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How to Humanize Your Brand Through Social Media

How to Humanize Your Brand Through Social Media

Sometime around the close of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st (but prior to the advent of Web 2.0), many companies began implementing a relatively new technology: complex phone systems.

The idea was that customers could help themselves to the information they sought by navigating tele-menus from their touch-tone phones.

Almost every major corporation and even many small ones reduced the number of customer service agents that they kept on staff and barricaded the few that remained behind a labyrinth of automated recordings.

What followed was years of consumer frustration.

If you wanted to dispute a discrepancy on a phone bill or question an item on a bank statement, the average American customer would have to first prepare mentally to do battle with the brainless robot that would answer on the other end of the line.

Discussing the aggravation caused by these phone systems became something of a pastime during these years.

Occasionally, you would meet someone seemingly grounded by a new type of Zen, who was always able to get through to a live human agent or even find a solution to their problems using just the automation without any hiccups.

However, a much more common species for the era was the screamer. This was the guy or gal who would instantly begin yelling things like “Operator!” or “Customer Service!” before even choosing between English and Spanish, as if there were still real people on the other end of the line who were just really far away.

Then there were the zero pushers—the people who would advise that if you simply pressed the zero button an untold number of times the phone system would go into a kind of cardiac arrest and an actual human would come to your aid.

All the different companies that used these systems were fully aware of the angst with which the populace regarded them. However, rather than revert to the good old days of human customer service, the companies doubled down on the technology, thinking that what we didn’t like about it was its less-than-humanness.

So, instead of giving us what we really wanted (an easier time), they gave us slightly more convincing robots. While the recordings were “improved” with a bit more synthetic humanity in the programming, the upgrades just caused us to become even more enraged.

It was somewhere around 2005 when most of this consternation began to blow over as more and more companies moved the bulk of their self-serve options to the web. Finally, we could all remain calm and just point, click, and read our way to the answers we sought.

For the most part, this is how things are still going. 

Now, on the rare occasion that a more complicated matter springs up where we really do need to talk to an actual human, there’s almost always a live chat option. Through the live chat you can type back and forth with another entity that passes the Turing test with so many flying colors that there’s no way they’re not just as alive as you. It’s really not too bad. In fact, it’s almost kind of fun.

Sadly, as a species it seems we have transcended our need for each other.

What started out as a demand for a return to one-on-one communication that evolved into a tele-dystopian nightmare eventually solved itself with the least human option of all.

And most of us like it this way.

We prefer surfing the web to having a conversation with a salesperson. A typed chat is superior to a phone call with a stranger. Texting with a friend is more comfortable than ringing them up.

The pandemic of 2020 and the various ramifications of social distancing and lockdowns have only served to exacerbate this condition.

Around the globe, humans realized that we could successfully work from home in far greater numbers than ever imagined.

More items, both necessities and luxuries, became fully deliverable than at any previous time in history. And for now, barring any further complications from supply chain shortages, we seem kind of okay with this new status quo.

But with the rise of automation, where does this leave businesses that rely on customer interaction?

The historically extreme turbulence of the economic climate over the past two years has seen many different businesses both succeed and fail. For now, staying relevant and competitive is dependent in part on making and maintaining a human connection to your clientele.

The modern customer is a highly complicated animal that loves new technology and expects constant improvement and increased convenience but shuns any tech that smacks of Big Brother by intruding on privacy or disturbing anonymity.

The modern customer has also grown accustomed to 24/7 online access to detailed information, pictures, and videos from their favorite brands. They also demand, when reasonable, the ability to buy the wares of said brands and to have them shipped at any time of day as well.

What the modern customer has grown weary of is the sterility and lonesomeness of it all.

While it’s not true that mall shopping or main street window shopping is a thing of the past, it’s definitely not what it used to be.

Some brands that were once extremely prevalent in physical brick and mortar locations have significantly decreased in number. Others have moved from storefronts to online only models. Some beloved brands are now completely out of business and are ostensibly gone forever.

Other brands were born into these conditions, however, and have managed to find success regardless of the roadblocks in their way.

