Beyond the social media post: humanising your brand through tone of voice and community engagement
Nat Green & Sophie Hawkesford
Social Media Monitoring and Digital Content Strategist
The University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh has an unpredictable working environment as a heavily devolved, international university that’s no stranger to a media frenzy.
We’ll share our unique perspective on the challenging experience of adapting tone of voice and building community on social media, while finding a balance between testing new tactics and establishing our boundaries as a globally recognised brand.
With 972,000+ followers across our channels and thousands of inbound social media notifications a week to triage, it can be difficult to shift beyond functional enquiry management and build genuine connections with our community.
Since starting this explorative project, we have improved our community engagement efforts, which has so far helped to increase our average engagement rate per impression by 73% (3.8% to 6.6%) across key channels in two months.
This project, while focusing on humanising our brand, includes:
Evolving our tone of voice to meet the needs of many audiences, driving genuine conversations and emotional connections.
Making people-centred and insight-led decisions about social media content creation and the impact beyond publishing.
Prioritising inclusivity, accessibility, and relevance to align with brand values.
Shining a spotlight on internal communities, building relationships, and encouraging cross-departmental collaboration for maximum impact.
Key takeaways
How to shift from risk-averse, anti-social, overthinking broadcasters to curious, confident, community-led marketers who amplify key voices.
Plan content and tailor community engagement to individual channels that encourages the desired behaviour and highlights opportunities.
Understand your boundaries and learn to strike the balance between maintaining brand integrity and delivering what an audience expects on social media.
About your speakers
Sophie Hawkesford (She/her) is a Digital Content Strategist at The University of Edinburgh. She’s worked in higher education marketing for 7+ years, with experience in both Russell Group and Post 92 universities. In her current role, she provides specialist strategic digital content support and expertise to ensure optimal delivery of user-focused digital content for the University. Soph has a leading role in developing and evolving digital marketing content, service priorities, standards, and guidelines in line with the University’s strategic priorities using evidence-based approaches, performance measurement and analytics.
Nat Green (They/she) is a Social Media Monitoring and Support Officer at The University of Edinburgh. Nat has engaged with people-centred content through many aspects of digital marketing including copywriting, SEO, email, blog and content design, before settling into social media. Nat brings their understanding of the demands of different industries and communities to inform key tactics for impactful engagement, identify emerging discussions, and monitor and report on brand sentiment.