Ten posts a day on various socials mean nothing unless people are actually engaging with them. That can be tricky! Writing effective social copy can be challenging, sometimes even for experienced marketers. Even if you’ve perfected writing posts that get engagement on Facebook, that doesn’t make you an expert on writing copy across all the major platforms.
Each platform is different with a different tone, expectation, and even audience.
Thankfully, there are some strategies that seasoned social media copywriters use to write great copy on different platforms. And these tips are guaranteed to boost engagement over time.
This article is going to break down the strategies and tips best used across four different platforms; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Let’s get started!
Writing For Facebook
Facebook is especially great for promoting things like blog posts, reports, or videos. However, simply posting a link without a description is not ok. It’s always best to add a brief, attention grabbing copy that shows what the content you are sharing is all about.
You could also create copy in the form of a question. A question that would obviously get answers from the blog or event you are sharing.
Keep in mind, at all times, while writing for Facebook, that the platform’s algorithm is designed to boost engagement. What does that mean for you? Simply put, focus on writing posts that drive engagement and start conversations. And don’t shy away from being slightly controversial, provided it falls within your brand persona.
Also, with Facebook, an excellent approach is to write copy that starts a conversation.
Here’s What You Should Focus On For Facebook:
- Use your Facebook posts to build community and conversation.
- Ask questions like “What are you most excited about …. ?” (fill in with whatever you want to target with your specific post by making the post about the reader)
- Try different post lengths to see what works best with your audience.
- According to experts, the ideal length for a Facebook post to get higher engagement is only 40 characters, so keep it short and to the point.
Copywriting Tips on Facebook
- Write with your audience in mind
- Ask people questions
- Don’t focus on yourself
- Share personal stories only when they connect to your page, audience, and brand
- Share some relevant news and announcements
- Update followers on upcoming events
- Alert people about important things
Know Your Audience & Keep It Simple
- Shorter updates are better and easier to consume quickly
- Really explain the value of what you share
- Write teaser copy occasionally
- Include mentions and hashtags where you can and when it’s relevant
- Use a fragment from the piece you are sharing as the focus
- Highlight one interesting note or piece of data
- Include relevant but very interesting facts or quotes
- Include short videos from time to time
A Few Examples
Starbucks knows exactly how to use Facebook! The brand shares relevant, emotional stories that boost their branding.
In the next example, Starbucks is using Facebook to promote their quiz. This was extremely successful as it’s short, highly engaging, and creates curiosity amongst Facebook users. Don’t you want to know which iced drink you are?
Starbucks always writes with their audience in mind. A quick glance at their Facebook page, and you’ll immediately recognize how well the coffee Goliath knows its Facebook users. They know exactly how to engage their followers, convince them to share the company’s posts, and have them actively taking part in conversations.
Writing For Instagram
Instagram personifies the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Meaning, you don’t need to spend an hour adding a bunch of extra words to your Insta post. People look at the visual and very few will read beyond the first sentence, so keep it short.
Make sure the photo speaks for itself. If you have to include an explanation with the photo, choose a better photo.
Being brief is key on Instagram.
And then there are the #hashtags.
How many hashtags should you use on Instagram?
Hashtags can, and will, get your post noticed by increasing the discoverability of your content and connecting it to related content across the platform.
#TheyMustBeRelevant
When you use relevant hashtags on your posts, it can help your content appear in search results for those specific hashtags, which can lead to more engagement and followers.
Hashtags must only be used strategically. If you overuse them or use irrelevant ones, it will make your post look spammy and will hurt your reach and engagement.
It’s best to do your research and use a combination of popular and highly niche hashtags.
How Many Hashtags Is Too Many?
There’s no true answer to this question. Many experts would tell you that between 5 and 10 hashtags is the optimal number. Not true. It varies entirely on your content and audience.
Just because Instagram allows users to include up to 30 hashtags per post, does not mean you should! Oftentimes, less is actually more, particularly if you choose highly relevant hashtags.
A study by TrackMaven found that engagement on Instagram tends to decrease when more than 11 hashtags are used in a post. So, don’t use more than 11 relevant hashtags per post.
You also need to think about the placement of the hashtags you’re using. Placement can directly affect effectiveness.
Placing hashtags in the caption or in the first comment of your post can increase visibility and engagement. Basically, don’t bury those relevant hashtags!
