How to write (well) for social media

If you search "writing for social media" in Google, you'll get around 314 million results (yes, million). With such a huge number of potential resources at your hands, how does one narrow these results down to a more manageable number?

The goal of my Storify post was to explore the issue of writing for social media, so I quickly needed to decide how best to wade through the 314 million website hits. I started with the EXSM3989 assigned readings on the topic and went from there. What keywords and topics were used most often in the posts? I then searched Google to bring up the most popular/viewed blog posts and searched the bloggers Twitter accounts for additional hashtags.

The elements included in my post were blog posts, videos, tweets and Facebook posts that I found both informative and engaging, while also being general enough for such a broad topic. The blog posts on writing for both Twitter and Facebook were similar in providing a great foundation for writing tweets and posts and reinforcing that good writing is good writing no matter the platform.

My post in no way gives a full picture of writing for social media, and I don't think that any one blog post or book out there provides a comprehensive how-to of writing for social media. If there was, would there really be 314 million Google results on the topic? What I've tried to do is present a very basic introduction to social media and why it's necessary, and then provided some excellent information on how to construct engaging tweets and posts and examples from companies who use Twitter and Facebook very well.

Writing for social media is an incredibly huge and diverse topic that can be examined from hundreds of angles. The below Storify post could easily be a starting point for a longer academic essay. Each social media platform has different purposes, as well as best practices and even demographics. An essay could easily be written on any number of the above mentioned topics.

The Power of Visual Storytelling

New visual storytelling site highlights how to engage your audience via The Next Web

NewsCred, the visual content marketing and syndication service, today launched a new microsite called The Power of Visual Storytelling, in conjunction with its partner Getty Images, the stock photo agency.

The site, and its accompanying free 34-page White Paper of the same name, provide advice and examples for marketers tasked with selecting imagery for various campaigns. Said Erika Velazquez, NewsCred’s brand marketing and communications manager on the NewsCred blog, “The project that we launched today with Getty Images is pretty meta: a piece of visual content that explains the power of visual content, and how to get it right.”


New visual storytelling site highlights how to engage your audience The site outlines four basic principles of visual storytelling:

Authenticity: Real, candid moments and emotions from everyday life.

Sensory: Visuals that highlight details and imperfections as well as overall scenes.

Archetype: Projecting “aspirational” audience personas that concentrate on interpersonal connection rather than demographics.

Relevancy: Delivering localized content in real time.


NewsCred pulled together some essential guidelines its says are critical to the visual creative process and packaged them into a free, downloadable White Paper that offers details, examples, statistics and conclusions.

Module 4: Writing for Social Media

Activities/Assignments ●      Add a comment to Module 4’s blog post with your reaction to infographics. Are you a staunch supporter of their engaging presentation of information or do you abhor their excessive inclusion of unnecessary design elements? ●      Tweet @JessL with two Twitter can sharpen your writing.

Image via EduTechChick.