The second during-the-conversation principle discussed in the UMSL Department of Communication’s course on the use of social media in public relations is tone.
If we think of the content principle as what we say through social media, then the tone principle involves how we say it. The professional and academic literature suggest that a tone that is conversational, informal or casual, and (perhaps most importantly) authentic tends to be better received by social media audiences than more stilted language.
The importance of this principle is reinforced in a number of cases, including the major political parties’ use of social media in the 2012 campaign for the White House and the efforts of General Mills to promote breakfast cereals as a category, not just the company’s own brands.
Two related cases — one from an iconic candy brand and another centered on the birth of Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge — illustrate that the authenticity and appropriateness of tone can be highly subjective.
