Writing For Social Media: 6 Must-Know Rules

Too many businesses simply don’t know the best practices of writing for social media. Though like any tool, social media must be used properly in order to reap its benefits.

Whether you’re hoping to create better Instagram caption ideas or infuse more personality into your brand’s message, here are 6 must-know tips for writing for social media.

1. Establish Your Audience

Your first step in writing for social media should be to define your brand.

Your social media content should reflect your overall business and marketing strategy. Whether your goal is to increase your customer base or meet a sales target, your social media content should contribute towards this goal.

If in doubt, step back for a moment and ask yourself as a follower:

"Why should I follow this page? What’s in it for me?"

This will help you understand your brand and how you are selling it.

2. Complete Your Profile

This is the easiest part of your social media strategy, and yet it’s often the most overlooked. It’s one thing to have a nice cover photo and profile picture - but as they say, the devil lies in the detail.

Completing the ‘about’ section will make your profile more visible for those searching for a particular category. Plus, you'll be able to share important information like your store hours and contact information.

For customers, a detailed and well-written page description provides credibility to your brand. In addition, it sets the tone for what prospective followers should expect from your page.

3. Follow A Content Plan

Now that you have a great-looking profile, the next step is to fill it with engaging content.

There are so many factors to consider when writing for social media. So, it's important to make sure you're following a content plan.

A content plan gives you the freedom to post around important dates. Plus, you'll be able to capitalise on ‘trending’ events affecting the wider social networking community.

4. Find The Right Balance

Irrelevant content is one of the great pitfalls of not having a content plan. Likewise, posting too much or too little content can reduce the impact your content has on the audience.

Again, finding this right balance comes from having a strong understanding of your audience and brand.

When starting on social media, you should experiment with your content and find out what works and doesn’t work for you. For example, you might find that blog posts perform better earlier in the week, while photos and multimedia were best suited to the end of the week.

The other aspect of writing for social media is the voice that you use. Although the content needs to be compact and detailed, it’s important to infuse some personality into it. The last thing you want is to become a faceless entity.

Being creative and maintaining a ‘human’ element on your posts is vital for fostering follower engagement.

5. Keep It Short & Sweet

Social media users often scroll through their newsfeed in a matter of seconds, so it's essential that your posts are succinct and catchy.

Forty characters should suffice for a basic social media post. You can adapt the rules for longer posts, but try not to have any sentences longer than 15 words.

Hashtags should be limited to 1-3 per post, with at least one being used at the end.

As well as word limits, consider placing selling words at the start and end of each sentence. Include words such as sale, love, bargain, opportunity, new, etc. These words help sell your messages.

6. Proof Your Work

Before you post anything online, you should always proof your work.

Is it factually correct? Does it read well? Even the little things, like grammar mistakes, incorrect information, or using the wrong hashtag can greatly diminish the impact of your content.

You should also monitor your content once it’s published. What posts are performing well? And what isn't doing as well? Having a balanced, yet diverse content plan can help you achieve your social media goals.