One of the ways these brands have pulled this off is by humanizing themselves, finding their customers, and making human connections with them.

One of the best ways to humanize your brand is through social media.

There are a number of social media methods that you could employ that will help you humanize your brand.

6 Ways to Humanize Your Brand Through Social Media

Develop a personality (and stick to it).

While hiring a loveable spokesperson like Flo from Progressive Insurance and having her do all the talking for your company certainly isn’t a bad idea, it’s not what is meant by develop a personality.

You should decide ahead of time what your company’s social media voice should sound like and consistently stick to it.

It depends on what your product or service is and what kind of voice would be appropriate to accompany it.

Take Rolex, for example.

The copy that Rolex implements to advertise their watches sticks to a relaxed but serious, high-brow tone that complements their elegant photography and matches how the company wants you to regard their high-quality, high-priced products.

If Rolex were to suddenly introduce a watch-wearing cartoon character that cracks a lot of jokes about bodily functions, it would be completely off-putting and ridiculous.

But a different yet entirely serious and successful company could do that very thing and get away with it as long as it makes sense on a human level.

It’s possible that The Duluth Trading Company knows its prime customer better than any other company out there marketing themselves today.

Duluth’s main customer base is male, slightly larger than average, works with his hands, spends a lot of time out of doors performing skilled labor, does well for himself, is willing to spend more for quality and durability, and has a great sense of humor.

They maintain a tradition of combining hand drawn depictions of their clothing alongside clear photography and they broadcast humorous commercials that are in line with what their ideal customer finds funny.

Like an actual human being, Duluth’s social media presence reflects these various elements of a real personality and combines them all together evenly and appropriately.

Whether Duluth is being its usual funny old self or if it feels the need to be serious for a bit, the customer base accepts, believes, and appreciates the message because it connects on a human level.

Engage in conversation.

If you want to humanize your brand, you’ve got to speak human.

The use of common, everyday language is key to connecting to your customer base; they’ll appreciate it and subconsciously let their guard down.

Sonic Drive-In is a good example of a large company that rarely hesitates to converse in the language of the common folk.

Sonic also reaches out to their customers and simply asks them to share their pro-Sonic content through hashtags and callouts. The company then shares the best entries on their own page.

Reaching out to your customers and actively asking them for responses isn’t a practice limited to large companies with large followings either.

The Parkview Animal Hospital in Passaic, New Jersey, is a tiny veterinary outfit with a passionate fan club.

The only social media platform they maintain is a Facebook page, but the fun and friendly posts they regularly publish on it are enough to keep their clients feeling engaged.

Parkview is so respected and sought out in their area that they are often closed to new patients and the waiting list is a long one.

Whenever possible, show off your happy customers!

Ask for permission to include their stories on your social media accounts. You’ll be surprised by how often they say yes!

Acknowledge mistakes.

Putting your company out there into the social media world undoubtedly puts you at risk of receiving some very public criticism, but don’t hide it and don’t hide from it—own up to it.

If a customer decides to use the comments section on one of your social media accounts to vent about how one of your products disappointed them, listen!

You should appoint an employee to regularly monitor and respond to social media comments like this.

An unattended complaint looks bad. A deleted post looks bad. But nothing looks worse than a company arguing with a commenter, so don’t do that either!

The best approach is to apologize for their less-than-ideal experience and offer to make it right via a direct, private message.

Other potential customers browsing your posts will see the engagement and know that you take such matters seriously and are willing to do what’s needed to make things right.

Highlight your employees.

If humanizing your brand is your goal, it never hurts to remind your customers that you are a company of humans for humans with real live humans working for it!

Crutchfield, a purveyor of home and vehicle stereos and electronics, practiced this technique long before social media even existed.

Back when Crutchfield’s main mode of communication was their home catalogue, the company would regularly profile their own employees and highlight the individual’s personal car or home stereo system.

With an actual employee also acting as a spokesperson, it gives the customer the impression that your employees are happy (they better be!) and if they enjoy the products that they sell, a regular customer would too.

