PCPL Online Social Media Training, part 3: Voice & Tone
Published on Nov 19, 2015
Official social media training for Pima County Public Library, created July, 2020, last updated September 2021. Part 3: Voice & Tone.
Speaker: Lisa Waite Bunker (Pima County Public Library).
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
PCPL on Social Media
Voice & Tone
Voice & tone
How you write for the library
Last time we covered WHAT we write; today we will cover HOW we write as the library.
Voice & Tone covers
- Autonomy
- Writing tips & examples
- Some "dont's"
- A note about exclusionary language & images
Part 3: Voice & Tone covers...
--Trust & autonomy
--Writing tips & examples
--Some Don'ts
--A note about exclusionary language & images
--Trust & autonomy
--Writing tips & examples
--Some Don'ts
--A note about exclusionary language & images
I trust your voice
I trust your voice
I trust your voice, so let's work on tone
I trust your voice, because you represent the library every day at our public service desks, and you've been chosen by your manager to be the voice of your library branch or your team on Facebook.
I hope it's also clear that we're not looking for an objective, corporate voice here. We want our pages to sound and feel like we are talking in person.
So let's work on tone.
I hope it's also clear that we're not looking for an objective, corporate voice here. We want our pages to sound and feel like we are talking in person.
So let's work on tone.
Since we're aiming to be an online equivalent to our help desks and build online community, we usually encourage a tone that is warm, friendly, and helpful.
Since we're aiming to be an online equivalent to our help desks, we encourage a tone that is warm, friendly, and helpful.
But some posts will require a different voice, depending on the subject matter.
But some posts will require a different voice, depending on the subject matter.
Untitled Slide
Tone is the emotion behind what you say, and it should adjust according to the content of your post.
Mostly what I do is picture a real customer in front of me and I type out what I would say. I even smile to myself as I write. That's probably silly, but I feel like it makes a difference. Oh, and I usually remove a couple exclamation points before I post. There *can* be too many.
But not every post needs warmth. Here is a list is of some of the different tones I have projected over the years, depending on what I was posting about.
Mostly what I do is picture a real customer in front of me and I type out what I would say. I even smile to myself as I write. That's probably silly, but I feel like it makes a difference. Oh, and I usually remove a couple exclamation points before I post. There *can* be too many.
But not every post needs warmth. Here is a list is of some of the different tones I have projected over the years, depending on what I was posting about.
Writing tips
- Write as you speak naturally
- Think of yourself as a reporter
- Write a teaser & let the link do the work
- Smart, warm, funny, connected
- Share your personal delight of reading & learning
- Give your posts a sense of immediacy and a sense of place
WRITING TIPS
As you write, here are some things to remember.
■ Write as you speak naturally
■ Think of yourself as a reporter
■ Write a teaser & let the link do the work: find the hook and tease it
■ Remind yourself as you write that you are smart, warm, funny & connected as you write
■ Share your personal delight of reading & learning
■ Whenever possible, give your posts a sense of immediacy and a sense of place
As you write, here are some things to remember.
■ Write as you speak naturally
■ Think of yourself as a reporter
■ Write a teaser & let the link do the work: find the hook and tease it
■ Remind yourself as you write that you are smart, warm, funny & connected as you write
■ Share your personal delight of reading & learning
■ Whenever possible, give your posts a sense of immediacy and a sense of place
Staff voice, autonomy
How we use social media
As your Branch or your Team's Facebook writer, you will have a lot of autonomy to decide what to post and how you talk about it.
Unless you want to, your posts do not have to go through Renee.
The freedom you have is for a good reason. The Marketing Team may have the most experience writing for the library, but you and your Manager are the experts on what is most important for your branch.
CSO will, from time to time, send you post ideas with suggested text and images, but you and your Manager are in charge of the page.
As always, CSO, especially Renee, is here for you whenever you have questions.
All of you have ways you prefer to express yourself. Here, since Tenecia is very comfortable with video, she has created a lot of posts where the info is in video form.
Unless you want to, your posts do not have to go through Renee.
