How To Write Social Media Content People Actually Share

How To Write Social Media Content People Actually Share

There’s a lot of advice out there about writing better social media content. Everything from when to post to how and what to write.

Problem is, those tips are meaningless when used on their own. The key to writing great social media posts is incorporating a variety of elements.

So how do you write social media content your audience actually wants to read and share?

Once you understand a few social media fundamentals, you’ll have the recipe for success. Below are 7 tips to get you started!

All great content begins with detailed research. Getting inside the head of your audience will make content creation that much easier.

To learn what they’re looking for, head over to Facebook Audience Insights.

What you’re researching is what content your audience is interacting with. What is it that they like, share, and comment on every day?

This will help you form a hypothesis around their likes, needs, and wants. Rather than guessing, we’re looking to data to tell the story.

You can filter your audience by location, activities, and even buying decisions.

This information will help you plan content ideas. Look at it as vital details to your content creation.

To get started, choose your audience as “everyone on Facebook.” This will give you a broader search than those just connected to your Page.

Leave your location as-is unless you’re a local business and move the Advanced section. If you have a price point (high-end or luxury buyers for example), you can add work, education, or financial information here.

Here we’ll add an interest that ties to your business keyword. (e.g. you’re a bakery, you might use “cupcake”). This is going to help you filter content based on similar brand pages.

Now, here’s where it gets fun. ?

Go to the “Page Likes” tab to see what pages your audience is interacting with.

Begin to click-through each page and write down a few things as you go. You’re looking to learn from high interaction pages. (10% engagement or more)

Now take that info and consider your own content.

Likewise, if you don’t know what your customers are looking for, you’ll never be able to provide it.

Have you ever read a social media post and felt like it was written just for you? That’s what knowing your audience can do for your content.

Once you’ve taken step one and know what they want, now it’s time to write with your audience in mind.

Those two ingredients are the recipe for content gold!

Because once you understand their perspective, you can communicate in their language. Not many do this better than GoPro. They’ve perfected the art of User Generated Content combined with the a simple, but targeted description.

There’s no doubt they know their audience and what they’re looking for when visiting the GoPro profile.

How can you translate this to your business? Get specific and then segment your audience.

Neil Patel of QuickSprout recommends that you define your target customers by creating detailed descriptions.

This is known as persona marketing. It’s a visual and descriptive representation of your ideal customer.

If you haven’t gone through this exercise, I highly suggest you start here.

You can create one buyer persona or several to fit the demographics of your audience. They can be simple or complicated, as long as they succeed in creating a clear picture of what motivates your customers.

To do this, you’ll need to consider your customers’ behavioral drivers and their goals, as well as their mindset. For example, write down:

It’s also crucial to understand the concerns and hesitations that your buyers have that may prevent them from choosing your product or service.

What’s pushing your audience towards the old (comfortable) decision and away from you?

New equals change and that’s scary to almost everyone.

Here are some practical methods from Hubspot for gathering the information you need to develop personas:

As you become aware of who the person is you’re speaking with (writing for), think about the benefits of working with you.

What will they earn, be able to do better, how will it improve their life?

All of this will work its way into your social media content. Because remember, the more you focus on the benefits and value you offer, the more useful you and your company become.

People don’t want to spend all day reading about your product or service.

They want to be entertained, surprised, enlightened, and motivated.

As Jonah Berger points out in his book “Contagious,”

And sharing is the byproduct of highly useful content. But what exactly does emotionally charged content look like?

Take these two examples. As a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, the Mean Joe Green Coca-Cola commercial has always been one of my favorites.

Who doesn’t smile from the emotional connection created between Mean Joe and that young kid?

And who doesn’t know the Budweiser commercials? This Clydesdale and puppy bonding moment is one of the Super Bowl’s best.

That emotion is exactly what you want to tap into. While you might not be the sappy or sensitive type, your audience could be.

Find what moves and motivates them and then weave that into your social media content.

Test the emotional value score (EMV) of your social media posts with the Advanced Marketing Institute Headline Analyzer.

