Tips on Writing For Social Media

Sure, great writing may take talent and innate creativity. And hey, you’ve got something to say, right? No matter your current level of experience or skills. With a little gusto in your writing step, you can make the reader feel something, take an action, or be more informed than before.

A few tips below to show you how.

Suggestion: let loose, try some (or all) of these, and repeat them for a few of your posts. Build those new writing-muscles.

You’ll be amazed at how clear you’ll write, and how you’ll zero-in on your voice.

1. Barf it out

Writers block is a myth. if you wanna blast past it just write out anything in your head, without leaving the keyboard. just keep your fingers typing, looking at the keyboard not the screen, so your brain engages. forget about sentence structure, spelling, punctuation… just keep your fingers moving and power through any blockages. do this for an article, tech-doc, and kind of writing thingie. Even for a paragraph or three. whenever your stuck just type. editing will come later. This is a brain excercise, not a make-it-look-just-right process. Editing comes later, but don’t mix the two. It’s never write the first time. but push stuff that’s in your head onto the page, then mnake your 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 edits…. LATER.

Okay, I’m back.

Whenever, I’m ‘stuck’, for any kind of writing… I just type. Every time, something useful appears before my writing-eyes-and-brain.

The same will happen to you, too.

Punch the so-called “writer’s block” right in the gut. It’s bunk.

2. Write to an 8th grader

Not because they are dumb. Because it forces you to write clearly. And to ditch the jargon and terms that eyeballs just gloss over.

“Drive innovation.”

“Become a disruptor.”

And my absolute non-favorite, “Transform your business…”.

Oh please. Some of the most over-used, under-effective statements of all time.

Companies and their writers hide behind these terms every day, all across the web. Statistically speaking, probably you, too. I’m just sayin’.

I don’t know if this intentional or not. But here’s the thing…

Terms and jargon say little, while making you and your biz appear as a commodity. Like many others. Better to do the heavy lifting for the reader. Because they certainly won’t. They’ll stop and leave, versus stay and scroll.

Do the work. Say something real. Practice on your kid, mom, or any outsider to tell your important and useful message.

Your readers will appreciate it. It makes good business sense.

3. Write to the reader

Because no one cares about what you (or I) do. Readers only care what they can get from what you (or I) do.

So then, write from the readers’ perspective. Make them the hero.

A list of features? B-o-r-i-n-g.

Words that paint a picture for how the reader’s life will improve, that’s the ticket.

Sometimes, “standing out” is nothing more than writing from the reader’s point of view. Because most of your competitors don’t.

4. Write with a purpose

And write that purpose at the top of your draft piece.

To keep your mind on the target while you write.

For an email, blog post, white paper, and of course for any social media post—be clear on the purpose.

What action do you want the reader to take?

Click the buy, call, or contact us button?

Or maybe you just want them to feel a certain way. Empathy? Bliss? Informed?

Too often, we humans write to write. Not a problem.

Unless you want to sell your stuff.

Social posts are usually a top-of-mind selling approach. And an opportunity to build, show, and share your brand.

And still, write with a purpose to raise your signal, lessen your noise.

Hey, don’t forget to delete the purpose reminder at the top of your draft.

5. Write to make the reader feel successful

Which is hard to do when reading long paragraphs, without breaks—like single lines and bolded lines.

Lead your reader down the page by breaking up your message.

Short paragraphs. Short sentences. Transition lines. Bullets. Some bolded items, too. Like this one…

Allowing your readers to skim and scan your message is nice.

It helps them feel a series of successes as they move down the page.

The more they read, the more they understand.

Good for everyone, right?

Oh yeah, and questions are good too. They encourage the reader to ‘lean in’, with interest.

What are you doing to help your readers scroll down the page?

Maybe I’ve overdone the short paragraphs in this post. Maybe not. Part of the just-try-it-and-see-for-yourself model. Better ‘too much’ than ‘too little’. You can dial it down later.

6. Write with a hyper-focus

…and with a tomato.

What the…?

Stay with me.

Too often, we look at a piece of work and think, ‘Ah man, I need a bunch of time to do this post.’

There’s a better way.

By defining and going after a small section or piece of your post, document or whatever you’re writing. Right now. Say, in the 15 minutes before your next meeting.

Define a small portion to write (I’m doing this right now for this single section)

Set a tomato timer, that you can hear going tick-tock-tick-tock

Barf it out (like we talked about above)

Make your edits

Finí

Go to your meeting

Progress made. Feels good.

I wrote this section in 17 minutes. You can, too. String a bunch more of these together to complete your writing, iteratively. Without feeling like you have to set aside a load of time in one or two sittings.

I love the Pomodoro Technique for getting anything done with a hyper-focus.

