8 Essential Tips for Writing Social Media Posts
Most of my marine clients have all confessed to struggling with knowing what to write and how to write their social media posts. Understanding how social media channels work is imperative to know how to write for them.
Grab Attention
You are competing with all social media posts, not just your competitors. Yours needs to stand out. When your busy customers are quickly scrolling through their newsfeed, you have seconds to grab their attention. If they scroll past, Facebook is more likely to restrict the numbers of people who see your post. Do not be tempted to stray from the truth.
Give the Benefits
A good little exercise is to write down all the pains and problems you think your customers have. Then provide solutions. For example, in relation to boat cleaning products...
|
Not enough time to clean the boat |
Simple paint on leave and go to the pub then wash off |
|
Concerned about wash into the ocean |
No toxic acids, safe for aquatic life |
|
Some cleaning products run out quickly |
Highly concentrated so you won't need much |
|
The physical effort required |
Paint on, wash off and no scrubbing required |
Talk about the benefits, don't just give out the features. What will change their lives? Save them time, save them money, and appeal to their beliefs. Of course, not all the benefits will apply to everyone but guaranteed at least one of them will. “...Is having enough time to clean your boat an issue? With our products, you simply paint on, head to the pub for a pint, then wash off!...”
Pose Questions
Ideally, you want to pose a question which results in a YES response. Once your reader realises the post applies to them they are more likely to read on. “...Do you find it difficult to find diesel in your harbour?...”
Add a Call To Action
Your readers might like your post but be unsure what to do next. Tell them. “Register for a demo of our RIB” “Watch our video on how to keep your diesel tank clean” “Contact us to find out how easy and cost-effective it is to fit our wireless locks to your yacht” Only ever give one call to action, if there is a choice people will get confused and take no action.
Show Social Proof
Social proof makes your clients and customers feel confident to buy your products and services. Are you sharing your great testimonials? Are you sharing how many repeat customers you get? Are you sharing customers photographs of the fun times they had on your training course? Are you sharing how many orders you took at Seawork or the Metstrade?
Write with confidence
Be powerful in the words you use. Avoid weak words like 'try' and 'maybe'. Instead, use words like 'will' and 'guarantee'. For example, a weak statement would be “... “we hope you pop by our stand at the Southampton Boat Show...” and a confident one “...when you pop by at the Southampton Boat Show we guarantee you will be amazed at...”
Write using the active voice
Most people find this one difficult including myself. There are two reasons for using the active voice. The first is that it is more powerful than the passive voice. “...We shipped 25 new engines last week to the Orkney Islands...” as opposed to “...25 engines heading to the Orkney Islands...” The second reason to use the active voice is that search engines can identify the passive voice and do not like it. Everything we write for social media is ranked in Google. Give it a better chance of being shown by writing more powerful content.
Write readable copy
Cut out unnecessary words. Keep your sentences short. Use simpler words if there is an alternative. There are many reasons to write short simple sentences. You want to write snappy subject lines to grab attention fast. You want to make the content easy to read for all your customers. Visually if sentences look lengthy they are unlikely to be read. Search engines give preference to short easy to read sentences.
Ideas for posts for the marine industry...
-
“... 9 out of 10 of our clients said they would charter from us again...”
-
“... Do you want to eliminate diesel bug forever?...”
-
“...Do you worry about your engine breaking down because of dirty fuel? Install a ? so that you never have to worry again..”
-
“... Would you like piracy alerts sent to you via SMS?...”
-
“... If you could fly to Corfu for less cost than a train to the Solent, where would you prefer to learn to sail?...”
-
“...Keep your crew happy by choosing the luxury shipyard in Italy for your next refit...”
-
“...We sold 4 engines at Seawork to ? In Scotland!...”
-
“...Thank you to ? for our 1,000th 5 star review on Trip Advisor...”
-
“...Longer service intervals means more time earning money...”
I confess there is a lot to think about. If you want to get it right, it does take a great deal of time that could be spent on another element of your business. Chasing unpaid invoices, closing a sale, training your team etc. These are all important but so is social media. It is part of your sales funnel and it increases your brand awareness. If you do not have the time to do it then let the marine marketing experts do it for you. Get in touch with heidi@spcmarinemarketing.com for a FREE consultation!
