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Defining Your Brand Guidelines and Voice

Intermediate
5 min read
Updated 2026-04-13

Your brand voice is the personality that comes through in every caption, hashtag, and reply. Defining it clearly in your brand profile ensures your Aibrify team writes content that sounds authentically like your business — not generic filler.

Why Brand Voice Matters

Your content could be beautifully designed but fall flat if the language doesn't sound like you. A luxury jeweller and a budget café might both post about their new products, but the tone, vocabulary, and even punctuation should be completely different. Your brand voice guidelines tell your Aibrify team exactly how to write on your behalf.

Accessing Brand Voice Settings

Navigate to: Dashboard → Settings → Brand Profile → Brand Voice

The Four Dimensions of Brand Voice

1. Tone

Tone describes the overall emotional register of your content. Choose from the options provided, or combine multiple:

- Professional — Polished, authoritative, formal

- Friendly — Warm, approachable, conversational

- Playful — Fun, witty, light-hearted

- Inspirational — Uplifting, motivational, aspirational

- Educational — Informative, clear, helpful

- Bold — Confident, direct, provocative

Most brands combine 2–3 tones. Example: "Friendly + Educational" works well for a financial advisor who wants to be approachable while providing real value.

2. Language Style

Describe how formal or casual your language should be:

- Formal — Full sentences, no contractions, professional vocabulary

- Semi-formal — Natural language, occasional contractions, avoids slang

- Casual — Conversational, contractions, may use common slang

- Very casual — Emoji-heavy, internet slang, abbreviated language

Also indicate:

- First person ("We're excited…") vs. Second person ("You deserve…")

- Technical vocabulary acceptable? (e.g., medical, legal, or industry jargon)

- Exclamation points — rare, moderate, or frequent?

3. Topics to Emphasize

List the themes and messages you always want to reinforce:

- Your core values (e.g., sustainability, craftsmanship, family-owned)

- Your key differentiators (e.g., "handmade," "locally sourced," "same-day service")

- Community involvement, causes you support

- Educational content your audience finds valuable

4. Topics to Avoid

Equally important: what should your content never touch?

- Sensitive political or social topics

- Competitor comparisons

- Pricing (if you prefer not to advertise prices on social)

- Specific claims that require regulatory approval (common in health, finance, legal)

Writing Examples: Show, Don't Tell

The most effective way to define your voice is to provide examples. In the Brand Voice Examples field, you can:

  1. Paste 3–5 captions you love — posts you've published before that felt exactly right
  2. Note what you like about each — "This one is great because it's direct but warm"
  3. Paste examples to avoid — posts that felt too corporate, too casual, or off-brand

Your team uses these examples as a direct reference when drafting new content.

Describing Your Audience in Voice Terms

Sometimes the best way to calibrate voice is to describe who you're talking to:

- "We speak to busy mums who don't have time for complicated recipes"

- "Our audience is senior engineers who can handle technical depth"

- "We talk to first-time business owners who feel overwhelmed"

This framing helps your team instinctively pitch the language at the right level.

Common Voice Mistakes to Avoid

Too vague: "Professional but friendly" without further detail doesn't give your team enough to work with. Add examples or contrast with what you're not.

Contradictory: "Authoritative and edgy" can work, but explain what that looks like in practice.

Overly restrictive: If you block too many topics or styles, it limits the variety your team can create. Leave room for creative interpretation.

Updating Voice Guidelines Over Time

Your brand voice may evolve as your business grows. Review and update your guidelines any time your brand positioning changes — after a rebrand, when entering a new market, or when you've built up a body of content you love and want to formalize.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I can't describe my brand voice — I just know what feels right?

That's common. Try pasting 3–5 captions you've written or approved that felt exactly right, and let that guide your team. Your Aibrify team will infer the voice from examples and refine their interpretation over time based on your feedback.

How long does it take for the team to adjust to updated voice guidelines?

Your team reviews the brand profile before drafting each batch of content, so changes are applied from the next content cycle. If you've made significant updates, send a message through Dashboard → Messages to flag the changes — this ensures the whole team is aligned quickly.

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