Tips for Writing Social Media Content

You may not think of yourself as a writer if you’re solely responsible for posting content on social media, but you are very much a writer indeed. When you think of yourself in this light, it puts more responsibility on you. No longer do you feel comfortable slapping a few words together and hitting the “post” button. Now you have the desire to create a post that is engaging, meaningful and original. A post that you’d be proud to say you wrote.

Here are some tips for writing social media content and making yourself look like a true writer.

Read the Article

It’s amazing how many people post content to social media without actually reading what the article is about. Always read the content so that you know what topics are covered and how someone would benefit from reading it. This way, you can create an effective post that tells the reader what to expect and leave them hanging for more.

Sum it Up

It helps to write down the big picture of the article on paper so that you have a base to start with. You can then go about adding words, deleting words and building out the post. Have your thesaurus ready too. There will probably be several words in your original summary that can be changed to something more exciting or unique.

Find a Good Quote/Ask a Question

Is there a really great quote somewhere in the body of the article? If so, consider using it in the post. It’s a great way to get the person thinking and entice them to click. Sometimes, quotes may be too dull or not read right without supporting text. In this case, think about swapping in a question instead that entices readers.

Write a Unique Post for Each Platform

Yes, it’s definitely easy to post a piece of content to one platform and have it be shared across many. Unfortunately, you have different audiences on these networks so you should speak to them differently. Take the few minutes to create unique posts for each social network. After all, you have more room on Facebook and less on Twitter, so it’s hard to be effective if you don’t write separately.