Does your social media presence portray a consistent style to your audience? If not, here are a few tips on how to make a big impact.

While most companies have a social media strategy with clear objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs), very few have a style guide. Think of it as a natural extension of your branding, marketing or design guidelines.

When I was a Chief Sub-editor working on newspapers and magazines, part of my job was to maintain the style and standard of published articles. To help the journalists, I created and maintained a style guide for each publication, which set out clear rules on subjects including grammar, figures, measurements, time and place names. For example, companies were singular (Tesco has…), while the police and sports clubs were plural (Tottenham Hotspur are…).

We applied these principles to all published work, including social media posts. The main benefit is that articles and posts which follow the same rules, have the same voice.

By setting out a style guide for your business, your employees should follow the same path to social media success.

Every company is unique and will have their own rules, but here are a few suggestions for your style guide:

• Social media objectives: if you have a social media strategy, your objectives should form the basis for your style guide.
• Responsible staff: when a crisis happens, your staff need to the details of who to contact.
• Target audience: remember who your content is aimed at, are you trying to engage professionals or school pupils?
• Channels: stick to the social media channels which best suit your brand and audience.
• Visuals: from videos to infographics, adopt a house style so everyone uses the same software, fonts, colours, equipment etc.
• Tone: whether it’s professional or personal, adopt an appropriate tone of voice for your business. 
• Key messages: identify the words and phrases which best suit your company, and then choose the words and emojis to avoid at all costs.
• Top hashtags and accounts: create a list of recommended hashtags and accounts to tag in your posts, such as influencers, partners and clients.
• Comments: provide sample responses to complaints and other comments and messages.
• Best practice: show off some great examples.

Once you have finished your strategy, and it has been signed off by the bosses, you need to inform everyone that it exists. Make it accessible on a shared drive and send out weekly reminders of the key points.