A Beginner’s Guide to Finding your Online Voice

Suddenly we’re all meant to be online communications experts: to have a social media profile, to blog prolifically and — not just keep up with the zeitgeist – to drive it as well. But before you can do that, you’ll need to have an idea of your online voice. Are you a broadcaster or a conversationalist? Do you connect other people or do people want to connect with you? Here’s your handy Beginner’s Guide to seven of the most common online characters to help you get started. The Broadcaster The Broadcaster has an opinion and isn’t afraid to voice it. Think political cartoonists, comedians, media personalities and activists. They like to be polemical, to make you sit up and take notice – sometimes of them, but more often of their pet project. They’re happy with bouquets but they’re equally adept at dealing with brickbats. They’re the ones who like to set the agenda; and if their audience is outraged in the process, so much the better – it all adds up to retweets, likes and shares. The Conversationalist  These people genuinely want to ‘start a conversation’ with you online. They are likely to be found in forums and chat rooms, looking for like-minded peeps to share their thoughts with. They prefer a bit of give and take, and are looking for a platform to show their expertise using a softly-softly approach. Then one day, you wake up and realise they’re kind of everywhere. The Complainer A bit like the Broadcaster, the Complainer has an opinion they’re keen to share – but it’s almost always a negative one. They want to tell you all about the problems they’ve had with a supplier, how incompetent their staff are, how much they hate their job. Leech-like, they love having the internet as a platform to vent about every bugbear; and if you’re not careful, they’ll suck you in and suck you dry. The Booster Boosters want everyone to share the love – they’re the ones who will religiously like, retweet and share your every utterance – and the utterance of everyone in their network. Which is great. Who doesn’t need a boost now and again? It can all fall apart quite quickly, though, if they don’t read what they’re sharing closely enough. Just sayin’. The Connector Looking for a recommendation or a referral? Need to find the right bit of software for a process that will make your life so much easier? The Connector will be able to point you in the right direction. They love nothing more than matchmaking the right people with each other. They share characteristics with Boosters, but they’re more likely to share stuff with you directly because they think it’s relevant rather than just sharing it with all and sundry for the sake of it. The Devil’s Advocate When these people blog, they like to use headlines like ’29 Things You’re Doing Wrong In Social Media’. They like to push people’s buttons, and their goal is clicks – they want as many people to read their posts as possible. They’re trying to establish themselves as experts in their field, and sometimes the best way to do that is to play Devil’s Advocate. The Style-Setter They like to predict the future, to let you know what’s hot (and what’s not) and to set themselves up as the gurus in their area – whether that’s food, fashion, tech, business, design or R&D. Their headlines are likely to include pronouncements like ‘Why Mobile is Dead’ or ‘Red Wine is the New Superfood’. They have a bazillion followers on Twitter and Instagram and let’s face it, they’re in a class of their own. So which social media character are you? Maybe you share traits with more than one of these profiles. Whichever one you choose, make sure you keep it authentic – because in the end, that’s what people respond to. There are a lot of great tips about how to tackle social media and raise your profile in ABN Member Catriona Pollard’s book, Unknown to Expert. Find out more here.