How to Write the Most Engaging Social Media Copy
In an age where the majority of organizations have a social media presence, and competition for the short attention span of your audience is high, engagement is the most important metric toward social media success. The number of followers a page has means absolutely nothing if they don’t interact with your content.
Organic social media is not dead. It only died for those who are sharing bad content. Your content must be engaging in order for it to work for you on social media.
What does engaging mean and how do you write engaging content?
It is engaging if someone sees it, says an enthusiastic “yes,” and is unable to keep scrolling until they have given their two cents. Be that in a reaction, a comment, or, the most coveted of the engagements, a share to their own audiences.
The key is to ensure that everything you share has value. And, not only that it has value, but that it also evokes emotion. Corporate terms, legal speak, and brochure or commercial language doesn’t work on social media. You are injecting your brand into a personal space. A space that you are trying to be allowed into. One you are looking to become WELCOMED into. Repeatedly posting commercialized language in your posts won’t help you to this goal.
So, what does? Posts that evoke feelings. Be it nostalgia, warm fuzzies, anger, despair, desperation. Speak to hearts and minds. And have discussions around those feelings.
Define your target audience and develop a brand voice that speaks to them
Who is your target audience? Are you trying to reach a specific age group, a specific gender, a group of people with something in common?
For example, if your business is plumbing, you can have an active social media community that will bring together a group of people interested in upgrading their bathrooms and kitchens. Perhaps you’re just starting out in the plumbing business, you want to help mostly young professionals who are first time home buyers with their plumbing needs. How do you reach them? Going in a lifestyle direction could work. Showing modern plumbing fixtures that could allow bathrooms to look like a spa on a budget. A relaxing oasis.
Or, maybe you prefer using puns and being funny. There is something to be said about a business page that makes people laugh. And then, once they need your services, who will they immediately think of? The facebook page that tells all the fart jokes with branded memes of bathroom humor. Will this appeal to everyone? No! Should it? Also no! You only need to appeal to your audience. Say it with me “I only need to appeal to my audience.”
Maybe at this point, you say, “but Melanie I’m in a serious B2B business. I can’t tell fart jokes.” Fair enough, that is perfectly ok too. Knowing your target market is knowing who your audience is and needs to be so you need to cater to them. If I needed to stick it to someone with a hard-hitting lawyer, you’re right, I don’t want to see them telling fart jokes. I want to see them being hard-hitting. I want to see them delivering justice. That would give me confidence.
Exercise: Determine what your customers want
Do this now: grab a pen and paper or open your note app and write down what your customers value from you. Is it your personality? Is it your ability to get things done right, quickly? Is it more than one thing? Write them all down. Now, look at those things and think about how you can demonstrate those visually.
And don’t worry if you are drawing a blank, because that is what I’m here for! If you’re stuck (or even if you’re not stuck), drop those things your customers like about you in the comments so we can all help each other out to think of ways to present an engaging and visual story.
