Create Content They've Gotta Read: How to Write for Social Media

@pgillin
Paul Gillin
Author, Social Marketing to the Business
Customer
paul@gillin.com
@pgillin
CREATE STUFF
THEY’VE JUST GOTTA
READ: HOW TO
WRITE FOR SOCIAL
NETWORKS

@pgillin@pgillin
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Has low prices
Corporate social responsibility
Shapes direction of the market
Has global reach
Promotes diversity and equal opportunity
Promotes sustainability
Is a driver of innovation
Provides a broad product portfolio
Is a leader in its field
Fits well with my values
Has high level of specialist expertise
Acts responsibly across supply chain
Cares about dialogue with customers
B2B Market Messages and Customer Preferences
B2B messages
Customer preference
Failure to Communicate
Source: “How B2B companies talk past their
customers,” McKinsey & Co., October, 2013
“Honest and open
dialogue, which
customers considered
most important, was one
of the three themes not
emphasized at all by the
90 companies in our
sample.”
--McKinsey

@pgillin@pgillin
Circular File
65%
70%
55%
59%
79%
63%
Much of the material is useless
Vendors give me too much material
Scan and throw away
How much do you agree
with the following statements about the content salespeople provide?”
IT execs Business execs
Source: “Valuable Message Development For B2B Marketing In The Context
Of Sales Enablement,” Forrester Research, September, 2015

@pgillin
1. Know Your
Audience

Who’s Your Reader?
 Motivations
 Fears
 Passions
 Goals
 Self-Image
 Needs
 Desires
We don’t mean demographics. We mean:
You can’t communicate
effectively with an audience
you don’t know. Visualize
your reader.
@pgillin

@pgillin@pgillin
Psychographic Profile: Enterprise CIO
Position CIO, VP of IT or CTO
Motivations Recognition; organizational excellence; business success;
professional advancement
Demotivations Impulsiveness; indecisiveness; details; disobedience
Likes Technology; problem-solving; learning; teamwork
Dislikes Delay; politics; uncooperativeness; micro-management
Fears Letting down the organization; bad decisions; organizational failure;
employee turnover; public humiliation
What defines
accomplishment?
Leading a group toward a decision; public recognition; innovation;
resourceful problem-solving
Loyalty Generally low
Adjectives Proud; leader; determined; decisive; analytical; team player

@pgillin@pgillin
Think Like a Reader
Instead of Consider
Our Solution Your Problem
Reasons to Buy Options to Consider
Why We’re Better Why Customers Choose Us
What’s In It For Us What’s In It for You
Testimonial Spotlight long-time customers

@pgillin@pgillin
• Helpful?
• Funny?
• Professorial?
• Empathetic?
• Snarky?
• Unpredictable?
Your style should be
comfortable, consistent,
distinctive and personal
What’s Your Voice?

The Fantastic Five
1. It’s All About You
2. Who Do You Want to Be?
3. Surprise and Delight
4. How Can I Help?
5. Tell Stories
@pgillin

@pgillin@pgillin
Vary Your Approach
 Use a different medium
 Imagine content in another form, such as a list, table,
first-person narrative, poem, song, conversation or FAQ.
 Vary voice. Imagine how the message would be
communicated by your favorite humorist, novelist,
columnist.
 Write from a diametrically opposite view; try to explain
your position.
 Vary perspective. What would an inanimate object think?
A visitor from the past?

@pgillin@pgillin
1. Quiz: Test Your Privacy IQ
2. Skeptic: You Don’t Control Your Privacy Anymore
3. Explainer: The Privacy Debate in Plain English
4. Case Study: How One Person Got Control Over Privacy
5. Contrarian: Why Online Privacy Concerns Are Rubbish
6. Definitional: Common Privacy Terms Explained
7. How To: Five Ways to Strengthen Your Online Privacy
8. How NOT To: Five Ways to Screw Up Your Online Privacy
9. First Person: My Personal Privacy Horror Story
10. List: 10 Important Facts about Online Privacy
11. Comparison: How Privacy Protection Services Measure Up
12. FAQ: Your Privacy Questions Answered
13. Q&A: What One Expert Says About Privacy
14. Data: Roundup of Survey Data
15. ‘Man on the Street’: We Ask People Around the Office about Online Privacy
16. Outrageous: There’s No Such Thing as Online Privacy
17. Poetic: Online Privacy Haiku
18. Musical: The Ballad of Online Privacy
19. Historic: What Shakespeare Would Have Said
20. Humorous: Debate in the form of Abbott and Costello’s ‘Who’s On First?’
20 Ways to Tackle a Topic