7. Use pictures to enhance the words

I’m not going to say much about this.

Of course, pictures enhance the words.

This piece is about the words.

I don’t want to leave you hanging though. Here’s one of a thousand good reads about adding pictures to your work.

Culled from Hootsuite

What Are the Benefits of a Company With a Well-Executed Branding Strategy?

A company with a well-executed branding strategy gains important competitive advantages over its rivals. An effective branding strategy creates a clear and consistent identity for your products, based on qualities that are important to the market. Your branding strategy positions your products clearly in the minds of customers and prospects, and differentiates your products from competitive offerings. A well-executed branding strategy builds on the strengths of your brand by communicating brand values clearly and consistently. The measure of a well-executed branding strategy is immediate recognition by your target audience with a consequent impact on your sales success.

Purchasing

A well-executed branding strategy makes it easier for your customers to make purchasing decisions about your products. They have a clear perception of the performance, benefits and quality of your products. The confidence that the brand will continue to meet its expectations minimizes customers’ risk in purchasing your product. A strong brand helps you build long-term relationships with your customers. Customers continue to buy from companies they trust, so it is important to continually reinforce the brand values that are important.

Distribution

You can also strengthen your presence in retail outlets and distributors through a well-executed branding strategy. Retailers feel confident in stocking a product with a strong brand, because they know there is strong consumer demand for that product. Your brand strategy can help you sell to retailers and build retail sales by stimulating demand. Encouraging distributors to use your branding material in their communications can also help to build business by giving customers confidence in the service they receive from the distributor.

New Products

A strong brand makes it easy to introduce new products that carry the same branding. The new product could be a range extension — a different size, color or version of an existing product. In the minds of customers, the new product will have the same qualities as the existing range because of its association with the existing brand.

Value

A well-executed branding strategy ensures that your brand makes an effective contribution to profitability through increased revenue, improved distribution and growth through new products. This, in turn, creates greater value for shareholders, making it easier for your company to attract investment and fund future growth.

Culled from Small Business

Worldbuilding: How to Create a Perfect Fictional World I

Wordbuilding in literature involves designing the perfect fictional setting of your story. This process is so important because, as the container that houses the story, your setting – the world you have built – deeply affects character psyche, plot, tone, atmosphere and even the major themes.

Worldbuilding lays the foundation for your story. It is the platform that allows the characters to develop, the stage on which they will perform.

Depending on how good your worldbuilding is, your readership can be so drawn into your story that it leaves an indelible mark on them. Some major worldbuilding feats have created notable franchises such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, Hunger Games, Twilight, Chronicles of Narnia, et cetera. These franchises have pulled huge crowds, many of whom have dedicated significant parts of their lives delving into all the possibilities and all the angles made possible by the worldbuilding. Examples of online forums where you can find these fans include Reddit, Quora, and Wikia.

J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is set in a very deeply constructed world, with a whole backstory published in a separate book. The characters even have different languages constructed by the author. Some fans have spent decades studying his work and its various interpretations – such that “Tolkien scholar” is pretty much now a recognisable phrase.

More recently, George R. R. Martin has followed Tolkien’s style and published his world in a separate book from his main novels.

Different aspects of worldbuilding

Tolkien’s worldbuilding in Lord of the Rings involves an aspect of it now known as mythopoeia – the creation of one’s own myth. To design his world, known as “Middle-earth”, Tolkien created a completely fictional myth involving gods and fallen angels and quasi-human creatures like elves, dwarves, goblins, hobbits and ents. His worldbuilding included an alternate creation myth where his gods create the world in a completely different manner to what we are familiar with, although it still retains some of the elements of our own world such as a single omnipotent deity and a “flat earth” vs “round earth” divergence.

Many other writers since Tolkien have followed this pattern – though perhaps in a lesser degree of complexity and development. Writers like this include George Martin, J. Rowling, Rick Riordan and C. S. Lewis.

Rather than create novel universes, most writers just prefer to depict our own world but then introduce fantastic elements and adapt them to their story. The Superman comics, for instance, involve earth as it is, but then an alien planet called Krypton is introduced, and its inhabitants – referred to as Kryptonians – acquire superpowers whenever they come to earth and are exposed to the planet’s “yellow sun”.

One consistent thing in worldbuilding is laws. No matter what universe you are building, no matter how you are building it, you need to create laws for your world, laws that will absolutely never fail. These laws will create internal cohesion in your story and bring your work to life before your readers’ eyes.

Tips For Having Exciting Writing Ideas On The Go

How intimately do you know the blank, blinking-cursor screen?

Do you have a love-hate relationship with it?

On the one hand are many writing options, waiting to unfold.

On the other, a dread of the unknown that freezes your fingers.

And always, that vast, nagging question: what shall I write about?

Take heart!

