How to write compellingly for social media

(Incidentally, that little titbit was exactly 30 words in length. 156 characters, including spaces. It's not much, is it? But it wouldn't fit into a single Twitter message.)

So, my purpose for the next while is to disabuse you of the notion that social media writing is just writing. They're two completely different things - believe me, it's almost like writing in two different languages - and you need to don a very different hat when applying your existing writing and communication skills to social media.

For starters, you need to let go of your attachment to what we call 'shovelware' - the print documents that you chop a little bit and shovel onto the web. This practice, albeit common, backfires because it works off the mistaken assumption that people treat online text in the same way that they treat print text.

But the web makes social media engagement a very different experience for each user, based on their resources, preferences, time, energy and skill set. So we need to write with that in mind. It's also important to mention that just because social media platforms require short writing, doesn't mean they're quick or easy to populate.

The rule? To ensure that your reader spends less time reading, you have to spend more time writing. And here are four things for you to think about when doing so...

1. THE MINISKIRT
Keeping your social media messages short and tight

Gents, I'm sure you'll agree: miniskirts are only interesting if they're short and tight.

Social media writing is, by definition, conversational. And no-one likes a long, comprehensive, one-sided conversation. (Except when they're doing the talking...)

So, keep your messages, whether for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, a blog or other social media channels, to the word limits or as short as possible.

In fact, if a web article's supposed to be half of the length of the same piece in print, I'd advise a social media piece to be one quarter, max, of its print equivalent.

To achieve this, you need to get even better than you already are at removing fluff, gumph, junk, waffle and splurb. You need to sharpen your machete, hack the extra layers off and highlight the key point or points.

You need to look out for redundancy: the needless repetition of words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas. An example? I reversed back out of my driveway. Guess what? You can only reverse in one direction. Here are some other examples:

• 3am in the morning
  
• regular monthly meetings
  
• during the course of
  
• in light of the fact that
  
• at this point in time
  
• a period of four weeks
  
• the reason why is because
  
• repeat again
  
• foreign imports

You also need to be wary of empty and unnecessary adjectives. The 'empty' ones are those that say nothing: remarkable, wonderful, amazing. For example, 'I had a wonderful holiday'. The 'unnecessary' ones are self-evident: blue sky, green grass, dark night. If the sky isn't blue, tell me. Otherwise I'll just (safely) assume it's blue.

And when you've said what you need to say, just stop. Resist the temptation to pad it, or make it sound pretty. (That stuff belongs in a totally different place to the web, but I'm too polite to tell you where it is.) So, how do you decide on what's important?

2. THE VALUE-ADD
Adding value and being eagerly anticipated, not dreaded - or worse, dismissed

There are two considerations for adding value via social media: one, will this info make people's lives better or easier? And two, what exactly do they need to know?

So many PR practitioners go off-track on this part because what they consider news and what's really interesting are two different things. My advice? Only tell people stuff that no-one else is telling them, or in a completely different way, and be 100% sure that you limit your messaging to the need-to-know basis. In social media writing, currency is everything, but so is standing out from a crowd of boring, self-involved, self-promoting media messages that have no credibility, no relevance and no 'grab'.

Even though I'm a huge fan of shameless self-promotion in my professional life, I never use it in social media formats. Because it irritates people. Please guard against a Twitterfall, Facebook page or blog that harps on about how great your organisation is, or constantly tries to sell stuff to your public. That's not what social media is for.

So what is it for? What information has credibility, relevance and grab?

Well, research shows that, as corporate communicators operating in the online or social media space, we should be focusing on how our content can help our readers to live better, easier lives. We should focus on the tasks that people undertake all the time, and show them how to make these tasks better, faster and more efficient.

And if we can link this, explicitly or implicitly, to our brand, well, that's just a bonus.

This is a very different way to use content. It means going for function and becoming much more hard-edged. It means avoiding big, fancy notions and lofty sounding words. It's about being practical and relentlessly to-the-point. No matter what.

And once your audience, or followship, gets used to the fact that you consistently provide value, they'll a) not unfollow you, b) not dread your little ping!, and c) possibly even look forward to a trustworthy, interesting and value-adding titbit of information.

Then, when crisis time rolls around, you'll already have what it takes to be taken seriously and listened to. So start building that critical legacy now, in the early days.

