10 Social Media Challenges Healthcare Communicators Face: Part 2 - Maintaining a Consistent Brand Voice
In our previous post, we discussed the challenge of low engagement on social media. Today, we’ll dig into another equally important issue: maintaining a consistent brand voice.
What is a Brand Voice?
You might not have considered brand voice in your communications before, but it’s essential for building a strong online presence. Think of your brand voice as your healthcare organisation’s unique personality and character projected through communication. It’s how you speak to your audience, the tone you use, and the overall impression you leave.
Just as individuals have distinct personalities, so do brands. Your brand voice might be:
Friendly and approachable: like a trusted friend offering guidance.
Professional and authoritative: like a respected expert in the field.
Warm and compassionate: reflecting empathy and understanding for patient concerns.
Innovative and forward-thinking: highlighting your commitment to cutting-edge treatments and technologies.
Humorous and light-hearted: if appropriate for your audience and services.
The Challenge: A Fragmented Message
A consistent brand voice is the cornerstone of a recognisable and trustworthy online presence. It fosters credibility, strengthens relationships, and builds trust. However, maintaining consistency across platforms and amidst the fast-paced nature of social media can be challenging.
Common Issues:
Inconsistent Messaging: Different team members may adopt varying communication styles. For instance, one might use overly technical language, while another opts for a casual tone, creating a disjointed and unprofessional image.
Diluted Brand Identity: Variations in tone, style, and visuals can make it harder for your audience to identify and connect with your organization. A fragmented presence across platforms can confuse your audience.
Erosion of Trust: Inconsistencies in messaging may undermine your credibility, making your brand appear unreliable or inauthentic.
Solutions for Maintaining a Consistent Brand Voice
Develop Clear and Comprehensive Brand Guidelines
Define Your Brand Personality: Translate your organisation’s mission and values into a distinct personality. Are you warm and compassionate? Authoritative? Innovative?
Establish Core Messaging Pillars: Outline key messages that align with your mission and values to ensure consistency across all platforms.
Understand Your Audience: Create detailed profiles of your target audience, including their demographics, interests, communication preferences, and behaviours.
Create a Comprehensive Style Guide
Visual Consistency: Set guidelines for logos, colours, fonts, and imagery to ensure uniformity.
Content Formatting: Define rules for captions, hashtags, formality, emojis, and GIFs.
Tone of Voice Examples: Provide examples of the desired tone in captions, headlines, and scripts.
Involve and Educate Your Team
Brand Training Workshops: Regular training ensures team members understand and follow guidelines.
Content Review Process: Establish a review system for posts before publication.
Centralised Resource Hub: Store all brand assets, guides, and approved materials in a shared repository.
Leverage Social Media Scheduling Tools
Maintain consistent posting schedules.
Streamline workflows, reducing inconsistencies, and ensuring adherence to guidelines.
Determining Your Brand Voice
So, how do you determine this unique voice? It all starts with a strong foundation.
Define Your Mission and Values
If you haven't already, take the time to clearly define your organisation's mission, vision, and core values. These foundational elements will guide your brand voice.
What is your organisation’s purpose?
What do you aim to achieve for your patients and community?
What principles guide your work?
Know Your Audience
Conduct thorough audience research to understand your ideal patient.
What are their demographics, interests, and pain points?
How do they communicate and consume information?
What are their expectations of a healthcare provider?
Conduct Competitive Analysis
How are your competitors communicating with their audience?
What are their strengths and weaknesses?
Do they effectively connect with their audience?
What aspects of their communication style resonate with you?
What areas could they improve upon?
How can you differentiate yourself?
Identify unique opportunities to position your brand differently.
Consider how you can leverage your own strengths and unique selling propositions to stand out from the crowd.
Brainstorm and Word Association
Now, let's get creative. Generate lists of adjectives and verbs that describe your desired brand personality.
For example: "helpful," "compassionate," "informative," "trustworthy," "innovative," "empowering," "supportive," "reassuring."
Use brainstorming techniques like mind mapping or word association to explore a wide range of possibilities.
List adjectives that describe your brand (e.g., helpful, trustworthy, innovative).
Develop a guide defining tone, style, personality, and language preferences.
Create a Brand Voice Guide
To further refine your brand voice, develop a comprehensive style guide that outlines your desired brand voice characteristics:
Tone: (e.g., formal, informal, friendly, serious, conversational, empathetic)
Style: (e.g., concise, storytelling, direct, informative, engaging, humorous)
Personality: (e.g., authoritative, approachable, innovative, caring, supportive, trustworthy)
Language: (e.g., use of jargon, metaphors, humor, active vs. passive voice, inclusive language)
Example: Crafting a Brand Voice
Target Audience: Busy professionals in their 30s and 40s seeking preventative healthcare.
Tone: Informative, concise, encouraging.
Language: Clear and actionable.
Content: Short blog posts, infographics, and videos offering practical tips.
By implementing these strategies, you can build a consistent and compelling brand voice that strengthens relationships with their audience.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where we’ll tackle the challenge of navigating ever-changing social media algorithms.
Marie I love this series so much! Healthcare professionals have very little content that teaches them how to successfully use social media, that is tailored to their unique needs. Will be pointing colleagues in healthcare to your work. Well done!