You’re surrounded by brilliant writing ideas waiting only for you to grab them and transform them into riveting pieces.

Whether you write a blog, fiction, or non-fiction, inspiration is all around you. Here are some ways to make your daily life an endless source of writing ideas.

1. Mix Up Topics

Interesting things happen when you choose a topic you care deeply about, and then combine it with something completely outside your experience.

For example, perhaps you are pro-life, with strong opinions about abortion. Let’s combine that with something you know absolutely nothing about. Say, motorcycles.

You could write a book about the member of a motorcycle gang whose girlfriend is pregnant. She doesn’t want the baby; he already visualizes it developing in her womb.

When the baby is born, she disappears into the smog, and the biker is determined to raise the child himself. He wants his son to experience the world as he never had the opportunity to do. So he sets off on a journey across the country with his toddler.

This can be a heartwarming novel, a hopeless tragedy, or even a comedy. It’s up to you. The possibilities are endless, even within this one scenario.

2. Be a News Hog

The news offers exciting possibilities.

Make a habit of reading about what’s going on around you, especially the slice-of-life articles. You can build on these stories, making them your own.

Some ways of doing that are:

Imagine where the story could go next, and create a new ending of your own.

Imagine alternative beginnings to the story. What could be the background of the characters involved?

Change one major detail in the story. How would it impact the story? What new possibilities would that create?

Last week I read about two burglars who broke into a private residence and stole jewelry worth thousands of dollars. Did they get away with it?

No.

They were quickly apprehended because one of the felons was caught staring straight into the house’s security camera, revealing his unmasked face.

This seems to be an open-and-shut case. And yet, it made me wonder…

The burglars were obviously experienced. They broke into the house without a problem, and they searched it systematically for valuable goods. It was clearly not their first job.

So what caused the rookie mistake of not wearing face masks?

Could it be that the burglar caught on camera was distracted as he was making his preparations for the robbery, and so forgot to cover his face? What could have distracted him? Was it a subliminal desire to quit this dark line of work?

What made him go into house-breaking in the first place? And how did he feel when he looked directly into the camera, and probably realized he was in trouble? Why not try to deactivate the camera or find out where it was transmitting to?

Don’t get me wrong.

The true answers to these questions are probably boring: he was becoming overconfident after a long run of successful jobs and forgot to cover his face, or some such thing.

But the possible answers are much more interesting. I can almost feel the conspiracy thickening around this man.

Or maybe it’s a comedy of errors?

What would you make of his circumstances?

3. Capture Your Dreams

Dreams can be a fertile ground for inspiration. They are the essence of imagination run amok.

Your sleeping mind thinks up ideas that your waking mind might reject before you’ve even had a chance to register them.

These ideas can be precious writing material.

Your dreams are a gold mine, but so are other people’s dreams. When friends, family and strangers tell you about their dreams, that’s your chance to listen carefully.

A friend of mine received the inspiration for her entire novel from a dream her husband had. (Her story wasn’t based on his dream, but relied on the unreal atmosphere it created.)

Children’s dreams, in particular, are rich and free of filters. For example, your son’s dream about purple, diesel-drinking plants may inspire you to write the environmentally sympathetic version of The Day of the Triffids. How cool is that?

4. What If?

This is probably my favorite question ever. I turn to it whenever I’m out of ideas.

What if time travel were possible? Where would my character go?

What if three sisters decided to assassinate a tyrannical African despot? How would they do it?

What if my husband decided that we should buy a motorhome and live on the roads for a year?

Try it!

Put together a long list of what-ifs.

There’s nothing more liberating for the imagination than that little two-word phrase.

5. Journaling—The Straight Way

Keeping a journal of your thoughts, feelings and experiences can help you capture great ideas from your own life.

These will set you on the road to journaling success. And great story ideas.

6. Journaling—With a Twist

What if you hate journaling? What if you think your life isn’t interesting enough to write about?

Well, make your life more interesting!

What is a writer if not an astute liar, at the end of the day?

Start with the truth—always a good place—and then embroider.

Suppose you stood in a long checkout where the sales person was rude and obnoxious. In truth, you may have done nothing but await your turn, bear it, gather your groceries, and leave.

But what would you like to have done?

Don’t write the truth. Fantasize, fabricate, lie. Re-create yourself as a character you’d like to read about.

And think how surprised and impressed your children or grandchildren will be when they discover your journal!

Life is full of opportunities. Don’t let them pass you by!

Try one of the exercises above and see where it takes you. Make it a habit to do a few exercises every day and you’ll never again lack writing inspiration.

What do you do when you’re looking for fresh writing ideas? Share in the comments, please, and help inspire others as well!

