Successful players in the social media field know how important it is to craft content that is interesting to the audience. Give your customers the information they crave and keep them coming back for more by keeping the following tips in mind:

• Give valuable information, not just promotions. Make sure that the content has stand-alone value whenever possible.  To make this easier, ask yourself “what is my audience going to take away from this content? What can I tell them that they will remember?”
• Write about something the audience doesn’t already know about it: Something new, something non-generic. It’s no fun reading stuff you already know.
• People are generally selfish by nature. Because of this, always answer the question “What’s in it for me?”
• Speak to the reader directly (yes, I’m talking to you!) This makes the blog more personal and intimate. Don’t use third-person point of view.
• Assume the head and subhead are the strongest points. Use them to draw the reader into the subject matter. If their interest isn’t peaked by the title or subhead, the odds of them reading the rest of it are slim to none.
• Get rid of repetitive language. No one wants to hear you repeat yourself. No, seriously: no one wants to hear you repeat yourself. (See what I mean?)
• Use active voice. Don’t speak in the passive. Not only is it indirect, it’s unnecessarily wordy. And we don’t like wordiness. The first step in avoiding passive voice, though, is being able to recognize it. Grammar Girl gives some great advice with this example:

“In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Instead of saying, “Steve loves Amy,” I would say, “Amy is loved by Steve.” The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn’t doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient of Steve’s love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy.”

• So when in doubt, remember that social media writers avoid passive voice; passive voice isn’t avoided by social media writers. This is especially important to remember in your calls to action, where you always want the action at the front of the sentence. It draws more attention and seems more urgent.
• Have some energy! Energetic pieces are more fun to read and will keep the audience coming back.
• Be specific! Paint me a picture. What do you think sounds cooler: “The dog jumped over the car before it ran across the street” or “The Alaskan Husky leaped over the PT Cruiser before it barreled across Interstate 494”?

Developing effective social media content can be a daunting task. If you would rather have us tackle this feat for you just let us know! Our team of social media writers will create posts of attractive content wrapped around your company’s value points.