10 Tips for Social Media Writing

When it comes to social media it’s important to separate your personal accounts from your business accounts. This holds true for what you are writing. Your personal posts are meant for family, friends or groups you belong to. You don’t have to be as strategic about what you post, share or write. For your business, your brand, however, it’s important to be thoughtful and strategic.

Your words, posts and images used speak volumes about your brand. You need to pay attention to your tone, voice, audience and objectives. Is what your sharing relevant or timely for your audience? Does your post make sense in a larger context for your brand? If not, you may need to step back and evaluate your social media content strategy and goals.

Don’t let any of this make you want to shy away from social media for your business. It’s a must anymore. Your customers expect it even. I’ve pulled together a few best practices and tips that can help you evaluate your social media tactics when it comes to writing for your business.

Social Media Creation Tips

1. Know Your Audience.
   Understand who your audience is to ensure that you’re writing relevant and relatable content for them. This is also especially important when using slang. What are their demographics? What are their needs? How can you help them? This means you need to do some research, but it can pay off in the end.
   
2. Know Your Objective.
   What do you want to achieve with the post? What’s the main point for your audience? What is the takeaway? Don’t just post to be posting. It comes across as forced and unplanned.
   
3. Create Shareworthy Content.
   A shareworthy post is one that others find value in and want to share with friends, family, co-workers. To do this, you need to know why people share what they do share. It needs to be something relevant to them, allows them to feel connected in some way or adds value. Don’t forget, shareworthy posts must be mobile friendly! 
   
4. Use Casual Voice.
   Social media is about starting conversations. Daily conversations are usually casual, comfortable, and friendly. Keep in mind your brand’s tone and know how to change tone across the various social platforms. Also remember the basic grammar rules, you don’t want to lose credibility and authority. Avoid industry jargons, acronyms and stuffy business-speak.
   
5. Write a Great Headline.
   You need to catch the reader’s attention quickly with social media, with any content really. Think about what grabs your attention as you’re scrolling through your feed. Here are a few headline ideas to get you started:
   
   Threats – Relax, this isn’t threatening someone! Think about what might keep your audience up at night (or you)?
   
   Ahhhh Zen – You know these types of headlines, they promise a better life, they’re the feel-good posts that are easy to click on.
   
   Piggyback – Think about what brands or people are famous for in your industry. Emulate, but don’t copy verbatim.
   
   Oops! Mistakes – What are common mistakes that people are looking to resolve, especially in your industry if you’re offering something for them.
   
   How To’s – What typical things do your customers or readers wonder about how they can do them?
   
   Lists – Focus on the most relevant concerns or interests your audience may have and offer to answer with a short list.
   
6. Keep it Short and Simple (KISS).
   You’re vying for people’s precious time and to stand out among an endless amount of daily content. Keep your content short, simple and easy to read. Shoot for an eighth-grade reading level, except for LinkedIn perhaps.
   
   For social posts, you have character limits, that doesn’t mean you must use all the characters. Too much text is daunting, and readers won’t take the time to read it. You may have a lot to say but put that in a blog post. Use your social posts to encourage readers to then read the blog article, teasing them with what they’ll find or learn. 
   
7. Make the Post Action-Oriented.
   Social media for business is often about invoking a call to action (CTA). It may not be sales-focused, but you want your readers to do something. What is that something? Do you want them to read a blog post, watch a video or maybe just join the conversation? Start your posts with thought-provoking question and an invitation to act.
   
8. Use Active Voice.
   Readers prefer active over passive voice. Active voice puts the subject first – “I threw the ball.” rather than, “The ball was thrown by me.” Active voice is more casual, more personal. Passive voice can often feel flat and overly factual.
   
9. Break the Rules.
   With social media writing, it’s okay to break some of the grammar rules. You don’t have to spell out numbers less than 10 or avoid prepositions at the end of sentences. You want your content read so it must be scannable and easy to digest. You’re competing with an endless feed of content and people short on time. Check out my article, Social Media Writing – 6 Rules to Break.
   
10. Edit Your Work.
    Above all else, edit your work! Conversational tone with character limits can easily lead to misinterpretation. You’ve read the posts that made you do a double take, we all have. And while casual is cool, if your posts are filled with typos, misspellings and glaring grammatical errors, you lose credibility. Read your work, edit, re-read and edit again! If you can, have someone else look over your posts. For tips on checking your work and the importance of good grammar, take a look at Social Media Grammar – Check Yourself.

Just following a few, simple tips and best practices can help you make the most of your social media efforts for your business. You’ll better reach your target audience while lending credibility and authority to your brand.