Writing for Social Media In Business DTCC November 2014 (1)

@LisaL.Flowers
Strategist | Marketer | Advocate
@LisaLFlowers ~ LFlowers@FlowersMediaMatters.com ~ November 22, 2014
Writing for Social Media
in Business

Agenda
 Housekeeping
 Introductions
 Name, company, goals, 3 things
 Why Is It Different?
 First Steps
 Writing for a Blog, Facebook, and Twitter
 Types of Content
 Editorial Calendar
 What Am I Going To Write?
 Recap
 3 things
 Next steps

@LisaLFlowers
 Marketing, business development and public
speaking – 25+ years
 Teaching, tutoring and mentoring – 15+ years
 Social media and business coaching – 5+ years
 Lifelong learner, volunteer, and advocate
 Global – Malaysia and Nigeria

Writing for the Web Is Different
 “We have less time to grab attention on the web.
Web writing is quicker, more succinct, right to the
point.” @Kevanlee
 “Writing for the web: Solve people’s problems,
answer their questions, and entertain while doing
so.” @Kmullett
 “Writing for the web means really knowing your
customers. Focus on their interests/needs. Less
‘corporate speak.'” @CathyWebSavvyPR
https://blog.bufferapp.com/web-writing-tips

First Steps
 Identify your target audience and understand them.
 Determine your objective.
 Select the appropriate channel for your message.
 Decide upfront how much time and effort you CAN
and WILL invest.

Easy to Understand and Share
 Put relevant, intriguing information at the beginning
of your post. Can you ask a question?
 Use fewer characters than allowed to make sharing
easy.
 Keep messages short but relevant.
 Test your message on a cold reader. Could someone
“get it” in less than 2 seconds?
 Provide enough context so your message can stand
alone.

Decide Which 3
@LisaLFlowers or LFlowers@FlowersMediaMatters.com ~ November 22, 2014
 Website/blog – Must have
 Facebook
 Twitter
 LinkedIn

Writing for a Blog
 “Write on Day One, edit on Day Two, publish on Day
Three. (Translation: Give your blogposts time to
simmer.)” @KevanLee
 “…write for yourself & be true to that as well.”
@TheNameIsCasie
 “Consistently deliver high quality content and promote to
a relevant audience.” @IanCleary
 “Always focus on how you can help
people” @MeghanMHall
 “Used an Editorial Calendar – If you don’t have one you
will struggle with consistency, variety etc” @IanCleary
https://blog.bufferapp.com/web-writing-tips

Writing for a Blog
 Headlines
 Succinct and compelling
 4 Ways, 7 Reasons, How To…
 Ask someone what they think
 Images
 Original if possible
 Always get permission and/or give credit
 Canva
 Free images
 https://blog.bufferapp.com/free-image-sources-
list?utm_campaign=weekly_digest

Writing for a Blog
 1 post = Many
 Write it well
 Include an image
 Bitly or Tiny URL
 Nuggets
 Include a CTA
 Examples:
 http://socialtriggers.com/perfect-blog-post/
 http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/07/17/headline-
writing#
 Use as an example

Writing for a Blog
 Types of posts
 Informational
 Instructional
 ‘Problem’ posts
 Case studies
 Recognition
 Reviews

Writing for Facebook
 Profiles and Pages
 Individuals - status updates, pictures, videos, and links for
others to view.
 Public-facing pages (nonprofit organizations, businesses, and
government agencies) with profiles designed for the public.
 Length
 Can be rather long, but shouldn’t be
 Content
 Consumer-friendly, action-oriented messaging
 Should be interesting and compelling and include a specific
call to action.
 Should include one link to a Web page, photo, or captioned
video.
http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/tools/guidelines/guideforwriting.html

Writing for Facebook
 Tone
 Naturally casual but professional
 Use a consumer-friendly voice
 If directed to lay people, avoid or define jargon.
 Tagging
 Add @symbol in front of it.
 Will automatically create a link and display the post on the
person’s page

Writing for Twitter
 Length
 Up to 140 characters jncluding spaces and punctuation
 Leave room to allow for other text to be added when the tweet is retweeted
 Bitly, TinyURL
 Abbreviations
 Try to write w/o abbreviations
 If you must, use standard abbreviations
 Info for information
 & for and
 1PM for 1 p.m.
 RT for retweet
 Pls for please
 Hyperlinks
 Try to always include a link, because you want them to take an action

Writing for Twitter
 Tone
 Reader-friendly and action-oriented.
 Ask a question, highlight a statistic, or provide a specific call to
action
 Mentions
 MT – you mention another person
 Put the @symbol in front of the username in a msg
 Hashtags
 Similar to a mention, a hashtag is created automatically when
you put the # symbol before a word. Using a hashtag enables
other people to join in a larger conversation on a topic or find
information quickly.

Curate and Create
 Curate content
 Sharing a post on Twitter
OR
 Doing an article curation (an article someone else wrote)
Adding content and/or images and then
writing new content around the original article
 A curater adds their own insight, links that make it deeper,
adding another layer of information. - @JanLGordon
 Create

Types of Content
 Animated gifs
 Article
 Ask fans a question
 Blog posts
 Book reviews
 Case study
 Cheatsheets
 Checklists
 Client story or testimonial
 Comics or cartoons
 Company news
 Customer service questions
 eBook
 FAQs
Guest post
Guides
History of company or
industry
How-to article
Images
Industry news update
Infographics
Interviews
Link or resource pages
Lists
National holiday
Opinion posts

More Types of Content
 Podcast
 Press release
 Product reviews
 Reply to comments
 Research
 Research report
 Resources or Link Lists
 Reviews
 Share a blog post
 Share a fan’s photo
 Survey (ask)
 Survey (responses)
 Surveys
 To-Dos
 Tutorials
 Upcoming events
 Vendor story or
testimonial
 Videos

Editorial Calendar
 Dollar Tree
 Don’t reinvent the wheel
 Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines
 Keep it simple
 Examples
 http://www.pinterest.com/scrappinmichele/editorial-
calendar/
 http://bit.ly/1HxiPQJ
 http://bit.ly/1uOse1h

What Am I Going To Say?
 Writing prompts
 http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?rs=ac&len=2&q=writ
ing+prompts&term_meta%5B%5D=writing%7Cautocomplete
%7C0&term_meta%5B%5D=prompts%7Cautocomplete%7C0
 Brainstorming exercise on content or writing a blog
post

1. JUST WRITE!
2. JOIN A GROUP
Next Steps

Questions?

Thank you!
@LisaLFlowers
Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter / Pinterest /Skype
Instagram – LisaLFlowers1
www.LisaLFlowers.com
or www.FlowersMediaMatters.com
LFlowersFlowers@FlowersMediaMatters.com
703-862-8743

Writing for Social Media In Business DTCC November 2014 (1)

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