How can you stand out in a sea of already familiar faces? This week, I’m sharing five tips you should know about creating your online voice, while establishing your online voice.
1. Claim and build your virtual space
There is unlimited real estate online, but also lots of competition. Observe the field you want to enter but be ready to innovate and stand out. You need to claim the idea and prepare to take risks to succeed.
Perhaps the first defining skill set that trust agents seem to share is their recognition of the fact that there’s the established way to do things – and then there’s a game-changing way to do things.
(Brogen and Smith, 2009)
2. Adapt the language
The language you choose helps you reel in audiences and maintain loyalty. The right vocabulary will convince your audience you are knowledgable enough about the topic or passionate enough. You want slide into the crowd.
Part of online rhetoric is being able to speak emoji. Emojis are part of an influencer’s toolkit to engage with the audience and humanize a conversation (Ge & Gretzel, 2018). It also turns an online post more like a “social media post” than a company memo.
3. Research, research, research
Research and make sure any vocabulary you used is used appropriately with the target audience. Show that you are in-touch with the audiences and the topic. This is a strategy to increase your ethos in a given field (Nichols, 2021).
My high school teacher told her 12th grade class that she and her toddler “Netflixed and chilled” one weekend. Her horrified students had to explain what it really meant.
4. Network like crazy
Your value online depends on you social capital, the currency built by your collaboration, cooperation, and bargaining with other peers within a given field (Lauriston, 2018). To succeed online, you have to make the effort to reach out to other people to make your way through social circles. Just like in person relationships.
Brogan and Smith used Joe Pistone as an example, an undercover FBI agent who slowly networked his way into one of the US’ biggest crime families (2009).
5. Don’t be a faker
Overdoing your language can seem inauthentic and deter audiences from giving you any more attention. Ancient Greek sophits would give seemingly persuasive arguments that you later realize as shallow (Nichols, 2021).
The work you put in to the right rhetoric is a long-term investment to keep long-term audiences.
Resources
Brogan, C. & Smith, J. (2009). Trust Agents. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Ge, J., & Gretzel, U. (2018). Emoji rhetoric: a social media influencer perspective. Journal of marketing management, 34(15-16), 1272-1295.
Lauriston, U. (2018). 5 ways the incredibly well-connected build social capital. Ladders. https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/5-ways-the-incredibly-well-connected-build-social-capital
Nichols, L.D. (2021). Online voices [Powerpoint Slides]. Institute of Communications, Culture, Information, and Technology. University of Toronto Mississauga.