Culled from Write To Done

How to Make Yourself Start – and Finish – Your Book

Writing a book, whether fiction or nonfiction, is quite exciting and fun, but there is no doubt that it can be challenging as well.

In the process of writing, you gather facts, recollect history or create an alternate reality of your own. The end result is a complete and composite material available for an audience to peruse. Imagine your relief at your success! But it’s not always so easy to go through the process. Oftentimes you’re unable to get going. You only talk about it but you never put anything down. Other times the book drags in the middle.

This happens a lot of the time—especially the second bit. People come up with ideas about a book; they actually start writing it; but then a few pages down the line they trail off. The enthusiasm dies, and the book dies with it.

I know because it happens to me—a lot. And it happens to a lot of people I know.

So in this article, we’ll examine a few tips that will help you start your book, keep the writing process rolling, and actually get to the end.

The first is…

Have a seat

Seriously—sit down and do some tangible work immediately. Has an idea about a book popped into your head? Have a seat and turn the idea into actual material. You could prepare a hastily drawn plot—don’t worry, the actual book will most probably be way different. Or you could write down an interesting scene in the story. If it’s nonfiction you could quickly write a summary of what the book is going to be all about, adding those key ideas of yours.

I need to tell you this: writing a book takes focus. You’re never going to be an author if you lack the focus. You need to be able to say no to everything else, and actually sit down and work on your book. The good thing about writing is: continuing from where you stopped is often way easier than starting.

The big picture

If you want to finish that book, then it’s a good idea to have the big picture in mind from the start. Many writers often jump straight into writing once they’ve got a few inspirational ideas. Ideas come and you want to build on them—that’s great and all, but before you actually kick off writing your book, ensure that you have a general layout in mind. You need to figure out what should be in the beginning, middle and end. Otherwise you might just find that your “rich” idea peters out after a few pages.

Prepare an outline

Some like to have an outline. Others don’t quite fancy the idea. You can go with whatever works best for you, but an outline has its advantages. It can be the difference between making progress in your book writing, and having a sad, premature end to your goal.

Your outline doesn’t have to be strict; it could just comprise general areas you’ll map out like landmarks that you want to reach in your story. Having these landmarks will keep you going forward. At each stage of your writing, you’ll always have a target point, something to look forward to.

Have your jottings

Take down ideas whenever they come to you. You could do this in a paper jotter or on your mobile phone. If you wait till you get round to doing some writing, you could lose those ideas. Jot the ideas down as they come and then when you’re ready to write, all you’ll have to do is incorporate them into your work.

Don’t mind a little roughness

This stems from the previous tip. It’s OK for your jottings to be rough. You don’t have to take so much time organising your thoughts. Write them down however they pop into your head. There will be time to arrange and rewrite them when you finally settle down to work in front of your computer.

You may feel the natural instinct to set things straight—you should probably ignore it. If you have an OCD towards that you may have no choice but to do so, but otherwise you should probably leave the revision till when you’ve got to the main work.

Take a walk

If you’re feeling stuck, you might need to go for a long walk. Find a quiet, clean street, preferably with trees. Mull over your book as you walk. Relive the moments of your characters. Let them come alive; consider them as real people. It will help you get some perspective. You need your powers of imagination for this. But be warned: if people see you talking to yourself they might consider you a bit mad!

A final note

Like I said at the start, writing takes focus. You’re never going to be able to finish your book if you aren’t focussed enough. But with the right amount of discipline, you will be able to get over the line, and perhaps even enjoy the process enough to want to write another one.

We can’t wait to read your book!

9 Tips On Naming Your Characters

Naming characters can be fun – or it can take up valuable writing time.

It’s easy to get hung up on choosing the perfect name for your characters when writing a novel. If you’ve ever found yourself spending hours researching or antagonizing over what to name your characters, this list of tips will hopefully help you avoid common name mistakes and find that perfect name in no time.

Think About Your Setting

The time period and location of your story will have a huge impact on the appropriate name for your character. For example, someone in the future would not likely have an old-fashioned name that was popular in the 1800’s. When choosing last names, it’s important to consider the person’s heritage and country of origin.

Keep it Easy to Say and Spell

Imagine someone at a book club discussing your novel. Can they pronounce the characters name? Is it easy to spell and write out? Try to avoid using clever misspellings, as this may confuse readers.

Personality of the Name

Certain names may reveal personality traits about your character without you having to do much back story. For example, a formal name may be suitable for a doctor, lawyer, or attorney in your story.

Google the Name

You might think up of a great name like “Lance Armstrong” – not remembering it is the name of a famous cyclist. Always do a little research of your character’s name on Google to assure you don’t end up using someone’s real name unintentionally.

Be Cautious With Nicknames

Some nicknames are common and need no introduction, like “Bobby” for Robert. But if the nickname is not obvious, you may need to write into the story why the character has the nickname.

