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How to Write the Most Engaging Social Media Posts

January 13, 2024September 7, 2021 by Adam Oakley

Writing a social media post doesn’t seem overly complicated. Should be pretty straightforward and simple to do, right? Actually, copywriting to attract the right audience from a business standpoint is a little more methodical than you might expect compared to writing social media posts as an individual. There’s a lot more at stake for the business, including a meaningful impact on the brand’s perceived authority, its reach to potential new consumers, engagement rates, and more. Globally, as of July 2021, there are an estimated 4.48 billion social media users (almost 57% of the world’s population). Facebook still reigns supreme with an estimated 2.853 million users, followed by YouTube in second place. Here’s where it gets tricky – each social media platform has its own tips, tricks, algorithms, and best practices. Content that performs well on LinkedIn isn’t likely to see that same success on Twitter or Pinterest if posts are simply copied and pasted uniformly across every channel. Not to worry… we’re here to share the best advice for each social outlet so your content performs no matter where it’s posted. When done correctly, a marketing strategy on social media can reach a lot of people to bring in leads, raise brand awareness, and create conversion opportunities. Need some help writing content for social media? Our experienced, social-media-savvy writers are just a few clicks away with social media content packages. [bctt tweet=”Copywriting to attract the right audience from a business standpoint is a little more methodical than writing social media posts as an individual. (There’s a lot more at stake! ?) Learn how to write posts that won’t fail ?” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Write Social Media Posts That Won’t Fail The good news is, you don’t have to rely on too much trial and error to nail down the best methods for the various social media channels. Why? Because a lot of other people have already done it for you! You can (and should) still monitor your social media analytics to see which posts engage with your unique audience the most, but as far as coming up with a tried-and-true formula, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. Follow these tips to rule your social media campaigns. 1. How to Write Facebook Posts That Get Liked and Shared The #1 social media platform isn’t exactly a one-and-done content formula because it handles multiple types of media, and different posting techniques can work well depending on the goal you’re hoping to accomplish. To find success on Facebook, you need to “read the room” and respond to your audience. These guidelines with help you do just that: Video is the best performing content. However, Facebook campaigns are most effective when you vary your types of posts, so mix it up with photos, infographics, text, gifs, memes, blog posts, press releases, links, et cetera. The ideal length for a post is around 40-80 characters. As a general rule, short posts on social media perform better than long ones. End with a question. People are more likely to engage when you reach out to them for their opinions or feedback. Post interesting content, even if it doesn’t pertain directly to your brand. Facebook’s audience has a limited tolerance for self-promotion, which means if you want to keep your followers engaged, it doesn’t hurt to post about more than just your business. Be sure to keep your topics related to your niche, though. Make it visual. Text is easy to scroll past, but graphics help to make people pause while they’re skimming through their newsfeed. Even if you’re publishing a post that’s strictly text, Facebook makes it easy to transform it into a visual graphic. 2. How to Write Effective Tweets on Twitter Posting on Twitter requires smart, concise word choices to convey your message within a limited space. It can take a little extra practice, but once you get the hang of it, your tweets will take off. When posting on Twitter, take this advice into account: Front-load your tweet. Most people on Twitter are skimming through a massive amount of content. Put the most important information at the beginning of your tweet to catch their attention. The ideal length for a tweet is 240+ characters. Twitter increased its character limit from 140 to 280 in 2017, and users seem to appreciate the extra room to express themselves. If you need more than 280 characters, create a thread or add a link to a blog post. Tip: Use a free tool like Bitly to shorten your url and maximize your space. Don’t go overboard with hashtags. Real estate for your tweet is limited – you can’t afford to spend it all on hashtags rather than your actual message. Limit yourself to 1-3 relevant hashtags. Tweet shareable content. Twitter’s audience loves to retweet breaking news, statistics, quotes, jokes, and gifs. Timing is important on Twitter – you don’t want to be the last one to share yesterday’s news. 3. How to Write Engaging Instagram Captions Instagram is all about visual content, but that doesn’t mean you can skate by with insufficient captions. If you want your audience to interact with your content, your words do matter. Start with a bang. Instagram allows up to 2,200 characters. However, it’s important to keep in mind that no more than 125 characters will show beneath your photo. If you want your audience to read your full post, you need to entice them to click “more.” Use emojis. Instagram + emojis = ? For real, though, emojis have proven to be incredibly effective on Instagram. Use relevant hashtags. You’re allowed up to 30 hashtags, but don’t just pick the ones that are currently trending (especially if they don’t really pertain to your media). Instead, try to vary your hashtag use. Select a few broad, popular ones but also mix in some niche-specific hashtags, plus one or two branded ones. For example, Coca-Cola created the branded hashtag #ShareACoke for an Instagram campaign. Break up long text into paragraphs. Instagram … Read more

