how to write social posts - Express Writers

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

10 Key Ways to Craft Engaging, Fun Social Media Posts for Your Brand (With Examples)

December 31, 2020November 10, 2016 by Adam Oakley

When it comes to social media posts, from writing to visuals and publishing, every brand wants to create the content that fans want to follow. This is far easier said than done, though. To be a truly “likable” brand, a company needs to master the art of social media content creation. Think, for a moment, about why you would follow a brand on social media. Maybe it’s because you are interested in the industry that they post within, know and personally like them, or you just found them and simply fell in love with the fun, unique content they were posting on social media. Either way, social media follows are typically about a desire for content – and that follow means you have an active fan or reader that will come back for more, so consistency is key. How to Write Engaging, Fun Social Media Posts for Your Brand (Consistently): 10 Key Ways & Examples Fans don’t want to follow brands that post dry, boring content and, in light of that, it’s wise for brands to put in the work that it takes to learn to create fun and engaging social media posts. Here are a few key tips I’ve put together to get you inspired, thinking, and started out on the right foot. 1. Be real about your industry, add tasteful humor One of the best ways to create engaging social media content is to be real. The fact of the matter is that most brands, regardless of which industry they work in, deal with something that is taboo, awkward, confusing, or just plain funny on a daily basis. What better way to make a great social media post than to capitalize upon those things? For example: Charmin, a toilet paper company, wins on social media – especially Twitter. They’re simply real about who they are, what they do, and bring in a lot of humor consistently about it. They have a consistent Twitter column #CharminAsks that sparks humor: #CharminAsks: The person who rolls under, is.. — Charmin (@Charmin) September 30, 2016 And, one thing I love is that they even engage back with their punny fans: And you get points for wit, albeit cheesy 😉 https://t.co/xH5xqnbJSJ — Charmin (@Charmin) October 11, 2016 By posting lighthearted content that makes their fans laugh, Charmin earns many more follows, re-tweets, and favorites than you might imagine a toilet tissue company would. And you get points for wit, albeit cheesy 😉 https://t.co/xH5xqnbJSJ — Charmin (@Charmin) October 11, 2016 2. Use color to stay consistent with your brand Take a moment to consider brands that have tied color into their branding schemes: Coca-Cola, red Evernote, green The Honest Company, bright blue Content Marketing Institute, orange …To name a few. These brands have figured something out that the rest of us can do well to learn from. Namely, that using a trademark color scheme across social media can be a fantastic way to draw more attention to your posts and earn more readers. Because social media is a very fast-paced world, people using on social media platforms are often scanning through their newsfeeds quickly. This means that anything that isn’t immediately different, eye-catching, or unique is likely to get skimmed past. To save your content from meeting this fate, brand your company with a trademark color scheme and use it in your social media posts. In addition to making your brand’s content more immediately recognizable, this will also go a long way toward making readers slow down and interact with your social media posts. 3. You can be promotional if you’re also being helpful, generous, and authentic In order to create the best possible social media content, brands can enhance their reader ship by being generous with information. And here’s the secret: you CAN blend that with a mention of you and your products, provided you don’t oversell and stay helpful during the mention. Fans come to your page hoping to find something to engage with and when you hit the nail on the head and address a problem they can relate to or a struggle that everyone has, you’re likely to earn a spot on their social media short list. Think of it this way: each time you interact on social media, you’re provoking some reaction from your readers – be it interest, laughter, or curiosity. This means that all of your social media posts should be aimed at creating a helpful, generous, and funny presence as often as possible. Look at how Poopourri blends a mention of their product with a fun Halloween costume idea: Not wanting to go as something too punny or #KenBone for #Halloween? ??Go as our best-selling men’s scent, Royal Flush! ? ?? pic.twitter.com/5CQ6xU5uei — Poo~Pourri (@PooPourri) October 19, 2016 While you don’t have to solve all of your readers’ problems, a few social media quips that show them you relate to their lives will go a long way toward making them want to engage with the rest of your content. 4. Spark curiosity in your social audience Any good marketer knows that the headline of an article is the most important part. While 80% of people read headlines, only 20% read body copy, which means that a great headline can go a long way toward earning you more traffic, and more engagement. To make your social media posts more fun, consider toying with your headlines a bit. Instead of writing a dry, information-only few words, consider playing with headlines that will provoke your readers’ curiosity or make them laugh. For a great example, consider Innocent Drinks, a smoothie brand whose social media is decidedly not focused on smoothies. Reasons to drink innocent smoothies: – made with fruit & nothing else – 10% profits go to charity – a completely unbiased tweet told you to pic.twitter.com/nZqPBEcOdW — innocent drinks (@innocent) November 3, 2016 While nobody is advocating making your headlines and short tweet body all about laugh-grabs, it’s clear that incorporating funny, attention-commanding headlines and photos into your social media strategy is … Read more