In the post above, Starbucks included three hashtags along with a quick (and short) notice letting people know they can purchase the mug seen in the photo directly from a link on the company’s Instagram bio.
This simple post with a powerful and engaging visual is over 260,000 likes!
Not to be outdone, in the post below you’ll see how H&M has mastered the power of intriguing visuals coupled with only a sentence. They know to let the photo do the talking for them.
Instagram is mostly a platform for sharing photos and videos, therefore the main focus should be on your visual content. But, it’s great and even helpful to provide context that allows users to know what they’re actually viewing.
Here’s how to write your copy on Instagram:
- Great, inspiring pictures is 99% of Instagram
- Captions need to be brief
- Instagram doesn’t specify the maximum number of caption characters, your caption will be cut off after the first three lines. So, it’s recommended not to write more than 125 characters.
- Try out different numbers of hashtags to use until you find the magic number that works for your brand and your audience.
Writing for LinkedIn
LinkedIn is all about longer, well-thought-out, polished content. It’s for professional and reflective content that can be complemented with multiple images, charts, and longer captions.
Suffice it to say, LinkedIn is not the place to talk about your kids, your new puppy, or what you thought about the recent Marvel movie.
LinkedIn is for professionals that write like professionals are expected to write.
Here’s what to focus on when creating copy for LinkedIn:
- Create posts about top industry news.
- Share interesting and inspiring announcements about your business.
- Add a quote from the article to pair up with the link you are sharing.
- Shared videos should be polished, edited and professional – LinkedIn is not TikTok.
- Create the right headlines optimized for LinkedIn, which are between 40 and 49 characters long.
- Make your posts visual by adding, at least, one image in your post.
- Create “How-to” and list-style headlines – keep in mind that a headline can make or break a LinkedIn blog post.
What if you don’t have a visual to add to your LinkedIn post? Don’t overthink it. Pure content without a visual can work if what you wrote has real value, is interesting, and involves some actionable change in the reader’s life.
Below is a great example of a LinkedIn post that doesn’t include a visual, yet has over 6,700 likes because the content itself adds value.
LinkedIn requires some trial and error. Test and discover the type of posts that work for your audience and the type of posts that don’t work. Here are a few pieces of info that will help you get started:
- People like reading long-form content on LinkedIn – even 1,900 to 2,000 words long. But:
- Consider dividing your post into 5 headings in order to attract the greatest number of post views – use headings (H1, H2, tags) to break your post into easy to read sections – this will help your post get a high performance.
- Your content should be readable by an 11-year-old. This doesn’t mean that your audience is uneducated – this is done to ensure people can scan content quickly while also allowing those who speak English as a second or third language to consume your content.
- Promote your LinkedIn posts on other social networks, too – in case you are considering using other social platforms to promote your LinkedIn publisher post, keep in mind that Tweets have the highest correlation to LinkedIn success metrics.
According to data, adding videos to your LinkedIn posts is not typically a good idea and will usually get you fewer post views.
But, of course, there are always exceptions! Depending on the video you choose to post, you may just buck the trend and get a huge engagement. It’s absolutely possible.
Here’s a great example of that, with over 1,600 likes and nearly 300 comments: 👇
Here’s a surprising key difference between Facebook and LinkedIn… unlike Facebook, question posts on LinkedIn perform very poorly. Do not use a question as your headline when creating content for LinkedIn. Remember, LinkedIn is for business professionals. They are reading your content because they believe you already have the answer!
Question posts on LinkedIn perform poorly – avoid posts where the headline is a question.
Copywriting Tips on how to optimize your LinkedIn Profile
- When you sign up for LinkedIn, they ask you to fill in a lot of detail. And you should! The more detail you provide, the easier it will be for people to find you, which helps build your authority and, in time, a following.
- Personal headlines show up in search results – make your personal headline very clear, so people would figure out who you are and what you’re all about.
- Summarize what kind of work you did and include only the big responsibilities, don’t add the small details.
- Stick to 3 sentences, and I don’t mean run-on sentences.
- Each sentence should be written like a bullet point and not complete sentences.
- Your job description should be filled with important keywords that are relevant.
- Don’t add too much text, as people stop reading after a few sentences.
So, your LinkedIn profile isn’t a quick bio like you would do on a dating site. You need to use real skills including copywriting, editing and summarizing skills. You must deliver a clear, readable and descriptive copy about yourself and your experience.
