marketing: copywriting for social media certificate
1. prepare to write
creating a buyer persona for social media
before you start creati8ng and sharing your copywriting online, youll need to know exactly who youre writing for by creating a buyer persona for your social media posts
a buyer persona is a specific description of a person that represents your target audience.
interests
challenges
goals
demographics
behavioral patterns
find out what sort of challenges are popping up frequently, what goals theyre hoping to achieve with your products or services, and what their biggest hesitations are before buying
details youll want to compile about your customers:
location, age, gender identity, primary language, interests, goals, values, buying behavior, and whatever else might be relevant to your specific business
if youre a B2B business consider:
industry, business size, and job title or position
identify challenges
once youve figured out who youre speaking to, youll need to know what holding them back from achieving their goals. some questions to consider:
what are the roadblocks this person is facing thats preventing them from reaching their goals?
what has stopped them from taking action so far?
what are their hesitations or fears about moving foward?
how can we help them overcome these obstacles?
figure out what success looks like for your target audience, questions to consider:
what drives them?
what does progress look like?
whats the ultimate goal?
after youve done the research and learned more about the person youre trying to connect with, mold the data into a specific customer identity that you can refer to as you create and share
by creating a buyer persona, youre one step closer to creating copywriting that speaks directly into the hearts of your audience
establishing your brands voice
when we think about branding, we often overlook the importance of not only knowing who youre speaking to, but also how youre speaking to them
a brand voice is your personality. how you present yourself to your audience, your voice matters because having a distinct strong brand personality helps you stand out in an overcrowded space.
it can help to make your content more conversational and help to humanize your business
get a clear mission and values
how do i want our customers to feel when they thing about our brand?
what would our relationship be to our audience?
what should we not sound like?
refer back to your mission and values before creating social media posts and make sure your team has a good understanding of the brand voice
be consistent, your brand voice, which is your distinct personality, should be unchanging
review copywriting tips
understand each platforms purpose. it may be tempting to copy and paste your posts across platforms using a social media scheduling tool
what may work on one platform may flop on another
learn more about the community and etiquette for each one
in order to hook the attention of your audience, you need to understanding whats preventing them from taking action
time
money
self doubt
trust
complacency
to help your reader overcome their objectives, ask yourself what information is my reader missing thats creating fear or hesitatgion around working with me or buying from me and focus on delivering that missing information in your social media content
make it personal.
speak directly to the reader using the buyer persona youve created
effective copy feels conversational
use words like you and your instead of me, i, our, or we whenever possible
do a search on your computer to see how many times youve used me, i, our, or we in your copy and replace them with words that shift the focus on the reader
understand copywriting formulas
four-piece formula:
promise, where you tell the reader whats in it for them
picture, where you paint a vivid scene for the reader to show them whats possible
proof, where you back up your vision for them with substantial evidence that you can deliver on your promise
push, where you make your offer and request that they take action
PAS (problem, agitate and solution):
state the problem, highlight the pain that your reader is experiencing
agitate the problem, further describe the challenge
solution, offer a way out the problem your reader is facing
the four p’s or PAS, no matter which you choose, your content is bound to become more magnetic and memorable
chapter quiz 1
a company is selling grocery delivery services to busy moms might point out how her life is already busy with running klids to soccer practice and music lessons as well as running her own errands. this would be an execution of which part of the PAS formula?
agitation - agitation is the part of the PAS formula where you elaborate on the problem
how you present your company to your audience is call your ___.
brand voice - your brand voice is how you present your brand personality to your audience
to get audiences to take action, social media writers need to overcome the objection that things are good enough. what is this objection called?
complacency - complacency is an audiences belief that they dont need to take action because things are just fine without any new product or service in their life
a buyer persona is a representation of your ___.
taget audience - a buyer persona is a description you create of your companys target audience
2. writing copy for social media
write copy for facebook
know exactly who youre speaking to
this is where your buyer persona really comes in handy
people want to feel like your speaking directly to them and will be far more likely to respond when they think that you are
personalize your content and make your reader feel seen and heard
as a brand, you kind of want to go with the flow, not interupt conversations with spammy, promotional posts
one way to match the tone of the facebook feed is to ask open-ended questions that focus the attention on your audienc eand feel conversational
make sure to speak like your reader does
trigger emotional points
use humor and show how well you know your customer
think of your own facebook feed
which brand post or ads grab your attention?
which brand content can you take inspiration from for your own posts?
write copy for twitter
twitter is a unique platform because it allows up to 280 characters. so short, yet powerful copywriting is even more important here
consider your formatting, formatting on twitter matters
mistake of trying to squeeze in as many URLs, calls to action, and hashtags as possible thinking that will increase their conversion rate will feel spammy
consider how visually digestible your tweet is
pick just a couple relevant hashtags for each tweet
when it comes to calls of action, its critical to not just share links but also describe whats in it for your audience if they take action
twitter users want information quickly and easily so make your tweets as easy to process and retain as possible
trigger emotion in your tweets
since character limit is low, its important to maximize your impact
curiosity: when theres a gap betwen what you know and what information youre missing, your brain naturally wants to close the gap. tweets that share part of the story but not the full details motivates readers to take action
humor: it helps make your brand more relatable and it makes yur content more shareable because people like to spread joy and laughter
add imagery
adding visuals to your tweets can increase your engagement
its important to make sure that the image that you use strengthens your copywriting instead of distracting from it
write copy for instagram
crafting the right captions on instgram can help your brands message stick in the minds of your audience by adding contect to your images and videos
few ways to create better captions:
keep your voice consistent
will your brand share short or witty posts?