How to Become a Social Media Manager: A Day in the Life of One, from Krystal

December 31, 2020August 16, 2016 by Krystal Loh

Ever wanted to learn how to become a social media manager, or what it’s like being one? Krystal, one of our talented client social media managers, is guest blogging today with her thoughts on the subject. Plus, she’s sharing a look at her day, writing and creating social posts for our client base. Enjoy! I grew up on the Internet. No, seriously. If you knew me up until college, you knew me as the shy, quiet, artsy anime/video games nerd that had some good ideas, but wasn’t very effective in communicating them. That is, unless we were friends online. Text role play, fanfic writing, and managing online communities was how I got out of my shell and found my writer’s voice. It was a way to communicate that didn’t always flow as freely in person. I learned how to manage folks on MMOs and do customer service via email. These types of things were done for leisure, naturally. I was always a reader and a lover of fiction, but when I started working for an indie bookstore, I was reading ten books a month and bridging the gap between having an online personality and communicating with bookstore patrons in person. Now how, might you ask, did this culminate in becoming a social media manager? How to Become a Social Media Manager: Krystal’s Starting Roots Reading and writing have always been my pillars. I used to do more Fine Arts (I even had a brief stint in art school), but I found that I couldn’t communicate with my paintings and photos as deeply as I could with words. This became apparent to me as I started becoming engaged in online communities such as LiveJournal and managing big raids in World of Warcraft and really excelled at connecting with users and empathizing with them. You learn how to communicate with people in a whole new way, using persuasive and subtle language to create a sense of a virtual community. No matter what online platform I’m on, that’s what I strive to do – create a community, whether it’s with fellow nerds or customers I’m trying to reach out to. It’s like calling a hotline and having to speak to a computer. That’s bad social media. Good social media is connecting with the user on the other end. Great social media is getting them to laugh at the screen and look forward to your tweets or status updates. You want to feel like the person on the other side of the screen is your confidante, ready to answer your questions and guide you in the right direction, whether it’s helping you figure out why your flight was delayed or which ice cream is the hot flavor of the month. Being a Good Social Media Manager is All About Great Research and Writing Of course, there’s more to social media than just being a solid communicator. You have to love research. Having a degree in Applied Psychology, I’m used to spending hours, days, even weeks doing research on one topic. My biggest hurdle when I first started writing copy for social media professionally was getting used to writing copy for topics that I knew nothing about, or –let’s face it—topics I couldn’t care less about. A Day in the Life: Writing for Typical Subjects Can be Fun! But the beauty of loving research and writing is that, in general, you most likely love to learn. This was an unexpected perk when I joined up with the great folks at Express Writers. I was getting clients that were connected to products like luxury vehicles, RVs, beds, and real estate litigation. I happen to own a bed, but otherwise I don’t know anything about any of those. I was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was to research the kind of content that their customers wanted to see, Googling all sorts of articles and such to get people excited about RV safety. Who knew! As long as you check your sources and make sure they’re legit, you can find some awesome content out there. I keep a word document of all the websites I’ve found to be useful depending on the subject, just so I can revisit the ones I know will give me great content if I need to. Tip: Be Conversational in Your Writing Style Then, I get the information out there as if I’m having a conversation with someone. Even if a client wants the tone of the copy to be professional, I try to give it my own personal spin so that every tweet feels like a greeting, a first impression between strangers. I can talk a lot about keywords and SEO, which are all essential in the most fundamental ways, but once you’ve drawn in your customers with the right algorithm, you need to keep them hooked with your personality. This is of course true with actual face-to-face interactions, but when information is flying at users on their Timelines or Dashboards. This is what I love about being a social media manager. It’s the ultimate social experiment of the human condition, only way more fun and interactive than anything you’d read in a textbook! 4 Tips to Share on How to Become a Social Media Manager That’s Worth Their Salt TL;DR, right? Well, I’ve zeroed in on some tips that I think you’ll find useful if you’re thinking of getting involved in the professional social media world: 1. Keep Reading Seriously. Whether its articles online, novels, or even episodic video games – keep yourself immersed in some form of literature, whether it’s Dostoevsky, Murakami , or That-Indie-Graphic-Novel-That-You-Wish-Other-People-Read,-Too. It makes you a better, savvier writer overall and keeps your noodle engaged with language. Draw on the voices in literature to help you cultivate your own. It’s important to do, even if you only have 140 characters to show it. The same goes for writing. If you get an itch to write a little story, poem, or blog, scratch it. 2. Stay Connected to Social Media This is related … Read more

