Social Media Content Writing Tips

The Best Social Media Content Writing Tips to Engage Your Audience and Convert Like Crazy

Have you ever found yourself scrolling your social feeds and found a particularly compelling ad for a pair of shoes you’ve had your eye on… and suddenly, they’re 20% off? How about checking out the location tag on an influencer’s food pic on Instagram, because that aerial shot of their dish looked so delicious – and before you know it, you’ve booked a table for your next date night?

We’ve all succumbed to the wily techniques of effective social media advertising (even us marketers!). Great social media advertising requires a business to engage their audience with eye-catching visuals and strong copy to stop scrollers in their tracks and trigger buying behaviour. Let’s dissect some of those strategies and demonstrate how you can use them in your own social media advertising efforts.

Deciding on Which Social Media Channel Your Business Should be Posting on

Before optimising your content, it’s essential to consider the type of content and where it will live. Different audiences and demographics will flock to different social platforms, so it’s important to consider where your target market spends most of their time and where they are more likely to convert to buying behaviour.

Whether it’s just viewing content, browsing their interests, connecting with family or networking with professional peers, the reasons for using some platforms over others will vary from audience to audience. Understanding where yours is spending their time and what type of content they are engaging with allows you to craft something relevant and personal to them.

How to Write Effective Social Media Copy That Converts

There are a few rules of thumb we recommend when writing your copy, in order to ensure cut-through and genuine conversions from your target market.

Set up your content goals

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Before getting started it’s crucial to set out some explicit goals for your content and get clear on what you want to achieve with it. Being clear on your goals creates a springboard from which to develop content far more easily. In order to do that, you’ll need to dig down into your brand values and research your audience.

The clearer your marketing goals will be, the more persuasive social media content you can write. Let’s say that your goal is to generate leads and sales; then, your strategy should incorporate moving your audience to a landing page or funnel.

Know your audience and platform

The second component is to know your audience and what platform you are writing for. You need to write social media content that is based on your audience’s interests and needs and plays to the strengths of your chosen platform’s format. Twitter is different from Facebook, and Facebook is different from Instagram. Optimising your content according to the platform you’re writing for means taking the extra time to research and understand the conventions of that platform.

To target a specific audience, you will need to offer a solution to their pain point and provide real value to motivate them towards whatever you’re selling.

Use emotive appeals

Provoking emotion can motivate action from your audience; it’s all about knowing which emotions to evoke and where. You may consider some of the following examples:

Relatability: By talking through pain points or information inherent to your target audience’s needs, you can demonstrate an understanding of their problem and increase your audience’s trust in your brand. A customer is far more likely to buy from a company they can relate to and that understands the frustration produced by their problem.

Aspirational: For some products and services, what you are really selling is a better quality of life. Aspirational marketing looks at illustrating a bigger picture to audiences, showcasing the lives they could lead, were they to buy into the product being sold. Think alcohol ads showing people dancing and having fun with friends, or swimwear ads that show people relaxing on a tropical island. This works for services, also – for instance, lawyer ads that show clients looking relieved and reassured. It tells audiences that they, too, can achieve that peaceful state of mind if they engage that lawyer’s services.

Keep it Short and Simple

Attention spans on social media are getting shorter and shorter, so users appreciate when you keep things snappy. It also shows that you’re conscious of the value of their time.

To make your post stand out and achieve cut through, make your copy short. Research indicates not to get too fancy with your writing, and to keep it at an 8th-grade reading level for maximum digestibility.

To do this, keep sentences and paragraphs short, and don’t be afraid to break info up with bullet points so that users can easily scan your content. Being concise is the key.

Add a proper CTA (Call-To-Action)

A CTA prompts your audience to take an action, such as ‘Shop now’, ‘Learn more’ or ‘Contact us’, so it’s important to add an appropriate call to action at the end of your post.

Here are some less obvious, but also effective call to actions you may consider adding to your posts;

• Go to your website or landing page
• Sign up for a lead magnet
• Subscribe to your newsletter
• Ask a question or make a query
• Connect with you on other social media platforms
• Like, share or comment on your post

Bonus: A Note on Emojis

Emojis can be a great and playful way to engage your audience, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Emojis may work well on lifestyle brand accounts but may seem inappropriate and frivolous for brands or services who deal with more serious matters. If you do choose to use emojis in your copy, our suggestion is “less is more” – one well-placed emoji can be far more effective than four or five consecutive emojis. Overall, context is what’s most important here, so use your best judgement.

Summary

Maintaining an effective social media content strategy is an ongoing process. Don’t overwhelm yourself; plan out your process, feel free to play with trial and error, and see what sticks.

Keep experimenting with your posts to find what your target audience responds to best. You may want to try posting at different times of the day, or experiment with different content lengths. Be persistent and use a methodological approach to find out what works best for your brand.

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