Last week I wrote I wrote about fast food companies being on
top of their game when it comes to social media. One of the examples included
was how a company like Taco Bell, for instance, seems more like a typical
Facebook friend rather than belonging to a corporation. Many companies are
catching on and following these same behaviors.
Strategically communicating becomes more successful when a
company speaks to its audience like a person rather than a company. When a
company humanizes its communication, audiences become more attentive, more
reactive and more connected. Lastly, humanizing communication ultimately helps
support a brand.
Who would want to follow on social media or keep up with an
organization that constantly speaks in industry-related jargon or uses
financial numbers to communicate? No thanks. Now is the best time for companies
to communicate as a human and step away from the boring, monotonous, corporate
and legal language. Social media has enabled companies to do so in appropriate
and convenient ways. People will read companies’ messages and be more likely to
connect with the ones whose language is most like theirs.
Pictures and videos are just a few tools
for companies to communicate to audiences in an effective and humanized manner.
Audiences are more engaged as they are statistically more likely to read
something with a picture or video attached to it. On Twitter, many companies
will ask questions, often not even business-related. The strategy is to create
and maintain a following.
Humor is another tool many companies are including in their
communications. This is great strategy for entertaining and engaging audiences.
More and more messages, especially seen on social media sites, are funny and
witty.
Ragan, a blog dealing with public relations, marketing and
writing, released a post giving
tips on how to humanize communication. The post lists numerous tips and
strategies on how to make messaging more lively and less boring.
Because today’s messaging is more humanized, companies and
organizations can uphold their brands in more creative ways. Nonprofit
organizations can share their stories on YouTube. Electronics companies can
make more sense of their products through infographics, allowing even the least
technologically savvy person to understand something. An NFL team can motivate
fans before the weekend’s big game on Twitter.
People now have the resources to be much pickier on what they
read. The bottom line is, people will not want to read boring, business-related
memos and letters. We now want engaging, creative and humanized messaging from
companies and organizations.
Conlin2, Brian. "24 Tips to
Humanize Your Brand." Ragan.com. N.p., 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.ragan.com/PublicRelations/Articles/45739.aspx>.
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