Facebook’s Long-Form Content Platform Is Coming, Here’s How You Can Use It

January 1, 2021September 16, 2015 by Josh McCoy

Do you want to hear something cool that is going to help you reach a wider audience? Of course! Today’s latest news involves the trusty channel Facebook. Yes, Facebook has a new change coming that can really help improve your content outreach; but how? The channel is providing its users with the ability to create long-form content pieces on their new platform, called Facebook’s long-form content platform. Is this the new face of blogging? What can you expect and how can you use it? Let’s take a look! Facebook’s Long-Form Content Platform Is Harking Back to the Good Old Days – Remember Notes? Facebook is constantly trying to make the channel more user-friendly, as well as helping businesses reach out to new audiences. The social media giant is creating a long form blogging platform and it will be using the once popular notes feature. Do you remember notes? Those handy things people would share their latest updates on, do silly question and answer surveys, and more. Well, for a while, notes seemingly disappeared, losing popularity. However, Facebook is revamping Notes giving people the ability to blog directly on the channel. The site is hoping to become yet another player in the direct long-form blogging platforms, keeping people on Facebook and away from the competition. Now, Notes will become Facebook’s long-form content platform. The idea of a long-form content platform isn’t anything new – Medium has been doing it for a while now and LinkedIn opened the ability to all users last year. (I’ll be looking at these more in depth later in the blog.) And now Facebook wants to be added amongst those channels, keeping users on Facebook instead of seeing them leave for another channel. Facebook Doesn’t Want to Lose the Content Game: So The Long-Form Platform Is Happening You saw me mentioned Medium and LinkedIn, but just what am I talking about? These two channels provide long-form content platforms for users, giving people immediate access to blogs. People don’t have to go to a separate web page when reading the content, which is one of the reasons Facebook is going to utilize Instant Articles, as well. What is Medium? It is a blogging platform that came about a few years ago. While it didn’t seem to catch on quickly then, users are starting to pick up and more people are going to the channel. It is a simple blogging platform created by Twitter co-founder, Evan Williams. Its sole purpose is to give people the chance to write and read excellent content without the distractions of other social channels. Along with channels like Medium, LinkedIn started allowing people to create blog content directly on the site – opening it up to all users. This is definitely something that all businesses have been using to great success. Facebook began to notice this, and the social channel finally decided to take steps to rectify the lack of blogging abilities on the platform. This is where Notes comes into play with the ability to write long-form content. According to Matt Southern from Search Engine Journal, Facebook is testing out a Medium-like approach to long-form content with this revamped approach. Will it be successful? There’s no knowing for sure, but since Facebook is such an important and established channel, it is likely it will gain momentum. 7 Incredibly Awesome Ways to Use Facebook’s Long-Form Content Platform This is going to be great for so many small businesses, and I want to take a look at just how you can use this new platform for your business page. 1. Create Incredible, Easy-to-Access Content. A great way to use this platform is to provide easy-to-access content to your followers. While they might be more than willing to head to your site, this can give busy people the chance to read your content quicker. You don’t have to focus solely on this platform, and you really shouldn’t, but it is a great way to gain access to more readers and build your audience. 2. Always Utilize Amazing, Eye-Catching Images in Your Posts. One thing you should always remember is that Facebook is still a very visual place. Those images you use in your social postings? You’ll need them on the long-form content platform, too. Facebook says that those images are really what will help bring in viewers for your Notes. The blog showcases one post that, when using an image, got 14,642 shares. The business page that posted the image only had about 600 fans. Can you see just how important an image is? People are more likely to share something that has an image, and when you add something eye-catching or adorable, you will see more interaction. 3. Come Up With Excellent Facebook-Only Content for Your Users. Whoa, wait. Facebook only content? Aren’t you supposed to make content for all platforms you use? Yes! However, this is a great way to engage with your Facebook followers, as well as reach a newer audience on the channel. You can offer Facebook exclusives meaning that people will get something awesome if they follow and read. This will help make them all feel special, share your content, and keep coming back. 4. Create Awesome, Engaging Content that Really Speaks to Your Audience. Since you’re writing on Facebook, you definitely need to make sure the post is engaging. People don’t want to waste their time reading a post on Facebook that isn’t interesting. Creating engaging content isn’t all that hard, especially if you’ve already been writing it. A few tips to take to heart when writing engaging content are to provide your audience with something of value, use a great flowing format, and be consistent with your tone. Your Facebook followers will definitely appreciate this with your long-form content. 5. Write On Something Absolutely Trendy. Since you are writing on Facebook for a Facebook audience, this gives you the chance to write on something trendy. Writing on trending topics gives you the chance to be current with your readers and build a … Read more

The Science Behind the Most Successful Social Media Sharers (Infographic)

