What do all social media users have in common?
Correct: they’re all looking for a conversation. They may be promoting their business, staying in touch with friends and family, following interests or using social media for other reasons, but ultimately they want conversation, interaction, with others.
Writing for social media may seem daunting, but writing for this fairly new medium isn’t as difficult as you might think. Firstly, you’re writing for other human beings; and secondly, as a human being yourself, you have had lots of conversations before, so you’re already half way there.
But if writing for Facebook or other social media networks still fazes you, here are a few simple tips to stop you from becoming a social media outcast.
Be interesting
Surprise your audience. Tell them something new. Make your language colourful and intriguing. Don’t describe everything as ‘exciting’; describe it as ‘enthralling’, ‘riveting’, ‘captivating’ or something else that fits, instead. Use active words to convey benefits, inspire your audience or capture their interest or imagination.
Be warm and friendly
Write the way you talk. Social media users want to interact with other people, so adopt a warmer, more informal tone. Maybe even use a little humour if it fits in with your brand voice. Avoid sounding like an advert, though: people want a conversation, not a sales pitch.
Balance informative content with conversational content. ‘How to’ articles inform people; polls enable them to express their views; both allow you to communicate, encourage interaction and deliver good social media content all at the same time.
Be concise
Imagine you’ve just had your lunch break. A workmate comes in and says’, ‘You’ll never guess what’s just happened outside!’ but talks about the traffic, the queue in the sandwich bar and their sandwiches before finally getting to the juicy bit. You’d switch off, wouldn’t you?
In which case, be concise. Cut out unnecessary words. Keep your messages as short and effective as possible. You’ll engage your audience easier and they’ll be more willing to continue the conversation, rather than stop you half way through.
Oh and in social media, the rules of grammar are meant to be broken! Write fragments of sentences. Sounds much more conversational (you see!).
Social media may still be fairly new, but writing for them means doing thing something that humans have been doing for centuries: having conversations! Write for your social media page in a warm, engaging manner which doesn’t waste words and you’ll be the one they all want to chat to.