Crutchfield continues this practice to this day with nearly every one of the posts on their Instagram page.

It’s safe to publicly share company culture with your customers as well.

If you are celebrating a particular milestone, awarding a sales team for reaching a certain goal, or promoting a single staff member for a job well done, feel free to share the news online.

In the minds of your customer base, your company will come across as a positive work environment where hard work is rewarded. In turn, you’ll build more trust with your clients.

Tell stories. Sell the lifestyle.

Your social media accounts shouldn’t be reserved for just product placement and further advertising.

Depending on the focus of your business, you can allow your social media pages to act as forums for the greater lifestyle surrounding your products or the industry you’re engaged in.

If you sell running shoes, alert your customers to upcoming marathons in your area.

If you sell cooking equipment, document an impressive meal that one of your employees prepared at home.

If you are managing a record store, post a picture of a favorite musician and reminisce about a beloved album. It doesn’t always have to be about what you have in stock, how much it costs, and why they should buy it.

Have fun! Use emojis! Get into beefs?

https://images.pexels.com

The little pictograms known as emojis that became a huge part of our lives with the introduction of smartphones are here to stay.

Their use in social media descriptions have become so commonplace that it’s now rare to see a caption that doesn’t include at least one.

Embrace them, have fun with them, and test yourself to see how creative you can get with their use. But don’t get hung up on how much time you think you’re wasting scrolling through them—apparently social media posts that feature emojis get 48% more engagement!

Another idea to consider is that of a public, social media rivalry with a competitor. 

If you have a good sporting relationship with another business in your area or industry, it’s fertile ground for a lot of potential comedy that your mutual customer bases might enjoy. It can double as a cross-promotional opportunity.

Wendy’s and Burger King famously spar with each other from time to time in an ongoing social media troll war.

And sometimes it can get downright nasty.

But the “beef” between the two fast food giants never seems to generate any negative press.

It does generate a lot of laughs for their fans, though.

Honorable Mentions

Sometimes it’s not what you do on social media that gets you the most positive attention, but what you do as a business in real life that then ends up on social media that makes the biggest impression.

Chewy is an online retailer of pet supplies and food. They are a subset of PetSmart, run by executives from Amazon, Wayfair, and Wholefoods. They have decent prices. Their website looks a lot like Walmart’s.

From a distance they don’t seem like much to write home about—just another big box warehouse that has what you’re looking for.

But then Chewy’s customers started getting the letters.

Eerily specific thank you notes started arriving in the mailboxes of customers who had made purchases from the website that really really looked like they were handwritten.

Fake handwriting on junk mail was nothing new, but these notes, as neat and legible as they could be, really had an authenticity to them. They were so intriguing to so many people that Chewy’s customers began reaching out to one another online to see if they weren’t alone. They weren’t, and that’s how it eventually came out that Chewy really does employ an entire staff dedicated to sending out handwritten thank you notes to each and every customer.

They also send out holiday cards.

Oh, and sometimes they send you hand painted portraits of your pets, too.

Going the extra mile for your customer is basic, age-old, business advice—and it’s still good advice—because even in this modern era there are modern benefits to enjoy from the practice.

Taking the time to perform classy gestures for your customers without publicizing it, without asking for anything in return, without patting yourself on the back for having done it—can lead to exponential organic growth through social media.

JHS Pedals is a small company that manufactures guitar pedals in Kansas City.

The brainchild of founder Joshua Heath Scott (JHS), they have been in business for well over a decade, but over the course of just the past three years they have exploded in popularity by exemplifying every social media technique mentioned in this article.

One of the biggest contributions to their increased visibility is their creation of The JHS Show, a weekly YouTube show hosted by Joshua and his assistant Nick that drips with equal parts charm and comedy. During the show they discuss guitar centric electronics and demonstrate their capabilities through jam sessions. The final segment of each show is called Record Time, where Joshua offers up listening recommendations from often little-known recording artists.

What sets the show apart from others like it on YouTube is that JHS’s own products are the least likely to ever get featured.