June 19, 2024August 28, 2015 by Adam Oakley

In today’s infographic from Express Writers, we’re taking a look at the hottest social media posts in history – and how you can be inspired to run a more successful social media campaign yourself! Enjoy, and don’t forget to share and leave us a comment! Full transcript is below. Transcript The Science Behind the Most Successful Social Media Campaigns & Sharers Social Media Shares: Why Do They Matter So Much? 53% of Americans who engage with brands in social media become more loyal to those brands Interesting content is among the top 3 motives for consumers to follow brands on social media The majority of brands measure content success by social shares 47% of B2B marketers cite creating engaging content as their top marketing challenge The 3 Most Re-Tweeted Tweets in History What’s the secret to the sharing power of the top tweets? Let’s take a look at which tweets made it to the most re-tweeted list. Ellen de Generis. 3.3 Million Re-tweets. If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014 Ellen de Generis breaks Twitter with this iconic tweet. Leverages the “buzz” around the Oscars, making this tweet the most shared in history. Louis Tomlinson. 1.4 Million Re-tweets Always in my heart @Harry_Styles . Yours sincerely, Louis — Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) October 2, 2011 Louis Tomlinson shows just how a simple, sincere tweet can capture the heart of millions, especially thanks to their passionate fandom. Barack Obama. 700,000 re-tweets Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012 Barack Obama’s social media team captured a moment of human emotion and celebration that followers can relate to: and, keep in mind, it’s also news to share. Facebook Posts That Had the Most Shares in History What’s the magic formula for the most shared Facebook posts? Here’s who and what really hit it out of the park on Facebook. PerezHilton.com. “This would have legit traumatized me as a kid! Heck, even now!” 4.4 Million Shares. Post by PerezHilton.com. We love to share videos that make us laugh. Perez Hilton shares this stunt video promoting a horror movie, proving that humor is always a good idea. AMC Theatres. Minions Preview Video. 3.1 Million Shares Post by AMC Theatres. AMC Theatre demonstrated the power of video for Facebook sharing, particularly when tapping into a community of fans who love the brand. WomenWorking.com. “Why We Need Best Friends” Image. 1.7 Million Shares Post by Womenworking.com. Facebook users share posts they relate to, and they think their Facebook friends can relate to. The posts they share are also social currency: to show their friends what they care about and who they are. 5 Techniques For Successful Social Media Campaigns: Inspiration From the Best Brands on Social Here’s how businesses succeed in increasing engagement and promoting shares. include the company logos with the mentions (Autodesk, Whole foods, etc.) Genuine Value. Autodesk shares social content that offers genuine value to its niche target market. Be Personal. Whole Foods Market makes their customer service personal leveraging their local profiles. Authentic Conversation. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants gets personal, engaging with its guests through real, authentic conversation. Contests. Intuit rolls out a year-long contest that their target market loves to engage with. Transparency. Mars shows a behind the scenes peek of its businesses, offering greater transparency of its business practices and ethics to their intrigued followers. 5 Steps to More Engagement & Shares for Your Content Follow these simple steps to gain a successful social media campaign and inspire more shares for your content. 1. Listen to Your Fans. One of the best ways to increase your engagement is to look at what your fans already like to engage with and duplicate their efforts with your own, unique spin. 2. Post More Photos. 87% of a Facebook page engagement occurs on photo posts. 3. Take Your Own Photos. People engage with authentic, human social media brands. Take your own “candid” photos to show your followers into your world. Don’t be afraid to be personal. 4. Get Your Own Custom URL. When a URL is shortened, it looks less cluttered, making your post more appealing and easier to read. 5. Post Evergreen Content. Evergreen content is timeless. Focus on creating posts that can be shared over a long period of time and still remain relevant. A great way to do this is to create evergreen blogs that can be shared, and re-shared, on social media. References James A. Martin, CIO | http://buff.ly/1NywMSa Amy Porterfield, Social Media Examiner | http://buff.ly/1NywRVY Kevin Lee, Buffer Social | http://buff.ly/1TWDHcU Chanelle Bessette, Fortune | http://buff.ly/1HYEgXq Shea Bennett, Ad Week | http://buff.ly/1LnruJV Jonathan Anker, HLN TV | http://buff.ly/1LnvOsz Business 2 Community | http://buff.ly/1E8sleY

The Science Behind Social Sharing: What Do People Share the Most?

