Social media voice — full reference

Sources: Patterson Companies Social Media Writing Guidelines, 09/2019 [SOC19], and Brand Guide 2025 pages 47–49 [BG25].

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Note

The ✅ and ❌ marks below reproduce Patterson’s own published correct/incorrect examples. They are quoted content, not decoration.

1. Scope

“In general, the same writing guidelines outlined in the Brand Voice section should be followed on social media. Clear and concise, our brand voice on social media should be positive, authentic and professional.”

Social is a layer on top of the corporate voice, not a replacement for it.

2. The key difference

“The main difference between writing for social media versus writing for owned media such as our websites or print publications is that the audience may not necessarily be in a buying mindset… Social media copy should limit sales-driven language and instead focus on educating, informing and entertaining.”

Important

[BG25 p.47] 80/20 rule: 80% of content should provide value; at most 20% may be promotional.

3. Point of view — non-negotiable [SOC19]

“We are speaking on behalf of Patterson as a whole. Therefore, we always write in first-person plural: We, us, our/ours — not I or they.”

	Example
✅	We had a great afternoon welcoming 12 new territory representatives from around the United States to our corporate headquarters in Minnesota this week!
❌ third person	This week, Patterson welcomed 12 new territory representatives… to their corporate headquarters… They are a company who truly prides themselves…
❌ first person singular	I had the pleasure of welcoming 12 new territory representatives… I can’t wait to introduce them…

4. Guiding principle [SOC19]

“A good rule of thumb when creating social copy is to conduct yourself the same way you would as the polite host of a social gathering.”

Do	Don’t
Ask about things you know matter to them	Talk about yourself too much or hog the conversation
Use approachable language that is conversational and positive	Be boastful — share what you’re proud of tastefully
Conduct yourself with dignity at all times to avoid regrets	Leave anyone out — welcome all the other party guests, especially those new to your friend circle

5. Hashtags [SOC19]

• Research every hashtag: confirm it is used frequently, means what you think it means, and is not too vague. Check every hashtag on every platform it will be used on.
• Capitalize the first letter of each word for readability: #ThisIsAnExample, not #thisasanexampleitalljumblestogether.

Platform	Count	Note
Facebook	Emphasis only	Hashtags are hyperlinked and discoverable, but strict user privacy settings limit their reach
X (Twitter), LinkedIn	Two or three per post	—
Instagram	Up to 15 per post	Used for discovery

Warning

Avoid #Patterson — a search returns towns named Patterson, athletes named Patterson and unrelated posts.

	Example
✅	#DidYouKnow: 1 in 4 dentists list hemostasis among their top 3 challenges. See how Hemoban Gel simplifies tissue management and can prevent secondary bleeding. https://patt.dental/newproducts #OralHealth
❌	#DidYouKnow: 1 in 4 #dentists list #hemostasis among their top 3 challenges… #tissuemanagement… #bleeding… #Patterson

Why the second fails, per [SOC19]: too many hashtags reduce readability; #tissuemanagement is used too infrequently to be worth including; #bleeding and #Patterson are both too vague.

6. Style on social [SOC19]

• Special characters — !, ?!, ***, emoji and all caps — enhance, do not overpower a post.
• Most platforms allow no formatting beyond spaces and line breaks; bold, italic, underline and strikeout are not possible.

7. Channel strategy [BG25 p.47]

Active channels: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube.

• Be active. Post regularly and respond to questions and comments. “An inactive social media account is off-putting to anyone visiting the page and should be taken down entirely.”
• Provide engaging content — relevant, informative and authentic.
• Focus on stories. Content that tells a story and informs is more interesting than images and messaging that push products or services.
• Use strong images focused on real people, places and things. Graphic- and text-heavy images usually perform poorly compared with photos featuring people.

Social also serves reputation management and crisis communication, customer insight, service and support, targeted advertising and SEO.

Contact: corporatemarketing@pattersoncompanies.com.

8. Imagery [BG25 p.48]

Content	Format
Graphics	.png — social sites compress; PNG loses the least data
Photos without graphics or text overlays	.jpg

Create two graphics for most campaigns: 1200 × 628 (1.91:1) and 1080 × 1080 (1:1).

Instagram surface	Size
Square	1080 × 1080
Portrait (4:5)	1080 × 1350 — most feed space, but crops to square on the profile grid
Landscape	1080 × 608
Stories	1080 × 1920

Video must be .mp4 or .mov (no animated GIFs), 30fps, ≥ 3 seconds. Vertical preferred.

Tip

Images featuring people in a real-life setting perform best — particularly on Facebook, whose feed algorithm weights people over products or text/graphic-heavy content.

9. Favicon and profile-image changes [BG25 p.49]

The hands-only favicon may be recolored on social only, by corporate marketing, tied to a pre-agreed month-long observance, at most twice per year, never for one-off events and never for customer marketing campaigns. Documented examples: a Facebook header for Black History Month and a LinkedIn header for Pride Month.

10. Audience data — stale, do not use for targeting

Account	Audience, as of 09/2019
Patterson Dental Facebook	66% women, ages 25–44
Patterson Dental Instagram	66% women, skewing younger — 42% ages 25–34
Patterson Vet Facebook	80% women, ages 25–44
Patterson Vet Instagram	81% women, ages 25–34

Warning

Seven years old at time of extraction. [TBD: refresh audience demographics before using them for any targeting or planning decision.]

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Source of truth: plugins/patterson-brand/skills/voice-and-tone/references/social-voice.md in the patterson-corp repository.