Remember: there's a "What have you done for me lately?" phenomenon at play, where social media writing must justify itself, be relevant and address the reader's specific needs in the moment. Having been relevant in the past is not enough.

3. THE TONE
Mastering the appropriate social media style and tone

A big part of the complex-sounding phenomenon that is 'social-media-writing legacy-building' is tone - the meaning behind the words that you choose. Try to keep it casual, friendly and engaging; non-threatening; simple; plain. In practice, this is easier to achieve than it sounds, because there are several hard-and-fast rules.

1. Write as you speak. If you'd feel funny using a word in speaking, such as "peruse", "thereby" or "transpire", please don't use it in your writing.

2. Use the personal pronouns "you" and "your", more than "we". These engage the reader and create a sense of closeness. The focus on the reader rather than on the brand/company also forces you to add value.

3. Use contractions such as don't, can't, you're, etc. They're essential to creating the right rhythm. Just as you use contractions when you speak because it's naturally what your brain leads you to do, using contractions when you write will endow your words with a natural - and compelling - sense of flow.

4. Use short words instead of long words, as if you are writing a headline: 'use' instead of 'utilise'; 'help' instead of 'facilitate'; 'take part' instead of 'participate'.

5. Use short sentences of 14-16 words or less. (If you can't be bothered to monitor your sentence length, and who has that sort of time anyway, use Microsoft Word's Readability Statistics to help you keep track of average sentence length.)

6. Avoid negative words and phrases, even in positive contexts, such as "no problem", "make no mistake", "stop by", "don't worry". Rather choose positive alternatives: "it's easy", "you can be sure", "pop in", "feel free". People engage quicker with positive, upbeat wording - and an engaged mind always says "yes".

7. Try to find the balance between representing your brand and sounding like a real, live human being. Social media devices typically reside in people's intimate space, which means that you're communicating with your audience in the most direct way possible. As a result, it's important to find a way to show them that someone interesting and personable stands behind the feed.

8. Your message is not an Archie comic, so please don't use an exclamation mark after each sentence, even if you're excited or the topic is exciting.

9. Be careful with abbreviations and emoticons in social media writing - Yes, they save space and yes, they're chatty and youthful, but they can also undermine your brand or message.

10. Read your copy aloud afterwards, to get a clear sense of how it sounds. Even if you're not a confident writer, be aware that your ear is often more reliable than your eye. This is also a good first step in the process of double-checking...
    

Which leads us to our fourth and final tool:

4. THE FINAL ANALYSIS

Checking and proofing your output

One of the prevailing problems with social media writing is quality control, largely because of its inherent immediacy. People dash off messages, blog posts and updates in seconds, with little regard for spelling and punctuation, and write their errors off to urgency or the ethereal, fluid nature of social media channels.

The most common excuse? "Ag, man, no-one notices." The problem is that, ag, man, some people do and unfortunately, those are often the important people. The influencers. The decision-makers. Errors damage your credibility - and your brand.

Think about the last letter you got from your bank. Admit that, if there was a spelling error in it, you'd feel a bit skeptical about the bank's ability to put the right number of zeroes exactly where they need to be, every single time. I know I am.

I'm probably a millionaire in a parallel universe.

Another problem with errors is that even people who can't really spell themselves tend to notice them. Mistakes reach out and grab the reader by the throat, and they can make you - and your brand - look careless or clueless. Or both.

So, check, check, double-check. Take whatever time is available to confirm facts, figures, spelling, punctuation. Where possible, read aloud to 'hear' residual errors.

A trick that professional proof-readers use is to read short copy backwards, not for meaning, but to spot the mistakes your brain glosses over when you read it the right way. I call this phenomenon 'Neuro Auto-Correct' - the way your brain shows you what you want to see, "public holiday", and not what's actually there: "pubic holiday".

And, unfortunately, spell-check doesn't know the difference, because it can't identify context. So please don't assume that because there are no red lines underneath your copy, it's good to go. Do a spell-check, yes, but then use your brain...

This is easier than it sounds. Start on the bottom right hand corner of your text - in other words, at the end of the last sentence - and scan the sentence backwards 'til you get to the beginning. Remember, you're not reading it for meaning; you're glossing over it so that mistakes can jump out at you. This technique really works.

And now, I'm going to take my own advice and stop, because I'm done talking.