Extreme Copywriting: How to Write for Social Media

When it comes to writing for social media, the principles are much the same as writing for the rest of the web. Specifically, it’s important to get to the point quickly (check) and use a conversational tone (check). The biggest difference is that you should take the principles of writing for the web a bit more seriously when you’re applying them to social media content.

Think about it …

You have to make your point pretty quickly in a banner ad, but you should get to it even faster if you’re writing a headline for something like a Digg article. Why? You have one line to grab someone’s attention, and we all know people don’t read; they scan.

As conversationally as you may write a homepage, you should use an even more casual tone for a Facebook status update. Why? Because you’re having a personal conversation. Think employee to fans not necessarily company to target audience.

See a pattern? Social media takes the principles of writing for the web to the extreme. Keep that in mind as you read (or more likely scan) these additional guidelines for writing social media content from Social Media Today.

Focus On Your Reader

Establish your intent early on in both the headline and the initial paragraph.  Let your readers know what benefit they will get out of reading your content.

Have a Strong Headline

Your headline is where it’s all at.  Make your statement there and make it big and bold.  Your headline should clearly establish the exact benefit your reader is going to get by reading your article. The best headlines provoke an emotional response in your reader.

Less is More

Keep things brief and make your point quickly.  Many readers simply parse through the content on your blog and don’t actually read it completely.  Establish your point quickly and then move on to the next one.

Shorten Your Sentences

Keeping with the first point above, keep your sentences short.  Make sure that each sentence has a beginning, middle and end.

For example, take  the sentence “Your goal is to learn how to write compelling content.”

Notice how the sentence makes a strong statement while adhering to a structure that presents a beginning, middle and end.  The sentence establishes the point right off that bat with “Your goal” and then moves on to tell you what you are going to be doing in the words “learn how”.  Then it tells you what you will accomplish with the words “write compelling content”.

This has a profound impact on your ability to create compelling content and will drastically improve the response you get from your copywriting.

Shorten Your Paragraphs

Writing short, informative paragraphs allows you to break up your content into smaller blocks that each make their point quickly. Statistics show that readers tend to absorb the point much quicker when faced with shorter paragraphs.  It tricks their mind into thinking your article will be quick and easy to read.  Notice how the majority of paragraphs in this post are no more than 3 to 4 sentences long.

Write With Purpose

Make bold statements about your topic.  Show that you are passionate about the topic you are writing about and have a clear, concise purpose in writing it.  Establishing your purpose in a firm manner that isn’t insulting to the reader.  This tells them you know what you are talking about and you mean to share it with them.

Have a Beginning, Middle and End

Establish the problem or need you intent to solve in the beginning and then provide the substance of your solution in the middle.  Finally, close it out by clearly demonstrating you have solved their problem.

Use Simple Words

Use simple words such as “use” instead of “utilized” and “get” instead of “receive”.  This makes things much easier to read as well as simple to understand.

Read more in the article “How to Write Compelling Content with Purpose”