How to Write for Social Media

The average person doesn’t think much before writing on social media; the average person is not a business, like yours, with a reputation to build and defend. They will rant and lol and post weird pictures and sometimes even get into verbal fisticuffs. And on many occasions, the “words” they use are not even words. Welcome to English as defined by texting (note the “lol” above).

You are not the average person. And while I probably don’t have to tell you that insulting people and ranting is not the ideal way to build your social media business presence, you might be wondering just what you should post on social media.

So I will tell you.

Keep in mind that everything here is just a guideline, a collective brainstorm. What you post on your FaceBook timeline and in your Twitter stream will depend in large part on the nature of your business (Do you sell jewelry? Do you run seminars? Do you do home inspections? Are you an affiliate marketer?) as well as your own creative approach to building a rapport with your present and future customers.

The most obvious thing to write on social media is news about your business. If you are running a new seminar or if you just got in a new product line, chances are that many of your followers will be interested. Do you have a sale coming up? Customer appreciation day? Sponsoring a charitable event? Let them know.

If you post non-stop about your products and services, you will bore people – this is “social” media, not commercial media. But some company news is a good idea.

The second most obvious thing to do is to brag. If you just landed NASA as a client, tweet how thrilled you are. After all, that brings you great credibility. If you get an amazing testimonial, let the world know .If you’ve just been accepted as a TED speaker, tell your followers that you will let post the URL to watch it on YouTube as soon as it is available.

As with company news, a little bragging goes a long way. A lot of bragging will drive followers far away.

Now that we have the obvious out of the way, what else can you or should you write about? If you create content on your website, you should let your followers know. In fact, you should let them know several times – not several times within an hour, but on Twitter it is worth sharing your content several times over the course of the next few days (pre-schedule for different times of day to reach different segments of your followers), and on FaceBook and Google Plus, it’s worth posting 2-3 times, a few weeks apart.

If you create content on other websites, such as guest posting, share those as well.

One thing that goes over well is motivational quotes. If you can find some interesting and inspiring quotes that relate to your niche and would interest your followers, turn them into pictorial quotes and share those. They do exceedingly well on Pinterest, FaceBook, Instagram and Google Plus.

How-to information is always welcome. People love to learn how to do things better, secret shortcuts, hacks and other useful information. If they relate specifically to your product, that’s ideal. But even if they are only related to a similar topic, that’s fine. As long as they are of interest to your followers, the tips will be appreciated and will help solidify your bond with your followers.

Have you seen some news related to your customers? This works well if your target market is well defined. It works if you sell products only to expectant mothers or only to dentists or only to people in a specific small town. Post news that relates to the target market, even if it has nothing to do with your business. It’s part of the bonding process; it lets your followers know that you are both on the same team.

Share news about clients or allies or suppliers or anybody that is part of your professional or business network. They will appreciate it, and again, it is part of the bonding process. If you have shared news about Customer X three times in the past year, Customer X will perceive you more as part of its team than if you shared nothing of theirs. So don’t be shy to share content and news from other businesses and people in your network.

There are many other, creative things you can post on social media. You can run contests and ask followers to respond to polls. You can get them involved in naming your next flavor or designing your next poster. The possibilities are endless.

These ideas are a good starting point, and should help anybody who is suffering from social media block. But they are just a start, just a base on which you can build. Don’t be shy to explore your own path. As long as it does not involve ranting or insulting, your ideas are probably all good ones.

- See more at: https://www.chamberofcommerce.com/business-advice/marketing/how-to-write-for-social-media-6205#sthash.MFYvtue3.dpuf