Writing great content means paying close attention to your rhetoric, and making adjustments to account for your audience. This requires a first level analysis of your audience, understanding what would appeal to them and what’s important to them. But it also requires an analysis of the medium you’re using to deliver that message.
The scope of mediums available to businesses has exploded, and is ever expanding. No comprehensive list could capture the entire span of available mediums, but they can be grouped into three major categories, each of which requires a different approach to content.
Printed Content
Printed content ranges from small, quarter-page print ads in magazines to hundred page catalogs to billboards on the side of the road. Printed mediums are somewhat flexible—the length and brevity of your content can shape the size and structure of your application. For instance, writing a detailed white paper on a given topic can be perfectly acceptable—just shape the design of the finished product around the length.
Web Content
When writing web content, however, you need to keep in mind the fleeting attention spans of your readers. Your content, whether it is a blog, press release, or other form of static content on the web, should be kept relatively short—300 to 450 words on average. Some other key tips for writing solid web content:
· Include hyperlinks, to verify your sources or lead to more information
· Use multiple headings and feature lists whenever possible
· Feature a call to action, possibly leading to a contact page
· Make your content “scanable” so readers can get a sense of the article without needing to read every single word
Social Content
Social content gets a little trickier. There are too many unique social media platforms to accurately reduce social content advice to a handful of bullet points. The best advice is to practice writing for each specific medium, and do not copy and paste content written for one platform directly to another. Some key tips for mastering content in a few specific applications:
· For Facebook, write 1-2 sentences, and use an image to complement your post
· For Twitter, only commit a post if it is clear, specific, and relevant (and of course, it must be concise)
· For LinkedIn, make sure your content is relevant for the specific group you are targeting—this is not a “broad approach” kind of platform
With practice, you will become a master of media, tailoring your message to each specific application and avoiding the pitfalls of reusing old copy.
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