Writing for your social audience – it’s different than traditional media

By: Angela Raleigh, Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.

When you were in high school or college, you were forced to write in a way that just about killed any ounce of creativity. But you’re not in college anymore and your writing shouldn’t be stuck there either! This is especially true when writing for your social media audiences. It’s just not the same as writing for traditional media outlets. Your social audience is interested in responding and sharing instantly; and they play a larger role in the conversation by commenting and sharing their view points, both good and bad. This means you’ve got to get it right the first time.

When writing for your social audience, keep the following in mind:

• Do your research. Who you are writing for? By understanding your audience you can determine the type of content that is popular with your social media users. 
• Write headlines that grab your reader’s attention. Your headline plays a key role in grabbing the reader’s attention. Create headlines that will make social media users want to read more. And when possible keep your headline brief so that it can be retweeted with room for readers to comment. 
• Get to the point quickly. In most cases you only have a few seconds to grab a reader’s attention. So if you’ve enticed readers enough with a great headline that they click on it for more information, make sure your opening paragraph is interesting and that it says what the social media post is about. When appropriate use bullet points and include photos. 
• Be conversational. An important part of writing for social media is being social. Write to your readers as if you’re sitting with your audience having a conversation with them. And include a call to action to engage your readers in the conversation. 
• Be a resource for your audience. Write social media posts that provide resources for your audience. This might include providing web links to additional information so that readers can learn what they want to know. Also, include sharing buttons so that your readers can share the information you’re providing to them.

What do you do to keep your social media writing interesting?