The freedom you have is for a good reason. The Marketing Team may have the most experience writing for the library, but you and your Manager are the experts on what is most important for your branch.
CSO will, from time to time, send you post ideas with suggested text and images, but you and your Manager are in charge of the page.
As always, CSO, especially Renee, is here for you whenever you have questions.
All of you have ways you prefer to express yourself. Here, since Tenecia is very comfortable with video, she has created a lot of posts where the info is in video form.
Untitled Slide
This is by Ray Baca, writing for El Pueblo Library. Can't you just hear the smile in his voice?
I know we're focused on voice here, but this post is also a good illustration of what I mean by the posts happening naturally as you do your work.
Ray didn't know when he walked into the library that morning that he was going to be posting about a heart-shaped potato, but while he was unpacking produce he noticed it, took out his camera, and made the post.
The only hard part here is learning to notice when everyday stuff you do at work might make a good post. It gets easier.
I know we're focused on voice here, but this post is also a good illustration of what I mean by the posts happening naturally as you do your work.
Ray didn't know when he walked into the library that morning that he was going to be posting about a heart-shaped potato, but while he was unpacking produce he noticed it, took out his camera, and made the post.
The only hard part here is learning to notice when everyday stuff you do at work might make a good post. It gets easier.
Untitled Slide
Now, back to Voice.
Rachel at Murphy-Wilmot Library is also very good at writing with a conversational style, as if she was speaking to you at the desk. And likes you a lot.
This post could have been a bland statement of about how the rain that day affected curbside delivery, but Rachel made the announcement human. Great photo too.
Rachel at Murphy-Wilmot Library is also very good at writing with a conversational style, as if she was speaking to you at the desk. And likes you a lot.
This post could have been a bland statement of about how the rain that day affected curbside delivery, but Rachel made the announcement human. Great photo too.
Untitled Slide
Another way to introduce a link is to quote from the text something from the link that captivated you, or captures what's so interesting about the link.
I will often do this when the voice of the author is part of why I chose the link in the first voice. As a person who is privileged, I am sensitive to talking over voices that are under-represented.
Do you also see how the excerpt Justine chose complements the title of the article? As a reader, the bit she quoted would give me confidence that the post is worth clicking on.
I will often do this when the voice of the author is part of why I chose the link in the first voice. As a person who is privileged, I am sensitive to talking over voices that are under-represented.
Do you also see how the excerpt Justine chose complements the title of the article? As a reader, the bit she quoted would give me confidence that the post is worth clicking on.
Untitled Slide
Here's a post by Lupita. She took a hot weather meme and used it to link to some book suggestions in the catalog. This would work for staff booklist links too.
Even if you don't click the link, I'll bet you would stop scrolling, read the meme and smile. Right?
Lupita is really excellent at writing the way she speaks.
And yes, you can use an incomplete sentence if you think it works.
Even if you don't click the link, I'll bet you would stop scrolling, read the meme and smile. Right?
Lupita is really excellent at writing the way she speaks.
And yes, you can use an incomplete sentence if you think it works.
Running library humor
Every library has a running joke of some kind.
Murphy-Wilmot has their backyard bunnies. Himmel has Bun Bun the bookdrop bunny. The caption on this photo read: "At this branch we call him Book Chute Bunny. Often spotted by small children and their handlers. He is of the genus Leporidae bookhoardius and helps the kiddos with their book returns."
For a while, Mike at Himmel posted almost daily photos of Heather's amazing socks. Who knew this would be popular? Mike knew it was a topic of conversation in the building so he took a chance on social media.
Is this fluff? Goofing off? NO! Posts like this remind people of the delights of this specific library, and remind them that they should visit again soon.
Murphy-Wilmot has their backyard bunnies. Himmel has Bun Bun the bookdrop bunny. The caption on this photo read: "At this branch we call him Book Chute Bunny. Often spotted by small children and their handlers. He is of the genus Leporidae bookhoardius and helps the kiddos with their book returns."
For a while, Mike at Himmel posted almost daily photos of Heather's amazing socks. Who knew this would be popular? Mike knew it was a topic of conversation in the building so he took a chance on social media.