In what would traditionally be considered an act of self-sabotage, Joshua eagerly tells the viewer everything he loves about his competitor’s products and demonstrates them for the camera.

Rather than directing potential customers away from his own products, Mr. Scott’s actions have seemingly had the opposite effect. Viewers have become loyal fans, endeared to him and his company. He has become known as an honest entrepreneur and a truly passionate advocate for an industry that was said to be on its last legs only a few years ago.

Thanks to the efforts of Joshua and others like him, the guitar industry has enjoyed a complete rebound.

By adopting some if not all of the practices discussed in this article, you’ll be well on your way towards humanizing your brand and winning over the hearts and minds of your customers.

If you could use some help getting your social media presence up and running, reach out for a quote today!

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Jennifer, also known as "Rizzo," is a Denver-based writer and genealogist with a passion for history, travel, and languages. She studied Spanish at the University of Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico and also lived and studied in Ancona, Italy. She also holds a certification for International Tour Management through the International Guide Academy, as well as a Genealogy certification from IAP Career College. Since joining The Writers For Hire, Jennifer has tackled a vast array of projects—from RPFs and SOPs to memoirs and company history books— and has done many in-depth genealogical research and family tree projects. She has also worked as Project Manager for various client projects, including family history books, websites, RFPs, blogs, autobiographies, and SOPs. Jennifer is our resident historian and genealogist, and can often be found examining 200-year-old books in various archive sites around the globe. She enjoys working closely with clients, and loves any opportunity that allows her to indulge her creative side.

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After putting in enough time as a busboy, a cheesesteak artist, a medical courier, and a nightclub bouncer, Peter took the logical next step—securing a position at a bicycle shop. While serving as a mechanic and a salesman, his incriminating degree in creative writing from the University of Arizona got him assigned to every additional duty that had anything to do with words. Between all the wrenching and selling, Peter wrote website copy, emails, blogs, digital and print ads, press releases, articles, advertorials, and scripts for radio and television commercials. What started as a summer job evolved into an 18-year career in the cycling industry, gaining him experience in corporate communications, public relations, social media management, event planning, marketing, and retail advertising. Since joining The Writers for Hire, Peter has branched into ghostwriting, op-eds, RFPs, SOPs, and producing work for aerospace and engineering firms, public utilities, oil and gas companies, real estate developers, and the entertainment industry. At his home base in New Jersey, Peter spends his free time souping up cheap vintage guitars, admiring his dog, and talking about moving to the Adirondacks.

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Morgan has worked in marketing and communications for more than eight years, with a primary focus on copywriting and content creation. Throughout her years of experience, she has written and edited almost every kind of copy imaginable – magazine articles, blog posts, website copy, brochures, press releases, nonfiction books, newsletter articles, brand guidelines, and more – for both B2B and B2C audiences in a wide array of industries, including energy, technology, finance, healthcare, education, travel, retail, and more. In addition to her creative skills, Morgan has technical expertise in HTML coding and utilizing content management systems (e.g. WordPress) and email platforms, such as MailChimp, ExactTarget, and Constant Contact. With a lifelong interest in language, it is not surprising that Morgan has a bachelor’s degree in German and Linguistics from Rice University, where she studied more than eight languages. In 2011, she received her master’s degree in Advertising from The University of Texas, where she was accepted into the elite Texas Creative Program for her copywriting skills. In her free time, Morgan enjoys writing personalized picture books for friends and family.

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Shelley’s love of words began in first grade, composing poems for her dear teacher and mentor, Mrs. Blanchard. Her writing career began with several years as a county newspaper reporter, where she developed a love for interviewing all sorts of people. Besides feature writing, her news beats included city government, education, and nonprofits of every stripe. As a determined “adult student,” Shelley graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2010 where she also wrote profiles of outstanding adult students for a “Web Weekly” newsletter and edited a grant proposal for a campus office. After college, she wrote English instructional materials, website copy, product copy, and blogs before joining two construction and development ezines as a staff writer, happy to be conducting interviews for each assignment. Several years of intervening employment in corporate merchandising and HR deepened Shelley’s understanding of the workings of larger companies and the written content they require. She now loves being part of the writing teams at The Writers for Hire. When not at a keyboard, she can be seen jogging in her Southern neighborhood or found holed up with a biography, a vegetarian cookbook, or a vintage TV show.

