Posted by If you’re reading these lines, it means you’ve faced the deceptive art of writing social media copy. Looking so simple at first glance, it often becomes confusing why some texts convert while others don’t.
Needless to say that to write a great copy, you’ll have to invest your time and energy. Still, once you crack the code of effective texts for social media, you’ll reap all the benefits. That is why we offer you to check out our list of five tips for writing social media copy that converts and put our words into action!
1. Clickbait Headlines Still Have a Say
Although, we may say that we often get irritated with clickbaits, let’s be honest here, we still click on them. We live in a fast-paced world where lots of people read headlines, and not much else. When video content is taking over, people get lazier to read and analyze. In fact, these days people scan 20% of all the information without truly reading the whole piece of text. Especially, it works with any social media whether it’s Facebook or Instagram. For this reason, it’s vital to write a headline that will immediately catch users’ attention.
Your headline is much like the first impression — it means you won’t have another chance to impress your reader. Make sure a headline provokes strong emotions, either positive or negative. Make your reader laugh or wonder from the very first phrase they see. Unfortunately, no matter how great your whole copy can be, if the headline is weak, a user won’t click on it.
To create a convincing headline, consider these phrases:
- How to … in # Easy Steps
- How I Made … in …
- How to Find …
- How to Make a Strong…
- What to Do With …
- Quick Guide: …
- A Complete Guide To …
- # Things Your … Doesn’t Tell You
- #… Every … Should Own
- # Amazing … To Try Right Now
- # Secrets To …
- # Rules for …
- # Facts About …
- # … We Love
- # Reasons You Didn’t Get …
- # Essential Steps To…
- # Tips for Busy …
- What No One Tells You About …
2. Content Comes Before Marketing
It’s easy to get carried away following the marketing objectives for your business. However, keep in mind that content should always be in the first place. This is how you can kill two birds with one stone: by offering your users great content you’ll enrich brand awareness as well as user activity. This in turn will lead to conversion, if combined with various marketing techniques.
Think of useful posts, blogs, infographics that your target audience will find interesting, inspiring and just right up their street. What is more, don’t hesitate to support all of your content with great visuals, especially when it comes to Instagram. Not only will it encourage a person to save such a post and buy your product/service, but also share it with their friends (boosting your brand awareness).
Let’s have a look at the copy of all natural turkey company and analyze its pluses and minuses:
Pluses: As the company that sells great turkey, they post amazing recipes you can try out with this poultry. Supported with a delicious looking picture — voila your mouth starts watering and you want to buy this tasty turkey.
Minuses: The way they have used the space in the post. On the one hand, they probably want to redirect the client to the website, so they have left the link. On the other hand, users are lazy and they would rather enjoy the recipe text under the picture.
3. Put Yourself in Your Clients’ Shoes
It goes without saying that to create a great copy, you need to fully understand your client. That is to say, think like they do and most importantly speak like they do.
Understanding your client isn’t something you can do overnight. It requires constant analysis and research. Still, one thing often remains the same – ask yourself ‘If I were my client, would I click on this?’
Try creating a persona of your client. Think what drives your followers, why they use social media, why they follow your page, at what time they read your posts, where they are geographically, etc. All these little details matter. What is more, it’s vital to use slang or jargon your audience is comfortable with. This is how you’ll break the wall between company vs client, and create a friendly environment where your user will feel comfortable and at ease.
Have a look at an amazing example of how the post speaks to the target audience:
Not only does this post appeal to the dog-owners/lovers, but it also speaks to those who want to make this world a better place. As the money from the purchased T-shirt will go to feed shelter dogs.
Here’s another example:
The main priorities are explained in two short sentences: healthy food for busy people. For this reason, such posts convert well.
4. Follow Three C’s Rule
The three Cs rule include Curiosity, Consistency and Call-to-Action.
First and foremost, your copy should be clickworthy and make your readers wonder what’s going to happen next. In other words, it should provoke curiosity. You can pose a question, or relate your post to the recent trends/news.
Secondly, one of the greatest secrets that helps to create a copy that converts, is consistency. Users get annoyed by something that changes too often. For one thing, the familiarity created by consistency boosts your brand awareness. For another, it blurs the line between being a stranger company to your followers and becoming a friend who they’ve known for a long time.
Finally, if you want your followers to act, include a call-to-action. Otherwise, a client won’t somehow guess what you want from them. It can be some friendly imperatives, or rhetorical questions. In any case talk directly to your user. If you want them to click to see more, just say so.
5. At The Right Place and At The Right Time
Last but not least, it’s vital to create the right copy for the right social media and post it at the right time. These three components are crucial if you want to boost conversion. Moreover, the differences that may seem different at first glance, can then turn out to be truly discrepant.
That is why make sure you monitor your user activity. Check out when they mostly visit your page: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening or at night. The exact hours matter. There are various apps that can help you with that.
Furthermore, adjust your copy in accordance with the social media you’re going to post it at.
It’s a great place for longreads. However, it’s not the rule, you’ll have to check it and see it yourself. While the fact that Facebook is the place for encouraging conversation is true. Your Facebook page should be about sparking conversation, encouraging discussions and building a community. Don’t hesitate to ask direct questions, so that your followers will share their thoughts and experiences.
It should be a unique combination of a photo supported by a catchy copy. Instagram speaks to its users through the visuals mostly. However, it’s a masterful art being able to appeal to followers by using 1 or 5 words. For example, Grammarly says that 60% of their top captions included three words or less, and the post that reached the highest performance in 2018 consisted of one word only — “Yes” and a hashtag.
For this reason, there is some advice. Don’t overuse hashtags. Better use one or two hashtags in your copy, and the rest of hashtags add in the comment below. Create powerful pictures your followers can relate to. Keep it simple and short if it’s a brief caption. If it is some ‘how to guide’, make sure it’s readable and divided into scannable blocks.
To create an engaging, catchy copy for Twitter, one should understand the culture of memes. What is more, it’s crucial to monitor the hashtags that are trending. For this reason, use popular meme phrases to create your own copy. Use timely hashtags that are relevant for your brand/company. Needless to say, the number of characters on Twitter is limited to 280, so you will have to play with various quantities to see what’s working the best for you.
In this case, the author of the post used a “I’m not crying” meme that originated from “Starsky and Hutch” movie.
Summing up
As you can see there are tons of subtleties that can help you craft a great copy that converts. It depends on the social media you’re using and what your target audience is. However, there are still some common rules and proven tips you can try out this very moment.
These days it’s truly difficult to keep up with the times, as everything is changing with the speed of light. For this reason, have no doubts to follow our tips, because no one knows whether they will be working tomorrow.
This is a guest post by Rhonda Martinez. Rhonda Martinez is an educator, social media marketer, blogger, product reviewer and writer at LegitWritingServices essay writing services review site. She has a genuine passion for helping students learn more effectively and fulfill personal aspirations. As a marketer, she is an expert at ensuring the right platforms are used to deliver the right messages to the right audiences at the right times.
With Crowdfire, you can find curated content, schedule your posts, engage with your audience, deep-dive into analytics and create custom reports. Try it for free.