, 2015
Do you want to build stronger relationships onsocial media?
Do you know where to start?
Engaging with your social audience on ameaningful level, helps humanize your brand.
In this article you’ll find nine ways to makeyour brand more human on social media.
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Discover how to humanize your brand w ith social media.
#1: Show a Sense of HumorHumor is an easy and effective way to connect with your audience on social media.The three factors to keep in mind when using humor are fun, information and control.You also want to make sure that your humor doesn’t hurt other people .
Use humor to connect w ith your audience on social channels.
Zomato has mastered the art of using humor in their social channels. They have a
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unique and entertaining way of communicating with their audience, as you can see inthe pizza graphic below. Zomato’s ability to use humor effectively is one reason theirposts get such high engagement.
#2: Use Everyday LanguageMany people join social channels because they want to be entertained. They don’twant to listen to business-speak and industry jargon while browsing their Facebooknews feed.
To better connect w ith your audience, talk to them the same w ay you talk to your friends and family.
For example, look how Levi’s responded to a happy customer’s shout-out in the postbelow. They could have replied with something like “Thank you” or “Keep motivatingus.” Instead, they simply said “Noted!” which gave the response a witty tone and feel.
Speak to your customers in the same way you’d speak to friends.
#3: Blend Online and In-Store ExperiencesBusinesses often struggle with how best to merge their online and offline activities.One approach is to create an offline experience that’s as close as possible to theonline experience.
For example, Nordstrom has a strong Pinterest community of 4.5 million users. Tobridge the gap between their physical store and website, Nordstrom uses Pinterest to
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identify items popular with social followers, and then they highlight thoseproducts in the physical store . This way, customers in their physical store knowabout the most pinned products.
#4: Engage in ConversationYour audience wants to be heard when they approach you with a question or concern.But you can also talk to people just for the sake of interacting with them. Smallgestures can go a long way toward building rapport on social channels.
Interact w ith customers to make personal connections on social media.
HubSpot consistently connects with their audience in a personal way. A satisfiedcustomer posted the tweet below, recommending HubSpot to her Twitter followers.HubSpot thanked her for the endorsement, making her feel valued as a customer.
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#5: Acknowledge MistakesIt’s okay to demonstrate human qualities when managing your social channels. If yourcompany makes a mistake, acknowledge it and be transparent to your customersabout what you’re doing to fix it. Owning up to mistakes shows we’re human.
In the Facebook post below, a customer reported a delivery issue with a Flipkart order.Flipkart immediately responded to the complaint, asking the customer for moreinformation about the order and offering to look into the problem.
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When a customer reports a problem, respond immediately and explain how you plan to address it.
This type of gesture calms down angry customers and builds trust between them andyour brand. It helps to demonstrate to customers that you value them andyou’re listening to what they have to say.
#6: Sign Your PostsAdding a poster’s name to your social updates is an easy way to put a human face toyour brand. The idea is to give your audience a clear picture of the person they’retalking to, making the interaction more personal.
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Add a name to social posts to add a personal touch to your brand.
This is a new trend in social media marketing, and many businesses are already doingit. For example, this Facebook update from Chipotle Mexican Grill includes the nameof the poster.
#7: Provide SolutionsIf you understand your audience’s pain points, you can more effectively connectwith those people on social channels. Provide solutions to some of those painpoints and your audience will start looking at your brand in a more friendly way.
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Provide content that addresses your audience’s pain points.
Business Insider understands the pain points of their audience and creates contentaccordingly. The post below links to an article that explains how to tactfully exit aconversation, which appeals to Business Insider’s target audience.
#8: Surprise CustomersWe all love surprises, especially when they come from people we like. Just as in reallife, you can make your audience happy on social channels by treating them tosomething special.
Morton’s The Steakhouse surprised Peter Shankman when he tweeted that he wishedhe could get a porterhouse steak at Newark Airport. He tagged Morton’s TheSteakhouse (@Mortons) in the tweet and playfully asked them to meet him at theairport. To his complete surprise, Morton’s was there with a steak.
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#9: Develop a Unique VoiceEach person has a way of talking that makes him or her unique. In the same way,brands need to create their own personality on social media.
Create a unique voice for your brand on social media.
Adidas has done a great job developing a unique voice, and if you follow them closelyon social channels, you can see that their tone is both authoritative and motivating.These attributes have helped build Adidas’s social media persona into something theiraudience recognizes and appreciates.
Conclusion
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Social media marketing is all about connecting with your target audience. Somebusinesses do this effectively, and some do not. The reason that some fail is that theytalk to their audience in a businesslike way, rather than connecting on a human level.
To build more meaningful relationships on social media, you need to humanizeyour brand.
What do you think? Have you tried any of these tactics to connect with yourtarget audience? How do you humanize your brand on social media? Pleaseshare your thoughts in the comments below.
Tips for humanizing your brand w ith social
media.
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Tags: brand v oice, branding, branding strategy , build relationship, customer serv ice, humor, ishita ganguly , social media branding,
social media humor, social media personality
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Ishita Ganguly
Digital marketing s trategis t by prof ess ion. Cur rently exper imenting
w ith soc ial media and mobile content marketing at TechShu.
A naly tic s is f un f or her as she gets ins ights to serve her readers
better . Othe r pos ts by Ishita Ganguly »
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Vikas Pratap Singh • a day ago
Awesome tips Ishita! Companies are so afraid of talking normally to their customers that they always seem veryrobotic and sales-like. Don't know why are brands talking to them like they are a robot who wants to read yourcorporate speak?
Your customers are human. Your partners are human. Your employees are human. Even your social media fans andfollowers are human. Humanizing your brand is a requirement, not an option if you want to survive in business today.
Personally i love the second option of humanizing. Speak in a tone, words and rhythm your customers, partners andsocial community can understand.
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• Reply •
Ishita Ganguly • 9 hours ago> Vikas Pratap Singh
Thanks Vikas for the kind words. :) △ ▽
• Reply •
Chris Syme • a day ago
Great tips--love this. I saw one the other day that really made sense: Use pictures of real people using products inyour ads instead of just studio shots all the time.
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• Reply •
Ishita Ganguly • 9 hours ago> Chris Syme
Thanks Chris :) Glad you liked the tips. △ ▽
treb072410 • a day ago
Great share Ishita, thanks for sharing the tips. Very useful.
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• Reply •
Ishita Ganguly • 9 hours ago> treb072410
Thank you :) △ ▽
• Reply •
Tony Paille • 14 hours ago
Fantastic tips! Here's one of my favorites. Stop cross posting automatically to your different accounts. In mostcases, your audiences will have unique tastes and interests across different social media platforms. Cater yourposts to these unique audiences for a more personalized feel.
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• Reply •
Ishita Ganguly • 9 hours ago> Tony Paille
Thanks Tony. △ ▽
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