Updated July 13th, 2022
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How To Write Engaging Social Media Content: A Guide For Newbies
Writing engaging social media content isn’t’ difficult, but it does require some planning. So, where do you begin?
Writing good social media content is a challenge that many new writers face. Not a lot of people overcome this challenge, as it requires an understanding of a few key elements. While it’s not difficult at all, the outright simplicity of this content type baffles the writers.
Since writers today are so used to writing complicated content, i.e., for blogs and academic purposes, they find the simple idea of social media content difficult to grasp. So, how do you go about writing it as a beginner?
Is there a science to it, or do you have to figure it out as you go along? You can definitely plan it, so let’s find out how.
Why Is Social Media Content Important?
Social media networks are growing, and they’ll continue to grow as they have over the years. For instance, Facebook alone holds the 73% market share of social networks around the globe. Therefore, marketers treat these platforms like goldmines, and for good reasons.
Because stats suggest that platforms like YouTube, Facebook & WhatsApp alone have over two billion active users. This means that each one of these social networks can catapult a business towards fame if used correctly.
However, social media content is very precise, unlike other content for marketing purposes. The conciseness of social media networks makes it an ideal platform when the attention span of humans is around 8-12 seconds.
So, to help summarize it for you, here are three main reasons social media content is important:
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It’s Quick To Make
Unlike other content, social media content doesn’t require a lot of time or effort. In other words, it’s quicker to make. Since it’s quicker to make, it’s also easy to post frequently.
This factor alone attracts a lot of marketers towards it. Furthermore, even if you make videos or images for social media, you don’t need a lot of time to do so.
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It’s Communicative
Social media content is directed towards specific audiences than other content types. The lack of generality in this content makes it accurate and communicative.
Therefore, the audience knows the content is targeted toward them, and this promotes better engagement. This is yet another reason it’s highly popular among marketers today.
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It’s Short & Convenient
Social media networks are easily accessible, and one primary reason behind them is the short and concise length of their content.
Whether you talk about text, images, or videos, it all basically takes seconds for the target user to consume. This short and convenient nature also makes it an ideal type of marketing content.
How To Write Engaging Social Media Content: A Guide for Newbies
Writing engaging social media content isn’t just about whipping out words. Instead, it’s about learning the intricate ingredients that go into a successful social media content writing recipe.
We’ve created a 5-step process of writing engaging social media content to make it easier for you. So, let’s get started:
1. Define Your Target Audience
Before you write, it’s important to find out who you’re writing for. Therefore, according to the business or brand you’re writing for, you need to figure out a few things. Such as:
- Age groups & demographics
- Common hobbies & interests
- Common occupations
- Online behaviors and patterns
- Preferred content types
This process will help you create a few customer personas. Why is that important? Because this is precisely what you need to know before you put pen on paper. This process will help you grasp the type of content you need to write.
2. Establish Your Objective
Now that you understand the audience, you need to pick the objective. In different cases, brands require different sorts of content, such as:
- Awareness-building content
- Action-driving content
- Engagement-increasing content
- Solution-providing content
These are different types of content funnels commonly used in social media networks. Each of these types is self-explanatory, as they take a page out of the copywriting book.
You can use a paraphrasing tool to achieve various content tones, as the pattern looks a lot like the AIDA method, which stands for:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
Therefore, follow this procedure to ensure the best possible results.
3. Pick Your Channels: Best Social Media Networks For Marketing
Social media networks come in different shapes, and each one of them has primary types of content. However, only selected social networks require you to write engaging content. For instance, Snapchat is something that only uses visual content.
So, your best channels for text content are:
As mentioned earlier, Facebook is the most popular type of social network today. So, you need to write content accordingly. Then, Twitter only accepts around 160 characters, so keep that in mind. So, you can use a summary generator to shorten your content if you wish.
4. Keep It Brief & Precise
Getting your idea across precisely is a necessity in social media content writing. Therefore, there are a few things you need to keep in mind, such as the different lengths required for various social media networks.
You can write full-length blogs for LinkedIn, but it’s ideal if you keep it around 150-200 words for Facebook post. On the other hand, Instagram captions shouldn’t be more than 30-40 words. Therefore, keep the required length of content in mind.
5. Blend Various Types Together
Suppose you wish to make the most of your social media strategies. In that case, it’s suggested that you employ various types of content. For instance, any written text will gather many more readers if it has accompanying content, such as:
- Short or long videos
- Images or pictures
- Infographics or interactive charts
Therefore, if you can afford to add other content to your social media content, you should. This tactic will help you garner attention to your primary text and ensure that your readers thoroughly peruse it.
Conclusion
There’s a little strategy for you to get started. Remember, social media content writing is a process of trial and error. Therefore, don’t get disheartened if you don’t get the results you wish for. All you have to do is keep writing and improving.
