Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Adding a Human Touch to Social Media

Most of us today have used some sort of social media. Whether it was Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or one of the numerous others, everyone communicates differently when using these sites. A recent study by the University of Missouri found that websites that use a conversational human voice have more positive reactions than websites with a strictly organizational presence.

When people are using social media, they want to know who they’re talking to, even when the dialogue is with a company or a brand. The goal of social media should ultimately be to strengthen relationships and reach out to others, through the interaction on these sites. Using a human touch is very important when trying to create a personal and sociable image for your client. With some sites, they include the name and picture of the organizational representative, along with a few words about what they stand for, while others do not. According to the study, sites using a personal human voice received much higher ratings than those relying on impersonal communication.

Using a human voice during social media outreach will form a level of trust, commitment and satisfaction for your users. This information can better prepare PR practitioners when trying to understand relationship management.

Read the rest of the PRSA article here.

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