January 1, 2021July 5, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Getting likes and shares on social content is a great way to see your business having an impact on clients. While you’re working on getting those likes and shares, you should take a look at why people like posts and why they end up sharing your content: the science behind social sharing. Here’s a direct look at these reasons with some great tips on how to create excellent content that your customers will not only read but also like or share. The Science Behind Social Sharing: Just Why Do We Like & Share Posts on Social Media? Posting to social media has many aims, including getting likes and shares from your clients. You’ve read how to create excellent, shareable content, but just why do people like posts or share on social media? There are many reasons for this and I am going to look at different reasons from the latest post from QuickSprout, investigating just why people do what they do on social media. 3 Reasons Why We Like Posts on Social Media Let’s take a look at a few reasons why your clients and even yourself, like to “like” things when it comes to Facebook and other social posts. 1. We Can Affirm What the Person Says. According to the QuickSprout post, one of the main reasons we like posts is we get the chance to affirm what the other person is saying. This doesn’t always mean we technically like something, but that we want to encourage the person. A like on our posts shows that our readers, friends, and families found something interesting or moving about our post. It also shows us that people are, in fact, listening to what we say. This is great when it comes to your business because that means that there are truly people reading your posts, even if you sometimes feel you are speaking into the social media void. 2. We Can Feel “Involved” With Something. As humans, we all have a need to feel involved in something. This is one reason why we look for groups to work with whether in the community or online. In the QuickSprout article mentioned earlier, one way we all work to feel involved is by liking something on Facebook. This goes for sharing, as well because it gets more people to see a post from a group or business you’re involved in. Remember this when you post social media content by posting things that will help your customers feel even more involved in your business. 3. We Can Express a Form of Empathy. A simple but deeply emotional reason in the science of social sharing. Have you ever noticed when someone says a family member or friend passes away, people update their Facebook and within minutes someone else likes it? Does that person really like that their friend’s loved one died? Are they really that callous? Actually, they aren’t. “Liking” doesn’t always mean you like a post, as I mentioned earlier. It can be a way to affirm, but it can also be a form of empathy. Many of us are separated from our friends, so a like on a sad update helps us feel like we are making them food or giving them a hug. Likes can be the emotional Heimlich of the Internet world, and help people feel a strong sense of community no matter what is happening. Three Top Reasons Why We Share Social Media Posts Now that I’ve looked at why people like posts, let’s take a look at why they share. Just what is the psychology behind a social share and what should your business do to get them? Take a look! 1. We Want to Share Interesting Things. Interesting things are important to us, and when it comes to our social media channels, we want to share interesting things. No one wants to share something that makes them look like a boring fuddy-duddy to their friend group. No matter how boring the topic is, if it is written in an interesting, unique way, people are more likely to share it because they found it, well, interesting. This is why you should share “how to” articles, lists, and other types of easy-to-read content because they can help you make some pretty interesting content no matter what. 2. We Want to Support Things We Care About. In addition to sharing interesting things, we also want to share posts to support things we care about, according to Shea Bennett from Ad Week. In fact, according to Shea, about 68 percent of people do this because it helps to show who we are while highlighting different areas we care for. This could be dumping a bucket of icy water over oneself to raise awareness and support for ALS or sharing a blog post from To Write Love on Her Arms. Whatever a person cares about, they will share. You can research your audience to learn what it is they care for, which can help you craft great content they will be willing to share with others. 3. To Develop and Nourish Our Online Relationships. Another reason people share, according to Garrett Moon from CoSchedule, is to help develop and nourish their online relationships. About 78 percent of users polled said this was the reason, and it is quite apparent by the way we all use our social channels and work to grow various relationships. These relationships can be with friends, family members, or even businesses, which is why your business should create content that focuses on the user, not your company. 4 Perfect Things You Can Share on Your Business’s Social Media Pages Now that you can see a few of the reasons behind why your clients will be liking and sharing content, you are probably wondering how you can create it. I am going to look at a few ways to create content your clients will definitely want to share and like, helping you promote and grow engagement and relationships. Once you focus … Read more

What Does Facebook’s “Instant Articles” Mean for Users and Businesses?

