When you share something on your social media, you want people to engage with it. You want the likes, the shares, the retweets. Unfortunately, you may not always be able to achieve this.
Even though it seems pretty straightforward, writing content for social media is a complicated and tricky venture. You must know how to effectively write your content so that it is widely read as well as shared.
Here are a few tips to help you make your content, social media friendly:
Table of Contents
Keep the different platforms in mind
Keep in mind the reader’s demographics, as well as the different ways you can write a post, vary significantly over the various social media platforms. You must always write posts that are suitable for the specific platform that you are sharing them on. You must also keep in mind your target audience, the number of words to use, the number of times you share a post, the best times to share it, etc. according to the specific platform. If you are not sure of all these things, you can take help online from agencies like Healthy Links, which can provide a detailed view of how and when to link and share your posts.
Reader-friendly
You are writing your post for the reader, not for yourself. Think of what they would want to read and how they would remain interested in reading on, and then write accordingly. Use language that is easy to understand, no matter who reads your posts. Avoid using jargon. Additionally, use “you†statements to address your readers. Try to engage them on a personal level by talking directly to them.
Another thing to note is that most people use social media on their phones. If your post is too long, it is not reader-friendly. The mobile phone users will especially skip it. Keep your posts concise and to the point.
Be professional
You may be writing for a casual platform, but you cannot be casual in your writing. Use proper sentence structures, spellings, grammar, and punctuation. Do not use short forms or acronyms.
Images
Posts with images have been proven to be more successful than posts that have no images. If your post is all words and no pictures, the readers will likely skim right over it. So, try to include relevant images wherever you can.
Engaging titles
Your titles need to be promising and inviting. Do not use vague captions. Readers will most likely engage with a post only if they know exactly what is in the post.
Also, do not lie. If your heading promises one thing, but your content delivers another, you will lose your following.
Language
In addition to keeping your writing grammatically correct, you must also make sure your language is coherent and engaging. Where possible, stir peoples’ emotions. Do not make vague statements. Use strong words. Use active voice whenever you can, as it is more powerful than the passive voice.
Trending topics
Post about topics that people want to read about. Find topics that are trending, research them thoroughly, and write your point of view about what everyone is discussing.
Context
Well-doing posts on social media are often shared far and wide. Make sure that wherever your post is shared, it is not taken out of the context it was written in. Your context should remain evident in your content, and your post should not become meaningless – or worse, taken to mean something else – wherever it ends up.
Keep it legal
Somehow people forget that if you use something already available online, you must cite your source. Always refer back to the work you took help from, or use content which does not have copyrights.
Proofread
This is a crucial step. Proofread what you have written before posting it, no matter what. Better yet, read it out loud to yourself. Reading aloud helps you identify any mistakes you may have made more effectively than reading silently.
Do not be afraid to rewrite
You may feel after writing a particular post that you have made many mistakes, or the piece is not as good as you had hoped. Your online SEO agency might feel the post is not up to the mark. There can be many reasons why your post may not do well. In such cases, do not be afraid to edit and rewrite things you have spent precious time on. If you can make it better, you should.
Featured image source: Freepik