Is this fluff? Goofing off? NO! Posts like this remind people of the delights of this specific library, and remind them that they should visit again soon.
Untitled Slide
Here's an example of a "reporter" tone of voice.
This is a lot of text for me, but I felt that I wanted to go beyond the content of the images to a more general plea to be careful in the heat.
And my subtext here is also a reminder for those of us who have shelter and a cool place to hang out to remember that it's not the case for everyone.
It was even more popular than I'd hoped. 41 people shared these two images with their friends and family.
P.S. Negative feedback is common on popular posts.
This is a lot of text for me, but I felt that I wanted to go beyond the content of the images to a more general plea to be careful in the heat.
And my subtext here is also a reminder for those of us who have shelter and a cool place to hang out to remember that it's not the case for everyone.
It was even more popular than I'd hoped. 41 people shared these two images with their friends and family.
P.S. Negative feedback is common on popular posts.
Untitled Slide
When the heatwave came back I posted a similar graphic, but with less text.
Untitled Slide
This was the post that convinced me of the importance of hyperlocal posts, posts that celebrated Tucson and Pima County without even trying to tie it into the library.
As you can see I chose to go with a "reporter-ish" tone. This post was seen by over 60,000 people. It had 61 comments and 421 likes.
You can't read my lead-in, but it says "It's Monday, July 17th, and I am reporting from the Santa Cruz River which is running at almost 6' deep, bank to bank. That's a lot of water."
Better yet, we had a conversation in the comments about the history of the river and our mutual joy in getting a good rain. The post wasn't about the library, but I was able to BE the library in the post.
As you can see I chose to go with a "reporter-ish" tone. This post was seen by over 60,000 people. It had 61 comments and 421 likes.
You can't read my lead-in, but it says "It's Monday, July 17th, and I am reporting from the Santa Cruz River which is running at almost 6' deep, bank to bank. That's a lot of water."
Better yet, we had a conversation in the comments about the history of the river and our mutual joy in getting a good rain. The post wasn't about the library, but I was able to BE the library in the post.
Untitled Slide
This is an example of a teaser.
Yes, you can do this! Let's say there's a program coming and you haven't ironed out all the details, but you are SUPER excited that it is coming.
That's when you tease that something awesome is in the works. This helps get it on people's radar early and builds anticipation.
Do check with CSO, since it will be Holly who gets the calls from reporters who follow you on Facebook and get excited by what you share.
Yes, you can do this! Let's say there's a program coming and you haven't ironed out all the details, but you are SUPER excited that it is coming.
That's when you tease that something awesome is in the works. This helps get it on people's radar early and builds anticipation.
Do check with CSO, since it will be Holly who gets the calls from reporters who follow you on Facebook and get excited by what you share.
Untitled Slide
Attention spans on social media are short. You do it yourself, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll.
Keep posts brief and eye-catching, and let the link do the work.
Your job is to catch their eye, make them stop scrolling, and click the link for more info.
In general, the proverbial "Wall of Text" is not a good idea, but this is changing on Facebook.
Within the last year, Facebook announced that it wanted to be a place where news originates. So now, a long, informative original post will do better than it did in the past. Especially if it doesn't link to anything. Yeah, Facebook is weird.
Keep posts brief and eye-catching, and let the link do the work.
Your job is to catch their eye, make them stop scrolling, and click the link for more info.
In general, the proverbial "Wall of Text" is not a good idea, but this is changing on Facebook.
Within the last year, Facebook announced that it wanted to be a place where news originates. So now, a long, informative original post will do better than it did in the past. Especially if it doesn't link to anything. Yeah, Facebook is weird.
A big "don't"
Avoid ad-like language
and calls-to-action
SOME DON'TS
Avoid ad-like language and calls to action. This is actually self-protection from Facebook's algorithm, which by their own account hinders posts that they feel are trying to get an ad for free.
This means avoiding command words and imperatives: Join us. Check this out. You must read this book. Support literacy!