December 31, 2020May 25, 2015 by Josh McCoy

The world of content and social media is buzzing with some of the latest news coming out of Facebook HQ. Facebook is planning to host various content pieces from a select number of websites for a new experimental feature that could bring about epic change to social media content. The new feature is called Instant Articles and it aims to bring content directly to users in a quick, efficient manner. What is this new feature and what can you expect? Take a journey with me to find out. What is the New Feature? Instant Articles is a new feature Facebook is testing to see just how well it works for their users, as well as publishers. According to Tech Crunch, Instant Articles gives users access to the news and content they want without having to click and go to a publisher’s website, waiting for it to load. Sometimes, users experience too much load time with various sites, and Facebook wants to help them cut that time down and have quicker access to their favorite sources. The new feature is currently being tested by a few publishers to see how well it works for them and users alike. These publishers are Buzzfeed, The New York Times, National Geographic, and a few other well-known news sites. This is only available on mobile so you will not see Instant Articles within your browser. Will Instant Articles Give Users More Control Over Their Newsfeeds? Facebook has recently said that it plans to give users more control over what they see in their newsfeeds, which many are excited for. However, many experts are questioning just how this will play out with Facebook’s newest addition. No one can say for certain if people will get the control they desire over their newsfeeds, and it is likely everyone will need to wait for a bit to find out. However, one element of Instant Articles is to give users the ability to see content that is curated specifically for them. For example, according to the Tech Crunch article I shared above, if users like, comment, and/or share certain types more often, their newsfeeds might be tailored more to show more Instant Articles on topics they like. This isn’t truly control over one’s newsfeed, but it might be a step in a direction that helps Facebook users feel they are getting the content they want. Will This Help or Hinder Businesses? Since Instant Articles is in the experimental stage, it isn’t entirely sure just how much it can help or hinder a business. However, there will be an easy-to-access share button on all Instant Articles postings, which can help get content shared by more people on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Remember, I said earlier that this was only available on mobile, which means that the share button for Facebook will help push the content from mobile availability to browser availability. It will also be great for users because there won’t be a delay when they open web content. They will get to see their content right away without waiting, and possibly leaving the story before it loads. The feature will also support the ability to expand images and GIFs, giving publishers the ability to create trendy pieces that will resonate with a social media crowd. The main way it can possibly hinder a business is if Facebook does do what I mentioned earlier in the article. If the social media giant starts to tailor a user’s newsfeed based off of what Instant Articles the user likes, comments on, or shares, this could mean other articles get lost. This can be a detriment to different companies, and it is a legitimate worry. Will this truly happen? We will just need to wait and see how Facebook uses this feature, and how it will impact the newsfeed. It is too soon to say if this will be the main hindrance or if there will be other hindrances to look out for in the future. This is What Paper Was Supposed to Be Do you remember when Facebook released a new app that incorporated the person’s Facebook account plus news content? If not, don’t feel too bad. Many people ignored this app, known as Paper, making it an epic failure for Facebook. That didn’t stop the social media company, however. In fact, this new feature is very similar to what Paper was supposed to be for the company. It features the ability to access curated news stories quickly, giving users the ability to read their content in the app. Now that Paper isn’t really being used for that purpose, Facebook has implemented Instant Articles, hoping it will prove to be successful. It might just be since it will be in the Facebook app as Paper could have failed simply due to needing to download yet another app. Who Does This Really Benefit? When Facebook implements a new feature, the natural question is who will it really benefit. Many times, people believe that the feature will only benefit Facebook, but the company is trying to make sure people know that is not the case with Instant Articles. First of all, it will benefit the users of Facebook because it provides them with a quicker load time by not making them leave the platform to read the article. It will also benefit publishers because Facebook has said they will receive 100 percent of revenue from Instant Articles ads. Another way publishers benefit is that Facebook is also planning on sharing analytics to help the publisher create perfectly tailored content. Obviously, Facebook will see benefits such as making it a leading news source, which the company hopes will beat Twitter. If the company is set apart as the leading social channel for news, this means more publishers will work with Facebook, which will bring more viewers, and eventual revenue, to the company. This is all speculation, of course, as everyone waits to see just how Instant Articles will work and if it will be … Read more

The World’s Largest Webinar: #WLW14 with Hubspot, LinkedIN, Facebook & Twitter Leaders

