I was pondering this important question for effective social media engagement last week, whilst delivering a blogging workshop for a new client about to launch her own blog.

The issue, for her, was how to find and use her own voice on social media.

She seemed initially to be scared of engaging with blogging for fear of not knowing how to write, to speak, to blog, to get started – my best advice was to simply use her own voice in the first instance and to take it from there.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a common problem, too – when first commenting on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or writing the first blog posts of their own, many people feel virtually petrified. They are frozen. Scared. Unable to type, unable to speak online.

The temptation is to write like somebody else – to hide that fear.

The temptation to write like a well-established person, Brand or business online is always going to be difficult to sustain for any period of time. But why?

Well, as the saying goes, wherever you go, you always take you with you – and the same applies online via social media and blogging.

You might try and write, post, and comment like somebody else, but the true you will always surface eventually.

I always say, as I did to the blogging workshop client last week, relax and take it easy.

* Write it as you’d say it.

* Be natural.

* Be yourself.

* Don’t try to be anybody else.

The best social media voice will always be the one you were born with.

First things first, You need to find it, be comfortable with it, then use it – and consistently use it.

My top tips for finding your social media voice are:

* Think of your social media voice as being like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets.

* Think of the people and businesses on social media – it’s likely they are using they own voice well.

* Think of the offline voice you use with ease and confidence – then replicate it across social media.

An interesting shift happened with the blogging workshop client when I asked her to write a blog in her own voice, and not as if she was attempting to write a piece of magazine PR copy.

The blog copy flowed easily, naturally, and was engaging to read, too.

Are you scared to find and use your voice on social media? What have you got to lose by – simply – being yourself? Try it.