How To Humanize Your Brand on Social Media: 5 Tips
Ultimately, people want to connect with people, especially in today’s digital world. That’s why cultivating a relationship on social media with your target audiences (employees, potential employees, board of directors, investors, partners, and vendors), is a critical factor in marketing any business. The best way to do that is to speak to your audience as if you were actually having a casual conversation.
In developing original content for my clients, especially on LinkedIn, I find that humanizing their executive leadership can allow for a deeper connection and importantly, stakeholder engagement. Target customers want to know about the leaders behind a company or brand – the kind of human beings they are, including the social causes they support, issues they believe in, attitudes about ecology, and how they interface with the community. In a nutshell, when leaders show their human side, they win more fans and followers and deepen trust over time.
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Here Are 5 Ways to Humanize Your Stakeholder Communication on Your Social channels:
1. Weave Together a Personal Narrative with a Business Lesson
The best leadership lessons come from real experience. So, tie together an actual story with some tips and takeaways. Example: “I was all set to deliver a presentation to our board of directors, but out of the blue, got a case of the jitters. Getting through that moment, I learned a lot about the need for advanced research, preparation, and meditation. Here are 3 tips.”
2. Share Casual Snapshots
Most people carry around a smartphone these days. I find that when I post snapshots or a short video of a client in action – on a company field visit, meeting with their peers, exercising, or doing something with their kids – impressions rise incrementally because of that human connection. Again, people relate to people.
3. Include Personal Anecdotes and Phrases To Show Your True Personality
This can be as simple as, “In our family, we call burnout, “the stressies.” So, last weekend, as I was looking to decompress from “the stressies,” I found myself doing watercolor painting with my young daughter. It had an incredibly soothing effect.”
4. Provide Value Outside of the Business News You Share
On social media, but LinkedIn in particular, I find that when I post business news on a leader’s feed, engagement is soft; it performs better on a company page. Yet, when I make the company news less of a focus and share their thoughts on leadership, management and communication – how you do it and why – engagement rises.
5. Consistently Use Social Media to Get the Word Out
When leveraging the power of social media – think LinkedIn – consistency pays off. To build momentum, post on 2-3 consecutive days, including Wednesday, the most highly trafficked day on the platform.
If you try these tips for humanizing your brand across your social media channels, I would love to know the results you find.
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