Yes, it is very natural to write this way, especially if you've been trained to write calls to action. But your posts will be robbed of their potential reach.
Alternatives:
■ Ask a question
■ Share why you thought the link was interesting or important without telling people to do something.
Avoid ad-like language and calls to action. This is actually self-protection from Facebook's algorithm, which by their own account hinders posts that they feel are trying to get an ad for free.
This means avoiding command words and imperatives: Join us. Check this out. You must read this book. Support literacy!
Yes, it is very natural to write this way, especially if you've been trained to write calls to action. But your posts will be robbed of their potential reach.
Alternatives:
■ Ask a question
■ Share why you thought the link was interesting or important without telling people to do something.
Examples of "ad-like language"
- "Must read" "Join us" "Come to..." "Pick up ..." "Free" "Today is the last day!" "Don't miss the..."
- A WORD IN ALL CAPS
Examples of Ad-like Language:
must read
join us
come to...
Pick up ...
Free
Today is the last day!
WORDS IN ALL CAPS
must read
join us
come to...
Pick up ...
Free
Today is the last day!
WORDS IN ALL CAPS
Better word choices
- Have you heard? Did you know? We are so excited! Use active words, not imperatives.
- Facebook has said that if you use "ad-like" language they expect you to buy ads
- Writing as if you're speaking with a real person will help you stay out of that trap.
Better word choices:
Have you heard? Did you know? We are so excited!
Use active words, not imperatives.
Facebook has said that if you use "ad-like" language they expect you to buy ads
Writing as if you're speaking with a real person will help you stay out of that trap. It will also make your writing more appealing.
Have you heard? Did you know? We are so excited!
Use active words, not imperatives.
Facebook has said that if you use "ad-like" language they expect you to buy ads
Writing as if you're speaking with a real person will help you stay out of that trap. It will also make your writing more appealing.
More "don'ts"
- Don't post stories about staff or customers without consent
- Avoid religious statements. Holidays too, unless you celebrate them all.
- Nope. This isn't the place to complain about vendors or customers.
- Don't publish photos if we don't have written consent. Know our photo policy
■ Don't post stories about staff or customers without consent
■ If you are posting about holidays, find secular things to share and talk about, or just find something else to cover.
■ Social media is not the place to complain about or admonish customers and library vendors.
■ Don't publish photos if we don't have written consent. Know our photo policy
■ If you are posting about holidays, find secular things to share and talk about, or just find something else to cover.
■ Social media is not the place to complain about or admonish customers and library vendors.
■ Don't publish photos if we don't have written consent. Know our photo policy
Exclusionary language
- Please don't say "Tucson" when you mean Pima County. Residents of Marana, Oro Valley, and Ajo notice.
- If you are referring to someone as "he" or "she" have you double-checked their pronoun preferences?
- Assuming everyone has a home, or a car, etc.
Whenever you start to type the word "Tucson," stop and ask yourself if you really mean Pima County. We also serve Ajo, Catalina, Arivaca, Amado, Vail, Marana, Oro Valley, and the Tohono O'odham and Yaqui Reservations.
And if you're writing about an author or any other individual, please check on their preferred pronouns. Visit their FB page -- their pronouns are usually listed there.
Instead of gender-based terms like guy, man, and woman, I recommend using words like "people/person" and "folks." I've also used "all y'all."
Assuming everyone has a home, or a car, etc.
And if you're writing about an author or any other individual, please check on their preferred pronouns. Visit their FB page -- their pronouns are usually listed there.
Instead of gender-based terms like guy, man, and woman, I recommend using words like "people/person" and "folks." I've also used "all y'all."
Assuming everyone has a home, or a car, etc.
Voice & Tone Summary
- Be yourself (at work at the library)
- Match the tone to the post
- Watch for exclusionary language
VOICE & TONE SUMMARY
Write as yourself -- yourself at work at the library
Match the tone to the post
Watch for exclusionary language
END
Write as yourself -- yourself at work at the library
Match the tone to the post
Watch for exclusionary language
END
Quiz
Voice & Tone
First we will be talking about the WHAT. What we post as content on our pages as the library.
