This article aims to help you improve the effects of your social media networking efforts by readjusting the way in which you present the information that you post. It is not an article that can help you to develop content. If wanting to receive guidance and advice on the ways in which to generate useful content on social media sites or if you want to find out more information about the social media sites that Webrageous Studios recommends, then the linked articles listed below are a good place to start:
- 10 Things to do on Twitter Other Than Tweet
- Create an Account with Digg.com
- The Difference Between Social Facebook Advertisements and PPC Advertisements
This article, however, focuses on the way in which to present content on sites such as Digg.com, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It is an article which aims to highlight some of the basic mistakes that many people make when trying to tap into the powers of social media.
Most of these mistakes have very little to do with content and much more to do with the way in which that content is presented. The ideas highlighted below are obvious when you read them, but you would be surprised to see how many people do not follow these simple guidelines to their own detriment.
Therefore, follow the list, adjust the format of your social media content and watch your traffic numbers soar.
Make Sure Your Content is Structured
Some of the basic things to remember when structuring your content for social media purposes are:
- short sentences
- short paragraphs
- ideas clearly separated by paragraphs
Internet users by default are incredibly lazy. They do not want to read long sentences and endless streams of information. Keep it short, keep it snappy and keep it direct to the point. The structure of your writing must allow for internet users to scan through the information with ease.
In addition, utilize other techniques that help internet users to jump to the pieces of information that they want to read without having to read through the whole post. For example, you might decide to work with the following:
- A list of sub-titles at the start of the article that allows internet users to see which section applies to them.
- Bullet points and sub-titles to disseminate the information easily.
- Headings, subheadings and text body that is differentiated VISUALLY… place content on separate lines and find other ways of highlighting the different aspects of the article VISUALLY for maximum social media results.
Finally, remember the golden rule that anyone writing any kind of article, whether it be in print or online, should follow:
- First paragraph: all the facts and the most important information.
- Second paragraph: a little more information about the essence of the article in a little more depth.
- Then slowly make your way down through the content to the information that is not necessarily important, but that could be useful to someone who is looking to understand the topic in depth.
It is very important that this structure is followed because very few internet users get beyond the first couple of paragraphs. Indeed, many internet users don’t even get beyond the title before they either leave the page or start scanning, so make sure the important and enticing information is in that first paragraph.
Make Sure Your Content is Styled Appropriately
The following areas of style should be worked on every single time you post content on any site:
- Headings
- Imagery
- Color
- Bold
- Italics
- Capitals
- Whitespace
- Multi-media
Headings
Use headings so that internet users can jump from section to section. They are more likely to respond to your social media efforts if they can navigate with more control and this means you need to make the content easy to navigate through.
Imagery
Pictures and images can really lift content. Read the Webrageous Studios article about Digg.com and how the articles that focus on a central image always make the front page over and above posts that rely more on text content.
Color
Do not go too mad. Too many colors will actually have a negative effect, but using color to highlight a particular word or a link, for instance, can be very useful and can draw those scanning eyes of the internet users to the information that you are aiming to highlight with more ease.
Bold, Italics and Capitals
By placing something in bold or in italics or by CAPITALIZING a word, you can be sure that these words will be immediately more distinctive to the internet user. This seems like such an obvious thing to note, but not everyone makes the effort to make these stylistic adjustments on social media sites and this is perhaps one of the reasons why the content on these sites does not effectively call the attention of the internet user and therefore doesn’t drive more traffic to the websites that they are trying to promote.
Sometimes it is the most basic of things that needs attention.
Whitespace
Make use of whitespace. The best internet style is still black on white and if there is a lot of text on your social media site, take the opportunity to utilize the whitespace where you can.
Double space areas of text, make sure the paragraphs are short and that there is space between them. This will make the content much easier on the eye, it will be easier for the internet user to begin scanning and it will also help to make the content look a lot more inviting; almost appearing as though there’s actually less to read.
Multi-media
Many social media applications including Twitter and Facebook provide the option to upload multi-media as a way of promoting your website. This is perhaps one of the most useful and effective ways of using social media to drive traffic to your site.
Internet users love to click on links and videos and watch information or hear information as opposed to read about it. Utilize multi-media whenever and wherever you can on social media sites. If you don’t do this, you will be missing out on a huge section of the social media network’s marketing potential.
In conclusion, as well as generating lots of content and posting regularly to all your social media networks, it is important to consider the style of the content and the way in which it is presented. That is, of course, if you want your social media networks to work effectively for you and to continue promoting your online presence with success.