👇 Two great LinkedIn profile examples:
Engaging, descriptive, and to the point. Jill Konrath’s profile showcases her expertise and her accomplishments (without sounding salesy or spammy as if she is trying too hard to impress) and all at a single glance.
Blunt. Practical. Powerful. Great word choices that are short, poignant and descriptive. In one quick look, you immediately know what Mike does and what he knows. You can also see two of his bestselling books in the main header profile picture. That’s a great way to point them out without directly listing them in the bio, so as not to come across as boastful.
Writing for Twitter
When you’re composing copy for tweets, #hashtags are a great way to express and summarize what your message is all about.
Here’s how to approach Twitter:
- Include yourself into the conversation by tweeting well-known, interesting memes
- Comment on the right hashtags in a way that’s relevant for your post.
- Try to limit your hashtags to one or two – as these tweets have a 21% higher engagement rate than those with three or more hashtags.
- Connect with your reader on the emotion behind your post.
Although tweets come with a maximum of 280 characters, the ideal length for a tweet is actually around 120–130 characters. Tweets that fall within this shorter length range have the highest click-through rate (CTR).
Of course, there are always exceptions!
If your tweet is a little (or a lot) longer (or shorter) than 120-130 characters, if it’s relevant enough, it will get a lot of engagement regardless of its length.
Short, positive, to the point, but engaging with over 2,500 retweets and 13,000+ likes.
What’s the Difference Between Content Writing and Copywriting?
The major difference between content writing and copywriting lies in the purpose of writing it. Simply put, what’s the intention behind the content?
There still seems to be some sort of confusion when it comes to correctly defining copywriting and content writing. Let’s make things clear from the very beginning.
There is a difference between the two.
Content Writing
Content marketing translates into creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers.
The purpose of content writing is to engage potential customers and educate them about your brand’s products and services. You can do this by writing blog posts, articles, press releases, newsletters, checklists, guides, etc.
Copywriting
The major role of copywriting is to trigger the reader to take action. What kind of action?
Well, sometimes it can be about making a purchase, or subscribing to your email list, sharing your social post, or something else with a goal. It may not be to sell, it may be simply to inspire your reader to call you for more information on your services or a certain specific upcoming promotion or even to submit a testimonial you can use for social proof.
So, basically, copywriting is any writing that tries to convince people to take a particular action.
Although copywriting involves content writing, it’s content with a very specific purpose and a clear format, designed to instantly catch the attention of your audience.
Copywriting is generally used for sales pages, ads, direct mail and of course, social media.
The 3 main components of copywriting:
- Art
- Science
- Persuasion
ART – The art side of copywriting appeals to the emotions. It’s memorable. It’s creative.
SCIENCE – Besides art, you also need science.
Science would write something that would actually make practical sense (not funny, not with a typo, but something that appeals to reason). The science part is practical and it’s testable. It’s also able to tell you if the first, or second option of your choice is better and why.
However, you may not be able to really connect with the reader just by using the science part of copywriting. After all, plain logic and reasoning is boring. Which is why, it’s best to join art and science for a more powerful punch.
Essentially, we’re combining the practical with the emotional to attract, engage, intrigue, and finally, to convert.
But it’s not enough to just make the readers feel it, you also need to convince them.
It’s not enough to just give them an argument. You also need to make them feel compelled to care.
And this right here is where Persuasion enters the game.
PERSUASION – No copy is complete without a purpose. The general purpose of copy is to sell a product or an idea.
You need to be able to get people’s attention fast and make them get beyond the headline.
Unfortunately, 8 out of 10 people won’t.
Good copy contains all three copywriting components, bad copy leaves one, if not two, out.
The ultimate goal is to get the reader to perform some sort of specific action (click here, download now, go to our website, keep watching this video, etc.).
There are plenty of formulas available on how to write copy that converts or a headline that grabs attention, but above all else, keep in mind these three components when you want to write good copy, and you can’t go wrong.
To summarize the Social Media Copywriting Tips, keep the following in mind:
- Center your content around your audience rather than yourself.
- Understanding your audience is crucial.
- Your social media presence should offer engaging, informative, and valuable content for your audience, and each platform should be approached accordingly.
- Distinguish between content writing and copywriting, which differ in their writing purposes. Define your purpose clearly.
- Emphasize copywriting’s primary role: motivating readers to take action.
- Recall the three essential aspects of copywriting: art, science, and persuasion.
