The Ghost of Covid Past: A Look Back at the Evolution of Brand Voice

It's 2022, and a voice is much larger than a sound you hear. It’s delivered in visual, auditory and written mediums in a way that builds not only trust but a sense of familiarity. Quickly, brands are abandoning trying to connect with people over their value propositions and instead connecting with people in a far simpler and far more effective way. We live in a world where no one wants to be sold, yet everyone wants to belong. With this in mind, a brand must create the perfect voice to sell without selling. That voice needs to be filled with a variety of ingredients, such as wit, humor, creativity and social listening, all in a consistent and highly reactive manner. Creator Content Shouldn’t Be Measured Like a Social Media Post First, the content There are two ways that the pandemic has impacted brand voice: the content around a voice and the way that voice engages with users. Today’s successful social media voice is no longer a means to get eyes on advertisements, but rather to cultivate and develop brand advocates. Let’s take Duolingo and its acclaimed TikTok success. The brand’s TikTok account is full of hilarious videos in an owl costume with first-person captions and an owl full of personality, which is very much inspired by the person running the account, Zaria Parvez. Back in 2019, a successful brand character was meant to establish trust, then leveraged to turn into a pointed message. In 2022, however, message and messenger need to be established together. If the Duolingo account suddenly starts posting traditional ads, the account will lose engaged followers and the brand will lose advocates. Brand voices should be used to build fans of the voice, not to bait audiences into corporate advertising. From scaled conversions to individual connections In 2019, big brands used all of the tools at their disposal to gain interest. Adweek Brand Genius winners that year included Dunkin’, Citi and Google—brands that were producing content and campaigns on a major scale. From new aesthetic packaging to concerts with major musicians to high-production social impact videos, brands were working with the biggest stars under the brightest lights. At the time, these large-scale connections were applauded, interesting and ultimately successful. Now it's 2022 and the script has flipped entirely: Brands like Roblox, Vans and TikTok (Adweek 2021 Brand Genius winners) found individual connections with all types of people. These brands are establishing authenticity in the metaverse, focused on inclusivity and awarding money to small businesses. Grandiose connections are worth far less than they once were as the pandemic has shifted the consumer mindset. Flashy campaigns are often met with criticism for a lack of understanding of the customer’s position. If you want to win a customer over, you need to build a personal connection with them. Create campaigns that have affinities to average consumers. Negativity? No problem Content is not the only avenue to see major changes in the past year. The way in which brands use their voice to engage has changed, too. Brands must maintain their voice, even in the comments section—comments aren’t worth much if a brand is going to lose its voice. Most brands used to ignore negative comments. In fact, 2019 saw the introduction of technology dedicated specifically to remove negative comments on social media. In 2022, however, negative comments are deemed as opportunities for brands to communicate with users. Sani is a great example of a company that takes negative comments and turns them into positive content. https://www.tiktok.com/@sanisisters/video/7043891651496004910?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7043891651496004910&refer=embed&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Finfluencermarketinghub.com%2F&referer_video_id=7043891651496004910 While the pandemic turned people away from negativity in general, the best brands are taking the negativity that comes with this world and putting a positive spin on it in their own voices. If your brand voice allows, use the negative comments as a conversation starter. Engagement everywhere Whether it be your own Instagram post, a competitor’s tweet or even a viral TikTok unrelated to your brand, brands are now interacting with users as much as possible. This wasn’t always the case: In 2018, marketers were worried the engagement that gave the Internet life was now killing it. Then the pandemic altered the relationship between brands and customers. Brands could no longer miss the opportunity to engage with their customers online while in-person engagements were sacrificed. As we emerge from the pandemic, the increased brand engagement has only continued to rise, and rightfully so. This even applies to the comments section. On any viral TikTok, brands from all industries and categories are trying to ensure their voice remains authentic and consistent. There is no such thing as over-engaging. The world is changing. As advancements render companies useless left and right, brands must create their own relevancy directly with consumers. The way in which social media users digest your brand is fully controlled by you. Build an actual voice, and surrounding visuals and conversations in that voice, and who knows, you may be the next Duolingo. On the Quest for Virality, Brands Fall Short When They Change Their Voice to Get Likes