Give Each Character a Distinctive Name

Be careful about using the same starting letter for characters in your book. For example, my three children all have names that start with the letter “E” – this really confuses people about who is who, and it will also confuse your readers if your characters are named Andy and Andre for example.

Ask for Feedback

Ask people who know nothing of the story what they can imagine about the name. When I was naming my children, I would do this with other members of my family and they would tell me all sorts of interesting things on how they associate the name.

Keep a List of Names

You never know when you might find a good name to creatively use or borrow part of. This list can be excellent for developing future stories or novels. It can also save much time when you are trying to decide on a name.

Consider Purchasing a Baby Naming Book

These can be really helpful when you’re stuck for name ideas – and they also give the meaning of the name and the uses. Check out a few at your local library and then decide on which one to purchase for your writing bookshelf.

Culled from think written

Struggling With Brand Loyalty? Ideas to Consider for Lifetime Customers

What does it mean to create loyal customers in a world where your competitors can be everywhere at once, shopping habits are increasingly search driven, and a single social misstep can quickly erode the favorable reputation it took your brand years to build?

It has become all too common for brands to promote brand loyalty simply by lavishing reward points on anybody willing to identify as a customer or load an app on their phone. And when the appeal of earning exclusive deals and discounts doesn’t do the trick, there’s always the option to fall back on scare tactics that point out your competitors’ shortcomings (remember those old I’m a Mac/I’m a PC chestnuts?).

However, today’s consumers – particularly digital natives like millennials and Gen Zers – may be more concerned with fear of missing out (FOMO) than fear of messing up. And with online reviews, social referrals, and comparison shopping tools readily available to influence every purchase decision, marketers are facing an uncomfortable new reality: Even our most loyal customers may ditch us as their bestie brand friend whenever something new and more appealing pops up in their social news feeds or gets deeply discounted in an Amazon Prime Day sale.

Shifting consumer behaviors, combined with an ever increasing need to keep costs contained, are causing brands to rethink their definitions of loyalty and reinvent their strategies for incentivizing it. If you’re looking to strengthen your post-purchase customer relationships through content, here are some key considerations and helpful conversations you should check out:

Are some actions “more loyal” than others?

Businesses have begun to expand their view of the loyalty value proposition, including how to quantify it, reward it, and maximize returns from it. As a recent MarketingWeek podcast discusses, U.K.-based brands like Virgin, Sainsbury’s, and Sky now factor in location, tenure, and frequency of purchase into their loyalty program calculations. In addition, U.S. companies like Sephora and Subway are leveling the engagement potential of their programs by adding weighted tiers, community-activation features, and exclusive live experiences, helping them distinguish random acts of fandom from passionate evangelism – and reward both behaviors accordingly.

Consider: As Robert Rose recently reminded us, if you want to influence the buying process at any key consumer touchpoint, you first need to win every moment of that consumer’s trust. That’s not something to be taken lightly. Trust that leads to lasting loyalty likely won’t be forged on a single interaction, a temporary discount, or a free gift gated behind a mountain of frequent flier miles. Rather, it will take an ongoing commitment to delivering a wholly satisfying brand experience – something that loyalty-driving content efforts like chatbots, how-to videos, and customer testimonials are well suited to help you accomplish.

Incidentally, the above conversation is just one of a number of discussions Marketing Week offers on the subject of brand loyalty. If this is an area you want to explore in more detail, I recommend starting here.

Potential cash value of loyalty

Bloomberg (and many other news sources) recently discussed another way brands are taking their vision of loyalty into the 21st century – shifting their incentives from an arbitrary points-based system to actual currency or cryptocurrency at least. Enterprising brands like Chanticleer, Kodak, and Burger King have begun to experiment with blockchain-backed financial exchanges, with a few issuing branded digital coins loyal customers can use to pay for their purchases, trade for other cryptocurrencies, or even redeem for cold hard cash. One benefit to consumers who collect branded digital coins is that whatever they earn is theirs to keep and use as they please – unlike rewards like airline miles, which carry a lot of restrictions and are designed to expire after an established period of inactivity.

Consider: While the value this highly volatile trend might hold for content marketing has yet to be determined, its potential to create walled-garden economies that scale is virtually unlimited. Now is a great time for content strategists to start leveling up their understanding of deregulated digital currency (this Fortune article is a good place to start) and planning how they might want to participate should the right opportunity arise sooner rather than later.

Opportunities

Emotional triggers as brand loyalty drivers

The building blocks of lasting brand engagement piqued the curiosity of cultural scientist and Iconoculture co-founder Mary Meehan. In this Forbes article, she shares findings from a comprehensive research study on how brands can establish emotional loyalty at scale by leveraging five key trends as cultural drivers of brand affinity.