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She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a concentration in screenwriting from National University in La Jolla, California, and her Bachelor of Arts in Writing from the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida. 

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Carol Kim is a versatile freelance copywriter who specializes in content marketing, blog posts, website content, and email marketing for business clients. She especially enjoys diving into research and discovering what makes every company unique. Carol holds a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and a Master’s in Public Affairs from the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin.

Carol is also a children’s book author, having written several fiction and nonfiction books for the educational market. She especially loves helping kids learn about the environment and social sciences. Her first nonfiction picture book from a trade publisher is due to be released in fall 2021. 

Martha Scott - Copywriter

Martha Scott’s technical writing career began on a contract at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. She edited papers for scientific journal publication, documents for departments across the site, and a book about a proposed crew escape vehicle. She produced a yearly booklet describing Shuttle contract cost-saving measures, the mission managers’ Flight Data Pack, and a 45-page booklet called Charting a Course to the Year 2000 and Beyond describing plans to develop additional space vehicles and prepare for manned Mars explorations. At Invesco, Martha edited and contributed to two company newsletters (online and hardcopy). She wrote software user manuals, Help files, Training and Benefits department documents, and, finally, shareholder reports. She returned to aerospace for the Shuttle Program’s last 5 years where she attended and produced detailed descriptions of presentations and subsequent discussions at the Orbiter Configuration Control Board’s weekly meetings. She also documented crew debriefings for 17 flights. Martha’s most recent experience was on Jacobs Engineering’s contract with a Texas City refinery for which she wrote and edited Engineering, Safety, Inspection, and Information Systems documents.

Suzanne Kearns - Copywriter

Suzanne knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of ten when she wrote her first story, and has spent the past 2 decades writing blog posts, magazine articles, nonfiction and fiction books, sales letters, white papers, press releases, website copy, and anything else that can be put in written form. She has written for Intuit, Avalara, NerdWallet, GoPayment, and as a ghostwriter for a few well-known CEO’s. Her work has appeared all around the internet, including on sites like World News and Reports, Entrepreneur.com, and Forbes. She loves nothing more than being presented with a bunch of data and asked to break it down into digestible content for readers. Most days you’ll find her sitting on her porch with her laptop, writing to the sound of the ocean, and marveling that life can be this stinking good.

Jennifer DeLay - Copywriter

Jennifer has a background in journalism and Russian area studies. She holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MSFS from Georgetown University. While in graduate school in the mid-1990s, she developed an interest in the oil and gas industry of the former Soviet Union and launched a free newsletter covering the subject. She then spent more than 20 years researching, analyzing and writing about related topics, working for multiple weekly publications and a private consulting firm. Her areas of professional interest also include energy and power in China, Iran and the Eastern Mediterranean, and for fun she researches linguistics, neuroscience and disability-related issues. She has experience in copy-editing and has frequently worked with both native and non-native English speakers, helping them to produce clear, easily understandable articles on complex political, economic, legal and technical topics. Additionally, she has managed many time-sensitive typesetting projects for community institutions. Jennifer enjoys writing personal essays and lives in Atlanta with her family.

Dana Robinson - Copywriter

Dana Robinson has been writing and editing professionally for 10 years, publishing her first article in 2007. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of a local online magazine and is a contributor to various Houston print publications. She honed her experience writing newsletters and managing social media for small businesses and non-profits before moving on to e-books, magazines, and non-fiction books for print. She also enjoys teaching creative writing workshops for children. Dana received her formal education at the University of Houston–Downtown, where she majored in professional writing, minored in creative writing, and was the recipient of the Upper Division Writing award for best essay. She completed internships with Writers In The Schools and The Bayou Review.