@pgillin@pgillin
Write in Pictures
65% of people are visual learners. Use words that create images.
Google Thesaurus, Thesaurus.com and Merriam-Webster Thesaurus are
among the many online tools you can use.
Word Instead
Drop Plunge, sink, cave in, tumble, slump, crash
Rise Swell, balloon, soar, climb, elevate
Get Seize, grab, snag, pluck, wrestle away
Tell Whisper, confide, intimate, shout, echo, cry out
Throw Hurl, toss, fling, underhand, flip, sling, shuffle
Enter Greet, introduce, bow, step into, bow
Take Grab, seize, grasp, purloin, clutch
Few Select, choice, elite, chosen, culled, singled out

@pgillin@pgillin
Pictures in Practice
Excerpt and rewrite from an actual corporate case study:
Original
“Features such as smart phone notification and mature drill-through capabilities
give the zoo quick access to key information. Through smart phone alerts,
management can notify staff when VIP guests arrive at the zoo, or automatically
send customized notifications to zoo members to make them aware of special
promotions and events for them. The end result is a smarter operation and a more
enjoyable experience for visitors.”
Rewrite
“Now the zoo can spot treasured guests early and give them the red carpet
treatment. Staffers’ smart phones buzz when VIP guests arrive at the ticket window,
enabling zookeepers to scramble to greet them. Guests can even program their
phones to call out news of feeding time at the monkey house or a discount on T-
shirts. Result: a smarter operation and more smiles on visitors’ faces.”

@pgillin
6. Get to the
Friggin’ Point

@pgillin@pgillin
Dump the Gobbledygook
Innovative
Leading
Committed
Cost-effective
Next-generation
Flexible
Robust
High-performance
Scalable
User-friendly
Easy-to-use
Optimized
Best-in-class
World-class
Industry-leading
Dedicated
Customer-focused
Strategic
Successful
Exceptional
Fascinating
Remarkable
Exceptional
Careful
Attentive
World-class
Fast-growing
Extensive
Comprehensive
Proven
Meet the needs of
Game-changing
Unprecedented
Optimized
Award-winning
Enterprise-ready
Trusted
Enhanced
Significant
Best
Most
Reliable
Tremendous
Stupendous
Ridiculous
Supercalifragilisticexpeal
idocious…

@pgillin@pgillin
What Did He Just Say?
“The tremendous growth trajectory of the Internet of Things,
coupled with the massive demand for realtime interaction on
mobile and the web, represents an incredible market
opportunity,” said the CEO of some company I don’t
remember. “We are thrilled to be working with this
extraordinary group of investors who have deep expertise in a
broad range of industries.”

@pgillin@pgillin
Red Flags
 “Everybody knows that…”
 “I don’t have to tell you that…”
 “It’s common knowledge that…”
 “We’ve all seen…”
 “Conventional wisdom is…”
 “I think you’ll be interested in…”
 “I’m thrilled that…”
 “Hardly a day passes that…
 “I recently attended…”
 “We’re all overloaded with…

@pgillin@pgillin
TAKE
WORDS
OUT

@pgillin
6. Write for the
Platform

@pgillin@pgillin
Social Networks Have Personalities

@pgillin@pgillin
Same Message, Three Tellings
• “Meetings r people trying to figure out who'll
foolishly take responsibility for what happens next”
- @ThisIsSethsBlog #Inbound13
• Can you relate? Seth Godin at the Inbound 2013
conference says, “Meetings are people sitting
around trying to figure out who'll foolishly take
responsibility for what happens next.”
• Seth Godin at HubSpot’s #Inbound13 conference:
“Meetings are people sitting around trying to figure
out who'll foolishly take responsibility for what
happens next.” What’s your worst meeting
experience?

