Three Secrets of Writing for Social Media
1. Fun, personal, and engaging
Social media requires a short and immediate writing style. You want to talk in an intimate, friendly voice. This is basically true in all advertising – you should write in the voice of the people. The less you sound like a term paper, the better. You should write in a way that’s warm and makes you appear friendly rather than distant and aloof. In general, the more your writing says things like, “Good luck,” “Wish you the best,” “Happy Friday,” the more likable you become. This style tends to get read the most. It also tends to convert the best. In general, you want to keep it light. You’re trying to create a connection. Err on the side of having fun with it.
2. Create value
Unfortunately, very few patients understand or care about your board certification. However, everybody cares about going to the safest plastic surgeon and getting a better result because of that. You’ve got to spin your writing in such a way that it’s showing a real benefit to the prospect. This is another a classic advertising idea. You must write in a way that focuses on your prospect, not your ego. It’s not that easy to do. “Our practice has been around for 30 years.” is an ego driven idea. “You’ll get a better result because we have more experience.” is a benefit driven idea. It’s really the same thought, just spun in two distinctly different ways. One is an “I” message and the other is a “You” driven message. You is a very powerful word in advertising: “You’ll get a better result,” “You’ll feel years younger,” “You’ll look great,” “As a VIP, you’re going to get preferred pricing.” You, you, you – value, value, value. That’s a the way to think about writing for social media – What’s in it for them? Nobody cares about anything else. They read headlines and they want to see benefits.
3. Hinge on a good photos and good headlines
It’s funny… the secret to writing well is often to have a great photo. Take 20 minutes, visit http://www.istockphoto.com and downloaded 15 bucks worth of good low resolution pictures – dentistry imagery, plastic surgery imagery, whatever. Go to your vendors and pull appropriate technology pictures from their website. A great post is usually a good headline and a good photo and little else. Sometimes, it’s just a good photo and a lousy headline and it’s still pretty good. Hinge on photos that stand out because nobody reads the great wall of copy. Great photos and great headlines everybody gets immediately.
Authored by Einstein Medical - Google+ Profile
