Amplify your content with social share buttons that drive reader engagement.
As much as we complain about clickbait, we absolutely cannot resist some of the more eye-catching post titles and descriptions such as “This Woman Filmed A Fake Audition To Highlight A Very Real Problem In Hollywood” and “Churches, Organized Crime, And The NFL Are Pretty Similar When It Comes To One Thing.” I mean, what harm does it really do to simply click the link?
Smart social media marketers know how to do this well, such that readers almost feel compelled to learn more. Fortunately, there’s no shame in it and, in fact, if you want to be successful at social media, you may even need to mimic some of these tactics in order to craft shareworthy posts to publish on social media.
For a bit of guidance, we turned to entrepreneurs and proud members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), who provided 12 responses to the following query:
What strategies does your marketing team use to write social media copy that gets people to click and convert?
The YEC is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program to help millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
1. Selling at the Right Time
“Conversion is tough on social media not only due to peer influence, but also because a person must transition from one level of exertion to another,” notes George Bousis, co-founder of gift card marketplace Raise.
Bousis continues, “It can be hard to move from the ‘thinking about it’ phase to the ‘I’m buying this now’ phase. Know what your users want, and capture them in the transition to build trust and a need for your product. And, of course, test everything.”
2. Being Genuine
Kelcy Pegler, Jr. knows authenticity is key. As the founder of Roof Diagnostics, Pegler uses a more casual tone with clients.
“Take the wall down and speak directly to your customers without any fluff. It’s important to let your customers know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Remember that customers are smart and they want to engage honestly.”
3. Posting With Purpose
Just make sure you’re not posting blindly. “It starts with having a purpose beyond pushing your brand,” says Marcos Cordero, CEO of GradSave, LLC.
Cordero adds, “Remember why people are on social media in the first place. It may be to take a break, connect with others or discover fun, interesting or useful content. If you give people something they want, it’s a lot easier to get them to engage.”
4. Starting With a Goal
Adam Root, CTO of social media marketing technology firm Hiplogiq, takes a more strategic approach to engaging an audience. Root recommends you, “First, determine your call to action. Then, think about the network you are posting on. Twitter is more current than most networks and works well with timely messages. Facebook is better for long-form content. Create different headlines and posts for different networks during different times of the day. Analyze the results, and apply those key learnings to future posts.”
5. Writing for the Reader
The first thing Brewster Stanislaw of Inside Social asks himself is, “Would I click on this?”
An important question indeed. Stanislaw then suggests you, “Try to actually be the reader for the moment. What motivates him or her? If you can successfully understand what delights and excites the reader, then craft copy that feels authentic to those desires. By writing copy the reader identifies with, you maximize the chance of conversion.”
6. Writing Strong Headlines
Laura Pepper Wu, author of The Write Life Magazine, knows the secret is still in the headline.
“Start with strong, attention-grabbing headlines that evoke curiosity, a strong emotion, a counterintuitive reaction or simply make someone laugh! If your headline is weak, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of the copy is because no one is going to click through. People often add headlines and titles as afterthoughts, but a headline should get as much thought as the rest of the piece.”
7. Focusing on Content
“The cardinal sin of content marketing is focusing too much on marketing and not enough on content,” warns Jared Reitzin of MobileStorm Inc. “Create objective social media posts, blogs, infographics and white papers that raise the level of informed discourse in your industry — even if it means levying warranted praise upon a competitor from time to time. The value of your content will increase exponentially.”
8. Writing for Easy Reading
Leah Neaderthal of Start Somewhere is sensible enough to share, “Most people don’t read social media copy; they skim it. Write succinctly, and make sure key points come through easily.”
9. Adding Shared Content
Just remember you don’t have to do it all alone.
“We enlist awesome posts and ideas from our network of agents who are very social media savvy. Including their content makes it more meaningful for them to share with their audiences and networks and gives us a fresh supply of great content,” says Kuba Jewgieniew of Realty ONE Group.
“We also try to keep it fun and seasonal. For example, we turned the shape of our avatar logo into a heart for February, and [it was a shamrock in March].”
10. Building Curiosity
When it comes to clickworthy descriptions, you have to really make readers want to learn more.
“The basics can be learned from companies that do it well, including BuzzFeed and Business Insider,” believes Ashish Rangnekar of Bench Prep. “Some tips include posing a question in the title, building curiosity and adding keywords that match current news trends. Marry the structural learnings with your specific industry’s vocabulary to cater to your audience.”
11. Including a Call to Action
Bobby Grajewski of Edison Nation Medical reveals his go-to strategy, “We always look for a call to action to spark thought, contemplation and eventual action. To that end, we have posed rhetorical questions and problems, run searches and asked the community for their ideas to improve healthcare.”
12. Keeping a Consistent Voice
If you ask Andrew Howlett, CEO of digital agency Rain, his big secret is keeping a consistent voice.
“Customers get to know a company’s personality through social media. It’s important for the company’s personality or voice to be consistent. The familiarity of the interaction will encourage customers to engage more than they would with a stranger.”
What are your best strategies for crafting irresistible social media marketing copy that drives visits, leads and sales?
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