With each social media platform having its own unique post requirements and audience, it can be overwhelming to decide where to start when it comes to writing social media copy. Although the imagery is necessary, the value of your product/service is often portrayed by the copy you write. If you are confused about where to start with social media copywriting, here are seven tips for writing more engaging social media copy:
1) Decide on your brand guidelines and stay on brand.
Brand consistency is one of the most critical factors of your social media image. It builds awareness and loyalty with your customers — the more consistent your messaging, the more consistent your branding. Your imagery, copy, logos, colors, and fonts should all be uniform across your social media platforms and reflect your company’s mission and values.
2) Establish goals for social media posts.
It is essential to know who your audience is and have set goals for your posts when it comes to developing an effective social media presence. Likely, each of your social media platforms will have different audiences. Once you decide who your audiences are and develop specific guidelines for your posts, you can use our digital+post platform to double your marketing power by integrating and serving your messages in mail, social media, Informed Delivery emails, and online display ads through one fully integrated campaign.
3) Combine social media with mail.
Social media is a powerful marketing tool with 3 billion active users on Facebook and Instagram alone, and the average person spends about 4 hours daily on these platforms combined. It's no wonder that most modern companies have a social media presence of some sort. However, many companies forget about the power of a combined omnichannel marketing campaign. Our SocialMatch tool allows you to deliver your message to your target markets’ Facebook and Instagram accounts right before your mailed advertisements arrive, and our Social Media Advertising follows up once they receive the mail piece. The best way to get your message seen is by taking advantage of the benefits of both print and social media advertising.
4) Copy length and message.
You are much more likely to engage your audience if you optimize your content's length and format. Hootsuite has a resource for ideal social media post lengths for every platform. While each social media platform allows for a different max character count, the key for every social media platform is to keep your posts short and concise. When it comes to the message, be authentic. Speak directly to your audience and post with purpose. Make sure you also take advantage of whitespace and add an engaging opening line and a compelling call-to-action.
5) Use hashtags.
Hashtags help to increase social media engagement with new users by categorizing together content on relevant topics. Hashtags are especially useful on social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. Additionally, the use of hashtags is especially important when marketing to the younger demographic. Pick hashtags that are relevant to your business and find ways to add them into your copy so that searchers can find your company’s social media profile through the hashtags.
Example: Contact us today for help with all your #marketing needs!
Whatever you do… do not overload on the hashtags! 2 or 3 hashtags are plenty!
6) Compliment the copy with engaging imagery.
Connecting the imagery to the copy is essential in creating a cohesive message. The imagery you provide is going to grab your audience's attention and draw them to reading your copy. Without engaging and relevant imagery, you are not likely to get as much engagement on your posts. Remember that imagery does not always have to be pictures, infographics work just as well!
7) Encourage engagement.
Encourage your audience to join the conversation and engage with your material. After all, social media is all about engagement and conversation. Create a poll, send out a survey, or ask your audience a question. Anything you can do to encourage participation on your posts is beneficial to your social media presence.
Example: “What are you looking forward to this summer? Let us know in the comments!”
If you’re still unsure of where to start with your social media copy, our Strategic Marketing Team may be able to help. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you achieve your marketing goals and our digital+post tool.