Among the more intriguing aspects of Mary’s research is something called the bystander effect – essentially, the impact that observing high-profile membership in an exclusive and rewarding group may have on outsiders. Leveraging this effect could serve as a powerful catalyst for increasing brand evangelism, especially among the FOMO crowd.

Consider: The potential impact of the bystander effect makes an interesting case for creating high-visibility content experiences that don’t just make customers feel important but subtly sell a lifestyle that motivates onlookers to want to experience those benefits for themselves. A great example of this is the documentary-style series from outdoor lifestyle brand Yetifeaturing people who inspire others to follow in their (very active) footsteps.

Does brand loyalty have an expiration date?

As marketers, how do we sustain brand loyalty if our customers will eventually outgrow (literally or figuratively) their need for our products? It’s a question online shoe retailer Rothy’s faced when debuting a new line for young girls, footwear made from recycled plastic water bottles. As this Adweek article discusses (free registration is required), the brand focused its social media content on the versatility of the durable, fashionable, and machine washable shoes to capitalize on both the feelings of confidence the shoes inspire in active young girls and the social media bragging rights parents earn for supporting an eco-conscious company. Considering that Rothy’s net promoter score is reportedly off the charts, it’s a strategy that can continue to pay off in brand goodwill even after those shoes are ready for the hand-me-down pile.

Bringing back that brand-loving feeling

When you’re beginning to build a consumer connection and the lines of communication suddenly go dark, content marketing techniques like retargeting can often help draw them back on your path to conversion. However, as an Adweek article points out (free registration required), stalking (aka retargeting) may not be the best approach for rebuilding broken customer relationships that occur after a purchase has been made. For example, if product malfunctions or a poor customer service experience led the customers to pull a disappearing act, bombarding them with standard we-want-you-back messages can come off as insensitive to their needs or out of touch with their experience. The article suggests you first find out why they left (Twitter, surveys, or email can uncover the cause for their dissatisfaction). Then follow up with a constructive content experience. Pointing to demo videos, community forums, or DIY troubleshooting tools (like AT&T’s UFix self-service system) can help turn a negative situation into a memorable, brand-positive experience.

Content conclusion

True brand loyalty may be harder to earn these days – and even harder to sustain over the long term. But with the right content creation tools and a commitment to being responsive to evolving needs and preferences, the brownie points your brand can earn from satisfied return customers will be well worth the extra effort.

Author: Jodi Harris

Jodi Harris is the Director of Editorial Content & Curation at Content Marketing Institute. As a content strategy consultant, Jodi helps businesses evaluate their content needs and resources; build infrastructure and operations; and create compelling stories to be delivered across multiple media channels and platforms. Follow Jodi on Twitter at @Joderama.

How To Improve Your Customer Engagement on Social Media

Looking for ways to improve your customer engagement on social media? Here are 8.

First off, if you have experience in social media marketing, you know that engaging users is no easy task.

The biggest mistake people make when promoting their brand, company or even themselves on social media is thinking that simply posting is enough. However, that’s far from the case. Managing a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account means having to strategize ways to keep your current audience captivated, while simultaneously attracting new users to your page.

Both of these activities can be full-time jobs. And, unfortunately, most people struggle to do either well. After all, how many times have you heard the words: “We just need to post better content”?

But because building a loyal following on social media isn’t easy, that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. Some of the best digital marketers today started building Instagram pages as a hobby — until suddenly they were boasting hundreds of thousands of followers. What they did was double down on their strengths and learn how to work on their weaknesses.

Here are eight ways you can increase your engagement on social media and make your pages a destination worth following.

8 Ways to Increase Customer Engagement on Social Media

1. Always post.

The first rule to increasing engagement is to constantly create and post relevant content. To do this, you need to figure out what content engages your audience. A lot of brands don’t fully understand how crucial it is to study their competitors and other people in their space.

One of the best strategies is to be a curator instead of a creator. With so much great content being posted to social media, there’s no reason to try to build an audience solely off original content. Curated content, or content shared from other pages, is how some of the most popular pages have built audiences in the millions. @Thefatjewish, for example, boasts over 10 million followers, and the page is almost entirely curated content.

So, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Look for trends that are currently grabbing people’s attention, and capitalize on them.

2. Stay relevant by being timely.

The most successful accounts know how to piggyback off trending topics, events in the news and significant policy discussions. They recognize that it’s a lot easier to insert yourself into a massive conversation that’s already happening than to start a conversation from scratch.

Jonathan Foley, founder of @Positivity and @Societyfeelings, and CEO of WULF Marketing, says, “When you see a page or account that has extremely high engagement, it’s because they know how to create content that resonates. So if you make every post with the intention of it being extremely relevant to something that’s already happening in the world, you’re going to tap into that traffic. Some great examples of people doing this are @lelepons, @course and @barstoolsports.”

