Building a Library “Brand Voice”

How to Make Your Social Media Sound Like You

By Julia Giantomasi

Published September 16th, 2026

The use of AI to streamline processes and make technological advancements is truly groundbreaking. On the flip side, living in a world with a focus on AI has created a more robotic culture. It’s important now more than ever that we continue to use our unique and human voices, especially when it comes to representing your organization. It can be so easy to fall into a pattern of just stating the facts about the event, program, or resource that you’re promoting…but that won’t grab attention! Finding your library’s brand voice is a key piece of excellent marketing and we’re here to help you discover what it is and how to use it when communicating with your community.

What Is a Brand Voice?

It may seem silly to imagine but think of your library as a person. You can have fun with it and really create a persona for your library in this brainstorming process. What are their likes and dislikes? What’s their personality? Is your library soft-spoken or loud? Serious? Playful? Quirky? Professional? Friendly? Maybe your library is all these things! Think about which qualities stand out. Once you’ve put yourself in your library’s shoes, think about how your library would communicate. That’s how you’ll find your brand voice, which is just how your library sounds when it talks to people. The good news is there’s no right or wrong voice. An academic library for a large university might sound different than a small local public library, and that’s a good thing. Your voice should reflect your library, your staff, and your community.

Voice vs. Tone: What’s the Difference?

The key to a brand voice is consistency. Voice refers to your library’s overall personality. You may be promoting several different programs, collections, and resources, but if your voice is consistent, each post should sound like they came from the same person. Your tone, however, will change based on what you’re talking about. For example, if your library’s voice is friendly, welcoming, helpful, and enthusiastic, that will be the foundation for how you write content. But the tone will be more playful for a children’s event, respectful and informative for a social services resource, and celebratory for a holiday. Your tone adapts to the moment while your voice stays steady.

How to Create Your Voice

One of the easiest ways to start brainstorming is to just choose a few words to describe how you want your library to sound. Here are some examples of words to help get you started in deciding what your voice will be:

• Welcoming
• Helpful
• Curious
• Community-focused
• Fun
• Friendly
• Conversational
• Inclusive
• Encouraging
• Knowledgeable
• Warm
• Local
• Playful
• Genuine
• Informative

These words become your filter when writing marketing content. It’s also helpful to look back at what is already working for your library’s content. Find social posts that performed well or had a lot of engagement. What did these posts sound like? Remember that in general, a voice that performs well on social media is one that sounds like a person talking and isn’t just efficiently relaying information like a flyer.

Start Writing in Your Library’s Voice

Once you’ve created the framework of who your library is and what it sounds like, then it’s time to start talking the talk! As you begin drafting, imagine you’re talking to one patron. This allows your voice to sound more inviting and warm rather than speaking to a larger audience. For example, starting with a question like, “Ready to try something new?” can feel like you’re speaking directly to the person scrolling, which will grab their attention more than “This month’s craft club meets on Wednesday.”

It might also help, especially if more than one staff member will be crafting marketing materials, to create a vocabulary list while developing your library’s voice. Having a shared list of words that sound natural and a list of words to avoid will make writing in that voice easier.

Lastly, don’t shy away from letting your library’s personality shine, and even the personality of your staff members who contribute to the voice. The goal is always to sound human and speak to your patrons in a way that connects with them. When you’ve mastered your voice, apply it to all marketing tactics. Don’t just limit it to social media! The tone can change based on the topic, but your library’s voice can be used for newsletters, website copy, digital signage, videos, and blogs.

Every library is unique but remember that the strongest library voices often feel like a friendly staff member saying, “Hey, you should check this out!” Keep that in mind as you find the personality that’s already inside your library, put some words around it, and let that personality show up consistently in your communications. Putting in the effort now to create a friendly persona will go a long way in making your library stand out in a robotic world and continue to draw patrons in.