I was recently asked, what I do to ensure content is tweet-worthy and captures people's attention. While there is no way to guarantee a piece of content will grab your audience's attention, here are some things that I think are important to write engaging content, for Twitter, other social media, the web, and other channels.
Plain language is important. If people don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them, it definitely won’t get their attention. I know that sounds obvious, but it’s important to emphasize. All social media posts and marketing content should be written in simple, plain language that is easy for your audience to understand. Avoid uncommon terms, acronyms, complex sentences, etc.
Tell them why it matters to them. In other words, the social media post or marketing content should not be about your organization's announcement, it should be about how that announcement will impact the individual reading about it. You want to tell the reader why they should care and how it will make their life better. (For example, instead of saying “Our agency is announcing new cleanliness standards for chocolate manufacturers,” you could say, “We’re making the chocolate safer and better for you.”)
Write in a first person voice and be conversational for social media. Tweets and social media posts should be written to sound like you’re sitting across a coffee table from the reader having a conversation. This helps make your organization sound more human and approachable.
Don’t be afraid to be creative and push the envelope. I know this can be challenging in communicators and marketers working in the government, or other conservative organizations, but little creativity can make a big difference.