This eye on relevancy strategy must be working for Foley and @Positivity, since the page gained more than 100,000 followers in less than a month, and averages over 1 million impressions per day.

3. Be bold.

If you want your page to get noticed, it has to stand out from the crowd.

Users follow so many brands and pages that after a while they all begin to blend together. As a brand, know that it’s your job to always find ways to separate yourself from what everyone else is doing.

For example, short videos on social media with big text above and below the video have become extremely popular. Something Gary Vaynerchuk has done to make his videos stand out is add a red progress bar to his videos. This might seem like a small detail, but it separates his videos from the competition.

4. Get to know your audience.

A great way to connect with people on your page is to create a conversation.

Many people believe that “creating a conversation” means posting pictures and then responding to comments with general, rehearsed responses. However, that attitude may put you with the people out there struggling to succeed.

To increase customer engagement, be engaging yourself. This means calling out specific people in your stories, or finding ways to thank or even reward your most engaged followers. And, if you don’t have the bandwidth to reply, hire someone to do it for you. Yes, it’s that important.

5. Run campaigns and promotions.

Nowadays, even the most viral-worthy pages have to spend money to continue growing.

Running ad campaigns behind your most popular or most engaging posts can be a great way to sustain momentum and continue building your brand. Once you know which posts resonate the most with your audience, present them to new audiences so that you can attract the kinds of people you want following your page.

Furthermore, you can use this data to inform your own content creation or curation process. If meme posts get the most engagement, then share more of them. If it’s videos, share more videos. Let the data inform you so you can do more of what’s already working.

6. Have a personality.

Brand awareness is key. But brand awareness and the best content strategy mean nothing if you’re dull as a doorknob.

The best social media pages have a personality. Whether you’re an influencer or a big brand like Skittles, your job is to develop a brand voice people want to listen to.

Some questions to ask yourself are: what topics (within your industry) get people riled up? What types of content are controversial? What can you do that will get people talking? And, most importantly, what can you say that the most people will be able to relate to?

Creating customer engagement takes real work. But by using data and trial and error, you will learn over time which pieces of content resonate the most. Chances are, they’ll be the posts with the most personality.

7. Post when your audience is watching.

One of the most underestimated aspects of social media growth and customer engagement is timing.

Different sources will give you different information on the optimal posting times. Some say you should post after work hours – but we all know people check their phones during work. Others say you should post during work hours – but then again, that’s when people should be working.

The truth is, when you “should” post depends entirely on your audience.

Are you trying to engage 16-year-old gamers? Then probably post after school hours, since high school is a bit more strict about kids using their phones. Are you trying to engage college students? Middle of the day could work, but so could really late at night.

Timing is a trial-and-error process. Try posting at different times of the day, and track your engagement. When you start to see patterns, use them to inform your posting times.

8. Make your posts (and your page) visually appealing.

This may seem obvious for a visually based network like Instagram, but it’s a lot harder to implement on Twitter, LinkedIn and even Facebook.

Optimizing the visual starts with your bio and ends with your content. Make sure your bio is spaced appropriately and has emojis that speak to your brand. Make sure the post pinned to the top of your profile is one with a high amount of engagement (and a great picture). And, most important of all, make sure your profile is a complete representation of who you are and what you share. Do this by alternating between text, pictures and videos.

Remember: if your page looks great, users will be more likely to give it their attention, which of course is the whole goal.

By Aj Agrawal

Post Tags:#online engagement#Social media#Social media marketing

How The Ideal Reader Myth Hurts Your Writing Process

A lot of writing advice encourages you to market to your audience by defining your ideal reader.

It says to think of your reader as one person, create a profile and write for that person.

You’ll even find templates for defining your ideal reader — fake head shots and all. They’ll ask you to name the reader and list their demographics, interests and job. They’ll ask you to explain why this reader is totally in love with what you write.

The problem? This exercise does nothing to help you understand what actual readers want from you.

The “ideal reader” myth

When you set out to define your “ideal reader,” you’ve probably already decided what you want to write — maybe even written it.

You’re sitting on that romance novel, self-help book or blog about what cats have taught you about love, and now you’re ready to market it. So you dream up a reader who fits the bill. They’re male or female, between ages 18 and 54, probably own cats and are single. So, obviously, they’ll love your blog.

Voila. You’ve got your ideal reader.

Except that’s useless. All you’ve done is reverse engineer an audience for yourself, and you can’t do that with real people.

If you want to attract actual readers, you’re going to have to do it the other way around: Learn what real readers want, and write it for them.

How to write what your audience wants to read

To understand who your audience (actually) is and how to write for them, I’ve come up with a simple exercise.