will you focus more on lengthy posts using storytelling to captivate your audience
your entire caption isnt visible in the feed. readers can only see up to 125 characters, then they need to click on more to read the rest.
the first line of your caption is critical if you want them to read the rest
some ways to hook people with the first line:
share a powerful quote
crack a joke
use a surprising fact
ask a question
make an intriguing statement
the goal is to spark readers interest so that they stick around and read your full caption and engage with your post
use sensory words
sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell
sight: include words like gloomy, twinkling, hazy or hollow
sound: whistle, squeaky, roaring, growl
touch words: velvety, squishy, smooth, or greasy
taste: zesty, rich, sour, or buttery
smell: smoky, musky, citrusy, or floral
by following these tactics, your instagram captions will go from ignorable to unforgettable, which can lead to higher overall engagement rates and turn your brand into an instant success
write copy for linkedin
three ways to create captivating content on linkedin:
focus on self developing:
how will this post help my reader grow?
self development value should always be clear in every post
consider using terms associated with personal growth like success, leader, mistakes, habits, productivity, and goals
simple wording
biggest mistakes that brands and people make on linkedin is trying to impress their audience by using fancy words and industry jargon
you need your communications with them to be simple and easy to consume
master the call to action
when you share a post that hooks the attention of the reader, you need to end it with instructions about what you would like them to do next
you can ask readers to to shair their opinions or thoughts
focused more on lead generation or recruiting, make sure to call it the benefits of taking action
make your call to action easy to find
linkedin is sometimes considered a more serious platform, but you can see now how fun and creative you can actualluy be with your copy writing, whether you run a small business or mega brand, think about your brand and how you could be using these best practices to be captivating readers on linkedin
chapter quiz 2
what should social media writers do to simplify the formatting of tweets?
limit the use of hashtags and urls
why is it important for instagram writers to focus on the first sentence of their captions?
only the first 125 characters are visible on the feed - only the first 125 characters of an instagram caption is visible in a users feed. they have to click on “more” to read the rest
what is the best way to engage with and entertain your facebook audience?
ask open-ended questions - asking open-endend questions is a great way to start a conversation with your facebook audience
3. tools to help you create
readability apps for social media posts
readability is the quality of being easy and enjoyable to read, which is critical when it comes to crafting copy for social media
with readability apps, you can easily test the clarity and readability level of your social media posts by coping and pasting the text into an online tool with AI that will help you to improve and simplify your copy
a few apps to make your copy writing more readable:
hemingway app: free online tool is a hidden gem for marketers.
calculates the reading conprehensionlevel of your content
show your word count and the amount of time it takes to read your text
highlightds specific phrases that are too lengthly and complex and offers simpler alternatives
data yze readabilty analyzer: free tool
it will automatically calculate your readabiloity score using different tests, and specifically, tell you the percentage of difficult words
click on the paragraph level readability option too learn which section needs work
juicy studios readability test: what about content that youve already created and shared on social media?
all you do is copy the link of the post that you want to test and then past the url into the tester
it shows readability results for that specific post, but also gives you handy list of typical readability scores for different types of documents
the result of using readability apps for your content: more simple social media copy thats still packed with value for your audience
spelling and grammer tools
while social media does allow for more casual internet slang, when you share posts riddled with errors, it can reflect poorly on your professionalism, diminish your message, or even reduce your your brands credibility
expresso, a web based app where you can copy and paste your text to analyze whether it contains any weak verbs, filler words, sentence structure issues, and more
copy the text that you want to test and paste it into the app. click the analyze text button., click on each metric to highlight the words that need to be corrected
some of the metrics allow you to hover over the highlighted words to see their suggested alternatives
you can also click on the metrics section to learn more about each metric and why its important for your overall message
grammerly, another convenient tool that you can install as a desktop app or as a browser extension
the browser extension allows to write mistake free content across the web
grammerly will underline any error as you type. to make a correction, hover over the highlighted word to see grammerlys suggestion. you can click on that suggestion to change the word, choose to ignore the word, or you can ass the word to your personal dictionary so it isnt flagged in the future
use headline analyzers for social media posts
sharethrough’s headliner analyzer
this tool allows you to copy and paste your text and then analyzes its quality using an algorithm based on psychology and neuroscience
advanced marketing institutes headliner analyzer
this tool specifically calculates what they call emotional value of your text
emotional marketing value words, words that trigger emotional reactions in readers like you, feel, believe, dream, and love
they argue, your copywriting should include 30 to 40% of emotional marketing vlaue words to maximize your emotional impact
when you submit your text for analysis, it not only calculates your meotional marketing vlaue ration, but it also explains which area of the brain your headline will appeal most to
use thesaurus and dictionary apps for social media copy
wordhippo
simply type in to the word that you need a synonym for, click on find it, and it offers a long list of similar words, opposite words, the definition, words that ryhme, how to use it in a sentence, and a pronuncation tool
visuwords visual thesaurus
generates an interactive map of any word you choose, color coded so that you cna easily see synonyms, antonyms, and any words that are associated or connected in some way to the searched word
oneslook reverse dictionary
lets you describe a concept instead of an exact word based on its definition
you can also search for a list of words in the same category
the reverse dictionary will pull up a list of associated words that may help you describe the experience in more vivd detail
chapter quiz 3
why should social media writer analyze the reading comprehension level of copy?
