When writing for social media, it pays to have a conversational tone, an eye-catching opening, and text which is easy on the eye, as well as being easy to scan for the important bits to your message.
To connect with your audience and drive engagement, an author should keep their posts brief, format with short paragraphs, and include a single yet clear call-to-action (CTA).
Mastering Core Elements
To stop readers scrolling past your content, an author could
use a hook. This could be a surprising statistic, a relatable problem, or a bold statement in your very first sentence.
It pays to
keep it simple, so write like you are texting a friend. Remove jargon, avoid buzzwords, and make sure your copy is easy to read at a glance.
Formatting is important; so, break up dense walls of text by
making use of white space and line breaks. And there’s nothing in the rules which says you can’t use emojis to emphasise points.
It also pays to
make use of a Call to Action (CTA) - You’re allowed to tell your audience exactly what to do next; like “Leave a comment," or "Share your thoughts," even "Click the link".
Tailor your style to compliment the Platforms
On the
LinkedIn platform, an author should lean into a
professional but authentic tone. Share industry insights, personal career milestones, or thought leadership.
With
Facebook, an author wants to
adopt a community-based approach. So, longer posts, detailed stories, and interactive questions would perform well here.
Best Practices to Consider
Be Consistent: Show up regularly rather than waiting for perfectly polished content.
Document your process instead of constantly trying to come up with the next viral idea.
Use Hooks Effectively: Crafting the perfect first 2-3 sentences to frame your posts and
set the right expectations can compel a reader to think that there is something important in your post that they need to know.
Repurpose Content: Turn long-form writing (like a blog or article) into a
series of smaller social media updates.
Writing like this takes practice, and with the landscape evolving all the time, an author would find they are constantly learning new things whilst adapting to change.
But the more they do it, the easier it should become to provide attention grabbing and compelling content for themselves or their organisation.
Newscaster Charity Digital explores the above aspects and more in their article that offers some tips to help your copy stand out on social media.
From defining the
objectives for your social media to
accessibility options that help your content stand out, they share guidance on how to write on social media and be successful in doing so.
To
read the article, visit the Charity Digital
website.