Best Practices for Effective Writing in Social Media

Erica NardelloSocial Media Supervisor, LevLane

Writing effectively on social channels depends upon an understanding of all three

Platform, Brand, and Audience

Whether it’s Facebook’s EdgeRank, Twitter’s 140-character limit, or reddit’s community quirks, understanding each platform is critical to success before the writing even begins.

Platform Understanding

A brand’s stage in the product lifecycle determines many of its goals and strategies. Are you looking to drive awareness or sales? What’s going to catapult the brand from being “known” to being “loved” by consumers?

Brand Understanding

Who is the audience for each channel, brand, campaign, and experience?It’s impossible to write well for any assignment without understanding the target’s gender, age, lifestyle, income level, interests, behaviors, wants, and needs.

Audience Understanding

Social Media:Who’s doing it well?

Best Practices and Kick-Ass Campaigns

Sharing real patient success stories tugs on the heartstrings, but the Rothman Institute took it a step further to create a community of passionate advocates

Facebook: Rothman Institute

Burger King’s app, powered by Facebook friend fatigue and a nation’s love of juicy burgers, sparked 200,000 defriendings and issued 20,000 free Whopper coupons

Facebook: Whopper Sacrifice App

Real-time pro bono social strategy for BreastCancer.org’s Rock the Ribbon event raised awareness for the cause and funds for a cure with a 10-cents-per-tweet campaign

Twitter: Rock the Ribbon for BreastCancer.org

Ben & Jerry’s used Twitter users’ un-uses characters to promote a cause close to their hearts on World Fair Trade Day

Twitter: Ben & Jerry’s Fair Tweets

Promoted Tweets using Twitter Cards tied into the Parks and Recreation season finaleto spur viewers to get involved with the real National Parks Conservation Association

Twitter: National Parks News

Instagram photos (and less-than-perfect grammar) promote (less-than-perfect) vintage finds and boost sales with exclusive call-to-buy calls-to-action at three area locations

Instagram: Jinxed Philadelphia

Spotify engaged the reddit community with ads to tap into users’ expertise and crowdsource perfect playlists for a variety of scenarios and sentiments

reddit: Spotify

Lowe’s created six-second Vines (in 140 characters or fewer) featuring helpful home improvement tips, tagged with the #LowesFixInSix hashtag

Vine: Lowe’s #FixInSix

Social Media:Writing Tips & Tricks

What does it take to do it well?

Social Media Writing Tips

• Context counts

• No matter where and when content appears in News Feeds and streams, it needs to resonate with users

• Hashtags keep conversations cohesive

• Strategic social media writing must be shareable

Social Media Writing Tips

• Real-time response to the rescue

• Some of the best and most effective social media writing comes in response to user feedback

• Shareability

• Strategic social media writing must be shareable

“…there’s a chance we’ll have a better generation of writers than we’ve ever had because of the social media age.”

So what?