Six ways to make your social media copy better

Writing for your business social media accounts can be a bind. But with my ‘six ways to make your social media copy better’ blog, you’ll be whipping those social posts into amazing shape within a few clicks of the mouse.

Keep it short

Short pieces of content – got it?

Well, yes. But I mean everything. Short words, short sentences and short explanations. Keep. It. All. Short. Because your audience is busy. They don’t necessarily have the time (or the inclination) to read very much about your business, your products or your services.

Here are the best ways to do this:

·  Delete sentences that don’t add value

·  Chop out words you don’t need to use, to make sentences shorter

·  Avoid going into the fine detail and provide links to places they can find it if they need it

·  Use bullet points like this to create easy-to-read lists of information

Avoid jargon and flowery language

People, generally, hate jargon. Don't use industry-specific words and phrases unless you are writing for those in the inner circle of your industry. You’ll confuse the rest of us.

And confused people will generally just turn around and leave.



Keep your language simple so that anyone (even me!) can understand it.

Use an active voice

This can be a tricky one because it’s easy to slip into a passive voice. But using an active voice puts you in control and generally uses fewer words too – win!

Not sure about this? Use this example:

Passive: The dinner was prepared by her

Active: She prepared the dinner



Using active voice more than passive makes your meaning clearer for your audience and keeps the sentences from becoming too complicated or wordy.

Put your audience first

Resist the urge to fill your content with ‘I’ or ‘we’ and turn your words around to be about your reader. Tell them how you help them or solve their problems rather than bigging up your latest product or service.



Benefits not features, people!

Think about structure

Think carefully about every post and structure it in a way that makes reading it really easy.

Write an attention grabbing headline, create a scroll-stopping hook. Tell your audience how you'll save them time/money/frustration/energy, then pull them in with a cracking call to action - people love being told what the next step is.

Check your copy before you publish

You’ve written some killer content and are about to hit publish. ✋🏻STOP! ✋🏻

Proofread it before you set it loose on the world. Either set your words aside for a few hours and look over them again yourself or ask a friend to do it for you.

Spelling mistakes, typos or grammatical errors will dent the impression you’re trying to make. Check out this handy guide to proofreading to find out more.
 
But above all, enjoy the process of writing – it can be fun! And if not, don’t panic! Contact me and let’s have a chat about how I can help and write your content for you!