Content writing seems to be the in thing these days, and when building relationships with your fan base on social media, quality content is no exception.
Now, if you're going to go through all that trouble of writing that killer article, you may as well be doing everything you can to ensure it goes viral.
See, quality social media campaigns are all about grabbing attention.
You've got thousands of other Facebook posts and Tweets to compete against, so you better learn to stand out.
Or your content is just going to drown in the overwhelming sea of news feed updates. Call a lifeguard.
That is why things like fancy pictures and attention grabbing videos work well. Nobody is going to notice your bland looking content on social media otherwise.
Random flying cat got your attention real quick, eh?
Writing text is no exception. You need the ability to hook your readers in and get them interested in what you have to say.
This is why good copywriting - the ability to syndicate content in an attractive way to gain more followers - on social media is so important.
Providing valuable and interesting content is one half of the equation, the other half is all about how you write and present information.
Here are some tips and improvements that you can use starting today to make your copywriting even better, and ultimately convert more followers into sales.
Want your high quality, 'oh-no-he-didn't' content to go viral? Read on.
1) More Spacing, More Often
Nothing turns a reader off faster than giant walls of text.
If I land on your site and find a 15 line paragraph waiting for me, I'd click the back button straight away.
Ain't nobody got time for dictionary-style copywriting, buddy.
That is why I hit the 'Enter' key after almost every sentence.
I keep my writing to 3 lines per paragraph max.
It creates the illusion of space between your sentences and makes my writing much, much easier to read and digest.
Seems obvious, but once implemented it is going to improve your copywriting by leaps and bounds.
Site note: if you're really going to write long paragraphs instead of short ones, please increase the font size. Size 6 font on a 14 sentence paragraph is just nasty.
2) Sensory Description
This one takes a huge amount of practice. Start using sense-based descriptors throughout your content.
For example, it's 8pm on a Sunday night.
Erik just had a huge hearty dinner of brown rice, boiled vegetables and bread crusted chicken breast.
Now if I were a boring, lousy copywriter, I would mention it in a blog post like so:
Just cooked myself a healthy, protein heavy dinner. Waiting for my microwaved vegetables to cool down before I bite into them. This eating healthy thing is really making me feel more energetic.
A year ago I would've thought to myself 'Hey that isn't bad. Publish-worthy'.
Then I started doing some research on this copywriting thing, and realize I'm nowhere close to guru-writing level.
Because something as innocent and irrelevant as my dinner is an opportunity to make my words sing.
Now I'm applying this sensory description thing, my writing has gone from 'okay' to 'oh-no-he-didn't'.
What if I described how my dinner looked or smelled instead?
Let's give it another go.
The final beeeeep! from my microwave oven rang. I sighed.
I popped it open, and carefully pulled out a piping hot bowl of mixed vegetables. Green broccoli, chopped carrots and deep red radish, you name it.
I carefully loaded my white porcelain dinner plate with veggies.
The plate, already loaded with two pieces of golden-brown, sizzling brown crumb baked chicken breasts, just got a whole lot more colourful.
The aroma of rosemary and thyme crusting the meat filled my nostrils. My stomach growled.
These past couple of weeks of eating clean has been nothing short of miraculous. I've felt better, stronger and more energetic just by cutting out all those empty calories.
I feel like I can move the world.
Soft, creamy ice-cream and savoury yellow chips no more.
I plop down onto my brown leather couch and fillet open the chicken meat, revealing the white, perfectly cooked inside.
Ahhh. Time to dine.
Big difference huh?
Bet you can picture my dinner right in front of you, as if you were about to chomp down yourself.
Compare it to the lame duck Version 1 above and witness the realness.
Writing this way makes your readers actually give a damn about the sentences you're writing. And boy, this means more conversions and more sales.
No one else (that I've seen anyway) on the online space is doing this, so cash in on your competition's ignorance.
Time to stand out and differentiate your blog, I would think. Wink.
3) Fill Your Writing with Your Own Personality
In the past, I struggled with penning my writing down into words.
I was 'censoring' everything and making my articles sound like boring, bland newspapers. Not good.
I mean, I knew exactly how I would like to write my content, but I was too afraid of what other people would think.
Years later, I now know it doesn't matter.
Take the website I'm currently working on, for example.
I now write exactly how I would behave in real life - fast talking with a really dry sense of humour.
I reference old movies because I love old movies and I've themed the website around performance cars because I love fast cars.
As a result, readers will be better able to connect with me because I don't hide any facets of personality when writing.
What I'm saying is, don't 'censor' yourself.
Write however you feel like. It really doesn't matter.
Don't believe me? Ask yourself how much fun you had reading this article.
Horn, tooted.
End
Hope these pointers helped you out.
The main takeaway from all of that?
You've got one shot.
Maybe four seconds-ish to grab attention.
If you continue writing blandly, you'll forever struggle.
Should you have any questions, please drop them below and I'll get back to you quickly.