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Writer's pictureTrinity Wagner

Tips on How to Drive Readers to Read Your Social Media Posts

Information for this blog was obtained from HubSpot Blog, Neil Patel, and Sprout Social.


Man typing on laptop
Photo Courtesy of Wix

Social media - what a broad term that is in today's day and age. Just a few off the top of my head are Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest... shall I continue? Not only are there numerous numbers of platforms out there, each one also has their own separate audiences. Writing effective copy for your post on different platforms can be difficult. Worry no more as I have provided you with a few tips and tricks to drive engagement on each of the platforms below.


How to Compose Copy for Different Social Media Channels

Channels we will cover:

  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • LinkedIn

Facebook

First and foremost, it is most important to look at what audiences are actively using Facebook in their daily lives. According to HubSpot, an average of 79% of adults used Facebook. Even more interesting is that they also state that it is the most used platform among the 65+ audience.


Now that you are looking to compose text for this platform, it's important to keep a few things in mind - audience, formatting, and character limit. Depending on your target audience for your business, make sure that you are tailoring your posts to best fit the audience's needs. Formatting is different on this platform as it does not use the @ symbol when tagging another person. Lastly, if you can keep posts with 80 characters or less, you can receive up to 66% higher engagements (HubSpot). If you would like to learn more about growing your Facebook audience, you can read more here.


Twitter

Remember how we learned earlier that Facebook has a massive audience using it daily? Well, Twitter does not receive that same population. It was found in recent studies that only 24% of online adults are active on Twitter (HubSpot). When writing tweets, it is important to remember that the ideal length should be around 120-130 characters. Also unlike Facebook, hashtags are a huge asset to being found on Twitter.


Make the title or first sentence of your post intriguing to readers. You may be able to accomplish this be trying to evoke emotion, teach, or using a clickbait type of headline (Sprout Social).


Instagram

Not much higher of a population, Instagram has 32% of online adults actively using their platform. Unique to Instagram, 59% of users are in the age range of 18-29 (HubSpot). Instagram was made to share photographs and eye-catching visuals. We can compliment our posts with a caption that includes mentions, call to actions, and hashtags.


When writing your caption, remember that the context of your type should tie back in with the photo you are sharing. This can be as simple as describing the photo. Another task that can be a difficulty for social media writers is having the ability to write in an active voice (Sprout Social). From my own experiences, I recommend that you download Grammarly to your devices. This platform does a wonderful job at catching you in the acts of using a passive voice.


Instagram on iPhone with different post formats
Photo Courtesy of Neil Patel

A unique feature to the Instagram platform is the ability to share many different forms of content. We must take advantage of these capabilities so that we can attract different audiences. Posts include photos, videos, reels, carousel/dynamic ads, stories, and stories canvas (Neil Patel).


LinkedIn

Sharing similar capabilities to Instagram, LinkedIn is the best platform for professionals to connect with people and companies. You will want to begin with setting up your company page. LinkedIn is the top platform for attracting talent. If your company is looking to hire, LinkedIn allows you to list and promote your current openings (Neil Patel).


Aside from being the hub for hiring, this platform is another place you will want to market your brand on. LinkedIn has the ability to target your audience the right way. It is easy to dictate the demographics and experiences your target audience has as most users tend to fill out this information on their profile (Neil Patel).


Resources

Chenn, Jenn. “8 Advanced copywriting hacks to keep in your back pocket when writing for social” Sprout Social, 27 March 2018, https://sproutsocial.com/insights/writing-for-social/


Patel, Neil. "Instagram Marketing Guide: 10 Tips That Actually Work." Neil Patel, n.d., https://neilpatel.com/blog/instagram-marketing-tips/


Patel, Neil. "A LinkedIn Marketing Guide." Neil Patel, n.d., https://neilpatel.com/blog/linkedin-marketing-guide/


Sellers, Amanda. “Social Media Copywriting: How to Compose Text for 5 Different Channels.” HubSpot Blog, 15 May 2017, https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-copywriting

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