January 1, 2021April 24, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Were you in the loop on the webinar that happened this Wednesday? Over 34,000 people signed up and listened in, breaking the world record for 10,899 participants, set by Hubspot just a few years ago in 2011. The Best Social Media Webinar of All Time We were there, and the event was worth the hype. No less than three of today’s top social media platforms had a senior director or marketing head present during the webinar, with Hubspot hosting: Russ Laraway, Twitter’s Senior SMB Director; Jed Clevenger, Facebook’s Global Head of SMB Channel Marketing; and Scott Engelman, Head of Online Marketing at LinkedIN. The host was @Dan Zarrella, Hubspot’s own Social Media Scientist. Check out the event page on Hubspot. Since the webinar was not recorded, we took direct notes while listening in. Here are our favorite tidbits from the experts who spoke. Enjoy! Twitter Company Page tips shared from @Russ Laraway: “Your first impression on Twitter counts. Use your bio to be descriptive and reflective of your business. Give people a compelling reason to follow your account. Include URL to an important landing page, your store hours, and anything that makes it easy to find you. Feature your logo and visual elements to describe your company. @Bonobos is an excellent example that does all of this for their Twitter profile. Be relevant on mobile. Twitter was born on mobile; 75% of users are mobile; think of your Twitter profile as your mobile website.” Business Facebook Page tips by @Jed Clevenger: “We have over 1 million active advertisers. Setting up your Facebook page is huge for your business. Three things to get started: Fill out complete and accurate information about your business: type, location, hours, URL, contact information. This establishes your business on Facebook, makes it indexed to search. Have great cover pictures and cover photo. Customers want to see that you’re legitimate. Use our free Facebook tools: contact importer, where you can upload all your contacts, and friend invites, where you can invite all your friends. Test new types of content and spend time in your Page Insights to get information on your posts, audience, and traffic. SweetHaus used no advertising dollars to grow their account to over 3,000 likes: promoting to existing customers and finding new customers.” LinkedIN Company Page tips from @Scott Engelman: “Write a company page that is informative and engaging. Use keywords that are relevant to your business to get your company in search results. Think of what image to use—an eye-catching image that invites visitors to learn more. Once it’s set up, invite your company network to follow. Engage with your followers by posting updates.” Of course, we loved this question: So much of marketing in social media is copywriting. Should my Twitter campaign copy be different from other copy? Russ, Twitter guru, answered: “The short answer is no, but it’s safe to acknowledge that Twitter offers constraints – 140 characters. Generally speaking, consider email marketing. I bet everybody here does this. With email marketing, you’re creating and constantly refining a list of interested parties; create content; send it out regularly, with minor adjustments, you can use this for your Twitter audience. Your followers are your lists. Work on shorter-form for Twitter. Most of you will create bigger content pieces like blogs, newsletters, e-books, think of these as base documents that you can carve into bite size pieces and use Twitter to drive those bits. For example, take a newsletter. Instead of tweeting the link with “check out the newsletter,” tweet a tip about the newsletter, a series of tips all day, and link to it or that excerpt in it. You can get a lot of mileage out of what you’re already producing this way, just modify it to make it work on Twitter.” How do you get engagement with your tweets? A great question, and it got a great answer from Russ Laraway: “Forgive me for being obvious, but you can get more engagement with your tweets by giving your audience what they want. Really think about the 80/20 rule. 80% of your content should NOT be focused on what you are selling. Non-direct selling, direct offering of value that is informative and helpful. What can your followers benefit from? Best practices, industry trends, are examples of great kind of content. Tweets that include rich media are more than likely to be shared. If you upload an image that tweet will do twice as well. 20% of your content SHOULD be focused on what you are selling.” I can’t seem to grow, how do I get a relevant following? Russ answered: “It is true that it is really important to build a great follower base on Twitter. Remember, followers are optional. The users on Twitter regularly refine who they follow. There is no friction to stop following an account. So, users are very careful about the accounts they follow. Your followers will be interested to hear from you with regularity. Use the profile tips from earlier for a compelling profile, and jump in on industry conversations with hashtags—like the smart marketers hash-tagging #WLW14! For example, if your target audience is educators, reach out to Alexander Russo and build a relationship with them. If you just tweet out valuable content in order to get a retweet, you’ll get more relevant followers over time.” How do I target content for Facebook industry audience? Jed says: “A lot of the same principles from Russ for Twitter can be applied here for Facebook. We encourage you to start testing your way into great content. We have tools similar to A/B testing. From your page, any post you publish can be available to the public, but not all the public. Target your post by location, country, state, city, language, gender, relationship status, educational status, age—there is a ton of targeting option. Speak with an authentic voice to reach core audiences.” How do I use hashtags successfully? Russ said: “Hashtags are best used for tweets driven for … Read more