Brenda Hazzard - Copywriter

Brenda Hazzard has over 30 years’ experience working as a writer and editor in the private and public sectors. She spent over 20 years working for the US Government in Washington and abroad, and spent several years working with the CIA during which she managed a team of writers producing internal briefs on international news, events, and politics. She writes on a variety of topics but loves opportunities to work on projects that cater to her keen interest in international affairs. She considers herself to be an empathetic editor, one who improves a draft but lets the spirit of the writer shine through. She has also worked on dissertations, white papers, newspaper articles, and family histories.

Adelia Ritchie - Copywriter

Adelia is a scientist, educator, technical writer and editor, poet, and blogger about her Pura Vida lifestyle in Costa Rica. She has more than 40 years experience writing professionally, including her years at Science Applications International Corp., Bechtel Corporation, Defense Acquisition University, and the Department of Defense. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Organic Chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Physics from the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida.

Carey Miller - Copywriter

Carey brings more than 20 years of writing and editing experience to The Writers for Hire. A lifelong writer and reader, she holds a B.A. in English from UCLA. Her background includes writing and editorial positions with both book and magazine publishers. She has worked as a copy editor and proofreader for major advertising agencies including Ogilvy & Mather and Rubin Postaer. Her experience includes magazine feature writing and editing as well as manuscript development and editing. A former advertising sales executive, she has crafted a wide range of business, sales, and marketing communication for leading magazine publishers including Conde Nast and Hearst. She has worked with major consumer brands including Nike, Visa, Levi’s, General Motors, Microsoft, Charles Schwab, and Neutrogena.

Coralee Bechteler - Copywriter

In the past, Coralee has been an organic farmer, a chicken herder, a zipline administrative assistant, and an ESL teacher for kids. Today, she's living her childhood dream of being a writer. She currently resides in New York with her cat (and muse) Hermes and a miles-long TBR list that gets longer every day. If she's not reading or crafting, you can usually find her pulled over on a country road writing something down or picking wildflowers. Coralee holds a bachelor's degree in English, an associate's degree in Horticulture, and multiple internationally recognized software testing certifications.

Cecile Brule - Copywriter

Cecile enjoys the challenge of discovering each client’s unique strengths and presenting them to a wider audience. Since joining The Writers For Hire, she has worked on blogs, newsletters, RFPs, end-user documentation, email, social media, sales pages, biographies, op-eds, and fiction.

Previously, she taught in Shenzhen, China and obtained an HSK3 (Intermediate Mandarin) certificate. Cecile enjoys gaming, drawing, producing short films, and growing fifteen different varieties of apples with Serenity Orchards.

Rosalind Stanley - Copywriter

Rosalind Stanley grew up on the Coast of Maine and then accidentally spent fifteen years in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, before moving to the Midwest. She graduated from Lynchburg College in 2008 with a B.A. in Creative Writing (and a minor in Theater Performance); ever since, Rosalind has endeavored to make writing a part of her daily life, whether creative or technical, whether as a volunteer or an employee. She has tutored students, taught workshops, edited fiction and non-fiction books, and worked as a beta reader and a legal writer. She also publishes a newsletter on Substack, where she releases her own fiction serially. When not writing, Rosalind is busy homeschooling her four children and raiding the local library for new fiction.

Sean Patrick Hill - Copywriter

Sean has been a professional writer for more than 25 years, and has an M.A. in Writing from Portland State University and an M.F.A. in Poetry from Warren Wilson College. He's the author of five books, and his writing has won him grants and fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council, the Vermont Studio Center, the Elizabeth George Foundation, and the Regional Arts and Culture Council. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also works at his photography.

Wintress Odom - Owner / Editor-in-chief

Wintress founded The Writers For Hire in 2003 after freelancing for several years as a copywriter and editor. She has overseen, edited, proofread, or written copy for over 100 clients and is happy to have maintained long-term relationships with many of her first customers. Wintress is an exceptional proofreader and editor and has a gift for organizing large projects, including large technical manuals and manuscripts. Her educational background includes graduating cum laude from Rice University in 2000, studying at Cologne Gymnasium in Germany, and graduating valedictorian from The Science Academy of South Texas in 1994.
Wintress