to make sure its easy and enjoyable for their audience - assessing the reading comprehension level of copy ensures its not too difficult of complicated for audiences to digest and enjoy
to maximize emotional impact, ____ percent of your social media headlines should include emotional marketing value words
30 to 40 - roughly 30-40% of your social media headlines should be comprised of emotional marketing value words
kathleen is writing a social media post and wants to include a word related to a certain savory flavor, but she cant quite remember the word. what would be the best app for her to use?
onelooks reverse dictionary - onelooks reverse dictionary lets you look up words based on a concept
4. review and refine copy for social media
A/B testing social media copy
A/B testing most simply put is comparing two different versions of something to see which one performs better with your target audience
by experimenting with two different versions of your won social media copy, you can gain a deeper understanding of the preferences of your audiences rather than just guessing what they want
some tips for A/B testing
determine which elements if your copy you will test
consider: emoji usage, post length, tone of voice, text formatting, your call to action, and hashtags
to decide which element to test, figure out what your goal is for your posts
on linedin, when you create posts, you can click on the dropdown menu for audience and choose targeted audience to filter by location, job function, industry, and more.
make sure to only test a small variation. make sur eyour copywriting versions are similar, except for the simgular element youre testing. if your copywriting is vastly different from one variation to the next, when you review the results, you wont be able to determine which element is particular was responsible for the change in performance
leverage audience feedback in posts
you can avoid some mistakes and poor performing posts by asking for and leveraging feedback
some ways to gather feedback on social media:
social listening:
its important to stay on top of what others are saying about your brand online. you can do this by following and monitoring your brand hashtagsand mentions on social media channels that youre active on
testing new products, services, or resource ideas with polls
one of the best ways to maximize your business’ time, energy, and money is to qualify your ideas before production
asking irresistible, open-ended questions is an awesome way to learn what future products, services, or resources you may want to create
reading the comments
its important to not just post content but also spend time with your followers in the comment section
that competitve copywriting edge that you really need online lies in listening to your audience and delivering high value content based on their feedback
review analytics for social media post and performance
the ultimate goal in copywriting for social media goes beyond simply creating. its important to know what you do is making a positive impact on your business too
by reviewing the data available on social media platforms, youll be able to supercharge your copywriting performance by measuring what resonates with your audience
on facebook, scroll down until you see a wrench and a screwdriver icon on the right side that reads manage and click on it. this will open a dashboard to manage your page. at the very top, youll see a snapshot summary of your page performance over the last 28 days. click on the button that says see more insights. here you can die deeper to your page overview or click on content to review the performance of individual posts or click o audience to learn more about the age, gender, and location of your audience
on twitter, you can access your analytics by clicking on more from the menu on the left hand-side of your screen, and then clicking on analytics. twitter summarizes your performance by month. and if youre struggling to figure out how to improve, twitter also offers suggestions to boost your performance
on instagram, click on insights. this will pull up an insight section where you can choose to see the data for either the last seven days, the last 14 days, or the last 30 days. at the top of your screen youll see recent highlights where instagram will tell you if your content interactions have improved over the time period of your choice. next, you can dive deeper with a follower breakdown showing your follower growth and also data about their location, age, and gender. one of the coolest parts about instagram analytics is that you can see when your followers are most active, both the hours and days
on linkedin, you can find a quick snapshot of your performance over the last 30 days, including your unique visitors, new followers, post impressions, and custom button clicks. for a more advanced breakdown, click on analytics from the top of your page, which should open up a dropdown menu. when you click on visitors, youll find highlights about engagement youve received, data on organic and sponsored content, and performance data on individual posts
chapter quiz 4
luis wants to see what people are saying about his company on their personal social media pages. what would be the most effective way of leveraging feedback to gather this information?
social listening - social listening involves following and monitoring your own brand hashtags and mentions on social media channels
which social media platform allows you to see what days and times your followers are most active/
instagram - part of instagrams analytics shows when followers are most active on your site
a social media writer for a photography company wants to conduct an A/B test to try to convert facebook followers into website traffic. what would be the most effective element of his post to test?
call to action - the call to action is what converts readers into website visitors