3 Awesome Web Content Tips That Will Help You Boost Your Brand on Facebook

January 1, 2021August 28, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Social media platforms represent dynamic environments in the world of web content tips which more than 56% of all living, breathing individuals connect socially. In this context, it goes without saying that giant, extremely popular social networking websites are a fertile ground for clever web content strategies, developed and implemented by most companies to grow their online presence, maximize their ROI, enhance conversion rates and increase brand awareness. Studies indicate that 1.2 billion people have a Facebook account and spend approximately 700 billion minutes on this platform on a monthly basis, exposing themselves to countless marketing messages. Would you like to boost the popularity of your online business on Facebook? Follow these simple web content tips to gather tons of likes from an increased number of visitors. #1 Distribute various types of insightful web content to prevent boredom Posting 2 or 3 photos on a daily basis with a flat comment won’t draw more visitors to your Facebook page. In this case, diversity is the key to success. Distribute various types of web content to discover exactly what makes your targeted audience tick. Count on: 1) Funny, entertaining videos: Do you know what has gone viral these days in your line of work? Don’t be afraid to post videos which are not directly related to your brand, but still manage to entertain, inform and educate your segment of potential buyers. For instance, viral videos about fun, adrenaline-filled activities will always be a gold mine for a well-known, popular energy drink. 2) Inspirational blog posts: Do you want to create buzz around an event, a new product or a recently launched service? Write an engaging blog post and promote it on Facebook. 3) Press releases: Are you getting ready to launch a new product? Are you eager to announce a few recent updates and/or major improvements? Share the exciting news with your friends by posting informative, well-written press releases. 4) Photos: Try to find great pictures which are relevant to your business. Here’s an extra tip: post snapshots of your employees and clients photographed while testing your products. Your motivated staff members and satisfied customers are the best brand evangelists one could ever hope for! #2 Less is sometimes more on Facebook Recent studies indicate the fact that most people choose to unfriend their acquaintances simply because they are constantly bombarded with tons of useless information, game invitations and other forms of dull web content. One post a day would be more than enough, though many brands choose to break this rule and end up spamming their followers. A wrong posting strategy is correlated with a low engagement rate, so try to stay active and relevant at the same time without annoying your virtual friends with countless Facebook posts on a daily basis. #3 In the end, it’s not about you Social media content strategies are very tricky: the end goal is to bring your brand under the spotlight and persuade your audience into doing something, but without actually leaving the impression that the whole (digital) world revolves around your company and your line of products. Remember the fact that all your followers are self-centered and consider their needs a top priority. Give them tips, useful pieces of advice, recommendations, helpful information, how-to articles, valuable tutorials and they’ll land on your Facebook page regularly, constantly asking for more. Don’t forget to end your posts with a (pertinent) question addressed to your fans to encourage their feedback. It’s always virtually impossible to reach your destination when you don’t know which way to go. If you’re looking for amazing web content and a suitable social media marketing strategy tailored to your objectives, requirements and expectations count on professional content writing services and start turning dreams into accomplishments today.

10 of the Best Social Media Writing Tips

December 31, 2020April 20, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Social media is all around us. What started out as a way for college students to stay connected with one another has now consumed the business world. Most businesses that have an online presence typically have at least one social media profile, and an expert to help them with their social media writing. Social media has opened the door for many businesses to connect to a wider audience. So naturally web writing, when it comes to social media, needs to be specific. Social media encompasses a wide variety of networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and more. Social media is an extension of your overall communication strategy. Social Media Writing 101: 10 Tips for Best Results In order to effectively write for social media you need to keep in mind the following ten tips: 1. Know and Understand Your Target Audience In order to do social media writing effectively, you need to have a clear understanding of who your target audience is. It does you no good to write about hair care products in your posts if your audience is members of the construction field. 2. Know Your Objective What do you want to achieve with your social media posts? What is the main point you want your audience to know? When your objective is clear; your writing can be more focused 3. Write Using Plain Language Sometimes, in writing, it is easy to go off on a tangent and write what is clearly playing in your head. The problem is that when you write in that manner, your audience may not have a clue what you’re talking about. You want to write in plain language that gets your point across but is also easily understandable. Never use jargon or slang 4. Talk In An Active Voice. Writing in an active voice means you’re taking control of the conversation. The verbs you use are the action. Example: This supplement took our client to the next level in her quest for health. The word “took” is the active word. It shows the action 5. Keep Your Messages Short Social media is about getting the facts in a short and simple way. Remember, with social media you don’t want to write a novel. Keeping it short is also going to cause you to be more specific about what you say. Because the posts, tweets, etc. are short, you have to get to the main point and fast 6. Go Sparingly When It Comes to Acronyms Remember, people may not know an acronym right away. It is recommended that you use them sparingly. If you have to use an acronym, be sure to spell out what it stands for “before” the acronym itself. Even if an acronym may seem obvious to you, it may not be so obvious to someone else. 7. Numbers Can Help Make Your Point Clear Numbers can often get to the point for you. However, you need to use them in the right way. So instead of saying “25% of the people” say something like “1 in 4 people”. People tend to relate more to number when they make content easy to understand. 8. Focus On The Positives It’s easy to point out why someone shouldn’t do something. You get more from your message and your readers, however, by focusing on the positives of anything. 9. Encourage Your Readers With A Call To Action A call to action gets your readers to do something. Whether it’s clicking on a link or making a change in their life; get them to act. 10. Make the Content Relevant and Relatable People read and respond to what they feel relates to them and their life. If they can relate to it; make a connection with your post, than you are ahead of the game. By utilizing these ten tips, your social media writing will be more effective, grab your reader’s attention and get them to act upon it. Social media is about being sociable. So make sure your writing reaches your audience the way you intended it to. Use these tips and you’ll be on your way to social media success. Got great social media? If you need help, we offer managed social media packages. Check it out in the Content Shop.