@pgillin@pgillin
Facebook is Fun
• Surprise, provoke, inquire
• Be upbeat; have fun
• Finish with a question mark
• Posts with images get 80%
better engagement
• Make images provocative or
self-explanatory
• Have personality; be informal
• But be relevant to your
business
Awards Customers
Customers Customers

@pgillin@pgillin
• Share news about your
business, industry, strategy,
managing and the workplace.
• Offer practical advice.
• Write clear, declarative
headlines and prose.
• Get to the point.
• Offer to connect.
• Ask for response: What would
you do?
• Curate discussions
LinkedIn is Efficient

@pgillin@pgillin
Best practices
Advance the
conversation
Add value
Tease (but
don’t deceive)
Recognize
Thank
Label
Twitter Rules

@pgillin@pgillin
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Integer ornare risus eget urna
condimentum faucibus in
vestibulum nisi turpis duis.
Got Space?
LinkedIn: 2,000
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Integer vitae urna metus. Ut maximus ultricies lobortis. Cras a pretium ante.
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Nunc vehicula nec velit non ultrices. Fusce finibus nisi vehicula, faucibus
risus at, tempor dui. Praesent volutpat mi in lorem blandit, sit amet vehicula
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turpis. Phasellus nontincidunt quam. Phasellus ex lacus, luctus non purus nec, porta lobortis felis. Donec suscipit dolor in arcu fringilla, eget viverra enim
luctus. Quisque facilisis turpis a leo feugiat, nec lacinia velit fermentum.
Integer vitae urna metus. Ut maximus ultricieslobortis. Cras a pretium ante. Etiam ultrices consequat leo, vel pellentesque risus venenatis vitae. Proin at
tortor lorem. Nullam fringillaplacerat nisi sit amet malesuada. Maecenas sed dictum dui. Sed vitae lectus vel eros eleifend pharetra. Nullam egestas nisl
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lorem dui. Fusce mi felis, iaculis ac augue non, auctor malesuada tortor. Etiam tincidunt placerat interdum.
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Twitter: 140 Facebook: 60,000

@pgillin@pgillin
Good Tweets
 How to Make Images the Right Size for Your Facebook Cover
Photo http://ow.ly/oabgl by @azurecollier – Constant Contact
 TIP: Have a clear message when creating your email.
http://ow.ly/o63iZ #video – Constant Contact
 Meet the Nerd King (or “How to give the best convocation speech
ever”) [video] http://is.gd/DK1Znj - Guy Kawasaki
 Very thorough @kissmetrics guide: 54 Resources for Getting the
Most Out of Google Analytics http://bit.ly/13GlTsY via
@copyblogger – Sofia Zab
 You would be SO much smarter if you read @MitchJoel more
often: http://ow.ly/o8EkQ - Chris Brogan
 Today's lunch: Bacon apple butter panini via @bacontoday >>
http://ow.ly/U02OS #bacon #panini #lunch #apple – Bacon Today
Attribution
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@pgillin@pgillin
Dumb Tweets
▪ Cheap entertainment: Watching article commenters argue with each
other.
• 15 users just unfollowed me. Via @findUnfollower
bit.ly/UnfollowedFree. #iPhone #App
• I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one
here knows how to (expletive) drive.“
• HELP ME SAVE LIVES share.es/x1XND @sharethis #myQPflavor
#USOpen #fundanything #oklahoma #weather #tornado
#WhatMakesMeMad #GMA
• Thanks God is Friday!
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@pgillin@pgillin
Paul Gillin
508-656-0734
paul@gillin.com
Twitter: @pgillin

Create Content They've Gotta Read: How to Write for Social Media

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Create Content They've Gotta Read: How to Write for Social Media