Borrowing from the way software developers plan projects by first working to understand their end users through a user story, I define readers with what I call a “reader story.”

The reader story is a simple way to understand who you write for, what they need from you and why.

The exercise might feel similar to fantasizing about your ideal reader, but it’s goal is different. Instead of inventing a reader for something you’re determined to write, the reader story helps you plan your writing around helping the audience achieve some goal.

To create your reader story, fill in this statement about the typical person you expect to read your work:

As a [type of person], they want [some goal] so that [some reason].

For example:

As a millennial mother of young kids,

They want advice on raising children, self-care and relationships,

So that they can balance being a parent with a full-time job while still enjoying me-time and a relationship with their partner.

That reader story might drive content for a parenting and lifestyle site like Scary Mommy.

If you don’t know anything about the typical person who might read your work, do your research before creating a reader story. Don’t invent a reader you hope exists.

How to use your reader story to plan writing projects

Once you create a reader story, it should drive all the decisions you make about your writing.

Does that blog topic help the reader achieve some goal? Does that book cover appeal to their some reason? Are those marketing platforms frequented by this type of person?

Write down your reader story, and stick it somewhere you’ll see every time you write.

Keeping your reader’s needs top of mind can help you make decisions about:

• Which topics to tackle to get your story across.
• Your goals for what you write.
• Which products make sense for disseminating your story or ideas.
• Which platforms are best for distributing your work.
• The tone and voice you’ll use to speak to your readers.
• When and how to release your work to have the greatest impact.

Developers rely on the user story to focus on features customers actually want — and leave behind the stuff that’s super cool technologically but totally unnecessary in real life.

Use the reader story the same way in your writing. You might love the anecdote you’ve found to open that article about your grandmother’s butternut squash soup recipe… but does it serve the reader’s goal of, you know, making a good butternut squash soup?

Yeah, the reader story will make you get real honest with yourself about the value of what you’re writing.

Culled from The Write Life

• IDEAL READER MYTH
• WRITING PROCESS

Try This Unknown Writer's Trick When You're Staring At A Blank Page

Out of ideas?

I have a trick I use often when I find myself staring at a blank page, or when I’m in the middle of a long writing project and run out of ideas.

I have never seen it on any list of writing tips or tricks:

Question your certainties.

This trick can be used in two ways.

1. In a practical sense, relating directly to your current writing project.
2. In broader terms to free your creative flow when you’re feeling blocked our mentally empty.

Here’s how it works:

1. In the practical sense, try questioning your certainties the next time you’re experiencing writer’s block.

What are you certain of?

If you’re writing fiction, maybe it’s a theme.

For example, let’s say your current novel is a travel adventure about a woman quitting her job, ending her long-term relationship, and hitchhiking across Asia.

You intend the story to include a message something along the lines of how travel is an inner journey of self-discovery.

Eat, Pray, Love-type stuff, you know.

You’re certain that’s what you want to write, and the novel is going well.

Until it’s not.

Fifty-pages in, your main character has been through every adventure you can imagine, and she’s learned some lessons, but you have no idea how she’s changed or grown, or if she ever will, and it seems too soon, fifty pages in, to wrap it up and have her head home.

So, you’re stuck.

Question the certainty of your theme.

Try writing a scene that proves the exact opposite of that theme you’re certain you want to write about.

Does travel always have to be about personal growth? Maybe it’s the realization of that old adage: Wherever you go, there you are.

In our example, you might try writing a scene at your main character’s next destination where she has the absolute worst experience of her life, is overwhelmed with regret, and wishes with all her soul that she had never had so stupid an idea as to travel halfway around the world to encounter the same horrible people she tried to escape from back home.

Or something like that.

The scene may work in the narrative, or it may not, but at the very least, you have a new scene to play with and you’re no longer staring at that blank page.

2. In a broader sense, when you’re stuck, you can question your certainties in your writing practice and routines.

To what beliefs or writing myths are you clinging?

Do you hear the inner critic saying:

I have to write 1000 words today.

If I’m not writing, I’m a failure.

I have to write all day, every day if I expect to make it as a writer.

Are you certain? Because those seem like beliefs that could actually limit your creativity.

Instead, could you maybe trust your own creative rhythms? Maybe today you don’t need to write 1000 words.

Maybe today you need a break.

Strong certainties and intentions can serve you well as you build your writing career, but…

They can just as easily hold you back by limiting your options and closing your mind to new perspectives.

Before you force a theme that may not be working into your novel or rely on willpower to add lifeless word count to your manuscript, take a moment to question those certainties.

It’s a valuable mental exercise, sort of like playing devil’s advocate to your own thoughts, to open your mind and consider new creative options.

Credit: Medium