I use this as an initial A/B test. How will this resonate with my audience on an intellectual, empathetic, and spiritual level?

To use it in your content, start by taking a headline and write two different versions. Here’s an example using this blog post.

This iteration received a 50 on the EMV scale. I’ve been testing for years and have found that 50 – 70% is my sweet spot for highly shareable content.

This one is well outside of my current champion. The 50-70% I mentioned above.

Dependent on your target market, speaking to an intellectual crowd as opposed to spiritual can make a huge difference in perceived value.

Test the EMV of your copy, share across social media, and then determine your sweet spot by analyzing the outlier.

What was most successful and what variation was used?

Now turn that into a template you can rinse and repeat over and over again.

Every business has a story. What’s yours?

The key is to share it in a real and relatable way.

Think about it. Who do you connect with online and in real life? It’s with the people and companies that move you.

Let your story bring your audience into your world. By doing this, you’re creating a bond, and that translates into trust over time.

If you’re lost on how to tell your story, there’s no better place to start than analyzing the great storytellers within your industry.

How are they using social media to create points of interest and encourage deeper, more significant relationships?

As Ian Rowden, Chief Marketing Officer at Virgin Group says,

And Virgin knows how to show and tell a great story. No matter where you look, the culture and personality of the Virgin brand are clear.

The average person reads 6.5 hours per week. That means you’re spending close to 1 hour per day consuming content.

While that doesn’t make you an instant copy expert, you do know the difference between unique and cookie cutter.

I’d also bet that in the midst of this reading, you’ve also become quite picky about what you give time to.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that your audience feels the same way.

If you want your social content to stand out, you need to declare war on bland and boring.

Brands like Adobe and Volkswagen have done exactly that.

They’ve set themselves apart by translating an established offline brand into a vibrant online culture.

Could someone emulate the brand? Of course, and they have.

Can there be an exact duplicate? Not in my opinion.

If you want to build a legion of fans, simply dropping links to your content isn’t going to work.

Write down your answers and use them as positioning statements across social.

Brainstorm those questions and write down as many answers as possible. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they’ll help you formulate a value proposition.

Each one can be used across social to create differentiation and position you as the brand of choice.

I’ve written about this many times in the past, but never in the context of social media. The idea behind the rule of one is simple:

Know the goal of your post and stick with it.

Don’t get lost in a sea of options.

It’s easy to get overeager about what you have to share. I get it. You love your business.

But abstain from the idea that more is better. Instead, focus on one key takeaway in each of your posts.

Because marketing is just like sales.

A confused mind won’t buy. So when you add too many options, your audience gets confused.

Do they call, click, share? Probably none of the above if you’ve made too many requests in one post.

Know the end goal of each post and align it with your CTA.

The final, and most important component is writing content people actually want to share.

Getting likes and comments on Facebook may feel great, but it can’t compare to the power of a share.

Once one person shares your post, a whole new audience is opened up. Now you’re in front of a group that you otherwise might never have reached.

In essence, shares are your greatest form of word of mouth marketing.

1. Original content. As Herman Melville once said,

It’s the same with social media marketing. If you want to stand out, you need to be unique.

This doesn’t mean every piece of content is original, but it all must align with your brand.

Put your own voice into everything you share.

2. Irresistible content. Stella & Dot, a boutique-style accessories company does this in every post.

Their content is irresistible to their social fans – female entrepreneurs. They’re not only selling the dream of financial freedom, but a revolution against more of the same.

3. Empathetic content. Empathy. A word tossed around a lot these days but often misunderstood.

Ann Handley, the author of “Everybody Writes,” says empathy is,

When your content is empathetic to the needs of your audience, you acknowledge that you understand their current situation.

In other words, your social media content must humanize your brand.

Not every one of your posts will be gold.

But, if you take the time to:

You’ll find that producing social media content your audience wants to share becomes effortless.

What content are you creating that your audience eats up? I’d love to hear it (and see it) in the comments below!

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