Chat & IM Platform Communication Style Guide

Master the art of professional instant messaging across different platforms and contexts

Key Principle: Your communication style should match the platform, audience, and context while maintaining professionalism. Adapt your tone from formal to conversational while staying appropriate for business settings.

💬 Style Guide Sections

📝 Message Structure 🎯 Tone & Formality 📱 Platform-Specific Styles 😊 Emoji & Reactions 👥 Group vs Direct Messages ✅ Best Practices
📝 Message Structure & Formatting

Clear, Scannable Messages

✅ Well-Structured Messages
Hi Sarah,

Quick update on the client project:

✅ Design review completed
⏳ Waiting on legal approval
🔄 Next: Implementation planning

ETA for next phase: Friday

Let me know if you have questions!
@channel Reminder: Team standup moved to 10am tomorrow due to the all-hands meeting.
❌ Poor Structure
hey sarah so i wanted to let you know that we finished the design review and we’re waiting on legal to approve it and then we can move to implementation planning probably by friday but let me know if you have any questions about anything
standup time change tomorrow 10am not 9am because of the meeting

Length & Brevity Guidelines

✅ Appropriate Length
Budget approval needed for Q4 marketing campaign. Total: $15K. Details in attached doc. Can we discuss this afternoon?
Thanks for the quick turnaround on the proposal! 👍
Meeting notes from today:
• Decision: Go with Option B
• Next: Sarah to draft timeline
• Follow-up: Monday check-in
❌ Too Long/Short
I’ve been thinking about our Q4 marketing strategy and I believe we should consider increasing our budget allocation for digital advertising because the market trends show that consumer behavior has shifted significantly toward online channels and our competitors are gaining market share in the digital space which puts us at a competitive disadvantage…
k
🎯 Tone & Formality Spectrum

Professional Tone Scale

1
2
3
4
5
Very Formal
External/Executive
Formal
Manager/Client
Professional
Team/Colleagues
Conversational
Close Team
Casual
Informal/Social

Tone Examples by Audience

✅ Appropriate Tone Matching
To CEO: Good morning, Mr. Johnson. The Q3 results are ready for your review. Please let me know when you’d like to schedule the presentation.
To Manager: Hi Lisa, just sent over the budget proposal. Happy to discuss any questions you have.
To Teammate: Hey Mike! Just finished the mockups. Want to take a look before I share with the client?
To Close Team: Pizza party planning update: we’ve got 15 yes votes so far! 🍕
❌ Mismatched Tone
To CEO: hey! got those numbers ready whenever 👍
To Manager: Good afternoon, Ms. Rodriguez. I am writing to inform you that I have completed the aforementioned budget proposal…
To Teammate: Dear Michael, I am pleased to inform you that the design mockups have been completed…
To Team: This is to notify everyone that the pizza party planning committee has received fifteen affirmative responses.
📱 Platform-Specific Communication Styles

Platform Style Guidelines

💬 Slack

  • Use threads for follow-up discussions
  • @mention sparingly and purposefully
  • Emoji reactions to acknowledge without cluttering
  • Use formatting: **bold**, _italics_, `code`
  • Pin important messages in channels
  • Use status and custom emojis appropriately

👔 Microsoft Teams

  • More formal tone than Slack
  • Use @mentions for urgent items
  • Leverage meeting integration features
  • File sharing with context and purpose
  • Use chat vs. channel appropriately
  • Professional GIFs and reactions only

📧 Email Chat

  • Maintain email-level professionalism
  • Use proper subject lines for new threads
  • Include context in messages
  • Be more explicit about next steps
  • Use formal greetings and closings
  • Limit casual abbreviations

📱 Mobile/SMS

  • Keep messages concise for mobile reading
  • Be mindful of after-hours timing
  • Use for urgent/time-sensitive only
  • Include context since history may be limited
  • Confirm receipt for important messages
  • Respect personal/business boundaries
😊 Professional Emoji & Reaction Usage

📍 Professional Emoji Guide

✅ Always Professional

👍 Approval ✅ Completed 📅 Calendar 📊 Data 🎯 Goals ⚡ Urgent

😊 Context-Dependent

😊 Friendly 🤔 Thinking 🙏 Thanks 🎉 Celebration 💡 Ideas 🚀 Launch

❌ Avoid in Professional Settings

🍆 Suggestive 🤦 Frustration 💀 Extreme 🙄 Dismissive 😴 Bored 🤢 Disgusted

🎯 Reaction Best Practices

👀 Seen/Noted ❤️ Support 🔥 Impressive 💯 Agreement ⭐ Highlight 🏆 Achievement
👥 Group vs Direct Message Etiquette

Channel/Group Communication

✅ Effective Group Messages
@channel Quick reminder: Design review in Conference Room B at 2pm. Please bring printed mockups.
Question for the team: What’s our preference for the client presentation format? Slides or interactive demo?
🎉 Congrats to @sarah for landing the Johnson account! Celebrating at happy hour Friday.
❌ Poor Group Messages
@channel @everyone @here Does anyone know where the bathroom key is?
Hey @mike can you send me that personal document we discussed yesterday about your vacation?
ugh this project is so frustrating nothing is working right

Direct Message Communication

✅ Effective Direct Messages
Hi Alex, could we schedule a quick 1:1 to discuss the project timeline? I have concerns about the delivery date.
Thanks for covering the client call today. Your presentation was excellent! 👏
Quick heads up: I noticed a small error in the proposal. Mind if I fix it before sending?
❌ Poor Direct Messages
we need to talk
Forward this message to everyone on the team about the new policy changes immediately
Your presentation today was really bad and the client looked confused the whole time

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