Download my FREE “Copywriting Guide for Social Media” and use it to improve your copywriting skills.
How to write articles and social media post captions that people want to read?
Copywriting is the #1 most essential skill for social media managers to learn.
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Do I sound too “salesy”? Not genuine enough? Not informative? Am I boring my audience? These are just a few common thoughts amongst copywriters.
But there’s one thing that’s even worse: The fear that NOBODY will ever read your article. And with so much social content published daily – this is very likely to happen to you.
Do you often feel trapped when you need to come up with new content ideas?
The worst fear any copywriter has is not to write bad copy. But that nobody will read their articles. Trust me, I’ve been there.
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#copywriting #writingtips
Here are my tried-and-tested copywriting tips for social media
These tips will help you write articles and social media captions your audience ACTUALLY wants to read, share and engage with!
Copywriting Guide for Social Media
STEP 1: ALWAYS RESEARCH YOUR CONTENT IDEAS
The only way you’re going to write posts that nobody wants to read is if you don’t do any research. Now you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Here’s how to make your content, ads and marketing go viral every single time.
Copywriting Guide for Social Media ToolKit:
Tip: Try these tools to research topics for social media posts
1. Google Keyword Planner.
This is the best way to see which keywords are gaining popularity, and you can plan your topics around those keywords.
2. SEMrush and Ubersuggest.
Nowadays, people don’t search for single keywords like “kindergarten”, they are more likely to type “what is the best kindergarten in East London”. These sites are great because they will show variations for your search terms and they even break it down by platform – so you know what it’s going to perform.
3. Quora.
If you want to find out what are the most popular questions related to your industry – just type the keywords in Quora. I love this tool for quick validation or inspiration.
4. Use advanced social media Analytics tools like Pallyy to study your competition.
If something is working for them, most likely it will work for you. After all, you’re trying to attract the same audience, aren’t you?
5. Use stats and facts from industry reports.
If you are a small blogger in the economics niche, link your articles to major magazines or newspapers like the Economist. This will give people who don’t know you more credibility to your post.
Question: What is your biggest challenge in writing articles for social media? Let me know below.
STEP 2: USE A PROVEN COPYWRITING TECHNIQUE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA
So now that you’ve done your research and chosen a topic how do you actually write it down in a compelling way?
If you are new or just starting to write copy for social media posts, this formula will take your social media posts to the next level!
Just follow these 4 easy-peasy steps and you will master a popular copywriting technique that is being used by the biggest brands (including Coca-Cola).
The AIDA (Attention – Interest – Desire – Action) copywriting model
AIDA formula for copywriting works well for a variety of marketing and advertising materials, including websites, blog posts, newsletters, Instagram and Facebook ads, as well as printed media.
The AIDA model for Social media
Step 1: Attention – choose a captivating headline that speaks to your audience and hints at solving a problem.
Step 2: Interest – highlight a problem your audience is facing + how it affects their lives negatively.
Step 3: Desire – show exactly how your product/service/idea can solve their problems. You can discuss features + insert before and after photos.
Step 4: Action – direct your audience to take action by either subscribing, commenting or visiting your store.
STEP 3: LEARN TO WRITE GOOD CALLS TO ACTION FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
So now that you know how to research and write marketing content for social media the last step is conversion: how can you convince your fans, audience and followers to take immediate action?
You may want them to sign up for a free trial? Download an e-book? Drive more traffic to your e-commerce site or call you? This is what a solid call-to-action (CTA) can help you with!
A good CTA should focus on your reader. After someone has read your article or caption, they’d naturally ask themselves: “What’s next?” and “Why should I?”. Why? Because readers only care what’s in it for them.
The 2 types of CTAs every copywriter needs to know
These are engagement and conversion CTAs.
1. Engagement CTAs
An engagement CTA aims to encourage your readers to interact in some form with your post.
You can use engagement CTAs to ask your audience questions, and their opinion or let them know that you’ll appreciate it if they shared your content with their friends.
- “What’s your opinion on this?”
- “What’s your experience with our product?”,
- “Are you likely to implement these strategies?”
- ”Drop an emoji if your agree!“
- “Share this post if you found it useful“
- “Tag your best friend below“
2. Conversion CTAs
This type of CTA is used to convert readers into buyers by asking them to make a purchase. You can add a CTA button to your website and encourage your followers to take the following actions:
- “Sign up today”
- “Sign up for a FREE trial”
- “Download this free guide”
- “Book an appointment”
- “Start your free trial today”
- “Click the link in bio to shop”
- “Send us a DM with [keyword] to get started”
Conclusion
The takeaway of this Copywriting guide is simple. Here’s a summary of what we covered.
- Before writing a social media post do your research! I typically spend around 4 hours reading the top trending articles in my niche before planning my social media content.
- Also to keep in mind when deciding on a topic, remember who is your audience that you are trying to reach.
- Use a tried-and-tested writing formula like AIDA to make sure your posts follow a logical buyer thinking process.
- Lastly, don’t forget to include a call-to-action to your posts!
That’s it! Now you know how to write engaging and purposeful social media captions!
FREE captions generator tool: Try it now and get inspiration for your posts.
The next time you are writing for social media try to follow these steps – and don’t forget to share the results with me. (You can tag me @alleceambur on Instagram so I can see them)
Download your FREE PDF GUIDE to copywriting here
References & related articles:
The Daily Egg (2019). “Aida Formula: How to Apply it And Drive Results with Your Copy [online]. Available from <https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/aida-copywriting-formula/>
Feedough (2018). “Aida model – Explanation, Examples and Variants” [online]. Available from <https://www.feedough.com/aida-model-explanation-examples-variants/ANYA UPADHYAY>
Hootsuite (2018). “How to write effective CTAS” [online]. Available from: <https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-write-effective-ctas/>
https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-create-the-perfect-call-to-action/
Neil Patel (2018). “How to write the perfect CTAs” [online] Available from: <https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-create-the-perfect-call-to-action/>
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