Copywriting Tutorial: Dos & Don'ts for Social Media

Learn how to create engaging copy for social media with these simple rules by copywriting expert Paul Anglin

Writing copy that hooks your reader and sells your brand has always been a challenge. With the rise in popularity of social media, the amount of content being produced on a daily basis has increased exponentially, making it even more difficult to compete and get your brand’s voice to stand out from the crowd. Yet with so many people using social media, this is the one area where it really is important to get it right if you want your business or product to succeed.

Award-winning copywriter, Tone of Voice Consultant and Trainer Paul Anglin (@paulanglin) has over 20 years of experience working with big brands including Apple, Nike, and Microsoft. He’s an expert at knowing how to increase a brand’s visibility by choosing the right words to tell a story and connect with an audience, as well as understanding the specific needs to consider when adapting copy to different channels, including social media.

In this tutorial, he takes you through some simple, straightforward copywriting dos and don’ts to craft sharp, effective copy for social media that delights your reader and grabs their attention every time.

The Dos and Don’ts of Copywriting for Social Media

1. Remember you’re selling
“You can write the most beautiful, lyrical, poetic copy, but if it isn’t selling, then the copy has failed,” says Paul. Whether it’s a product, service, or idea, the primary purpose of any copywriting is to sell, and this must always be your primary consideration when deciding what to write.

2. Don’t get too familiar in your writing
Social media is a much more relaxed, informal setting for communicating. It’s easy to forget that you’re actually writing for your brand, not for yourself, and get overly familiar with your audience. Remember that every brand has a tone of voice, and you must always write with that in mind, so avoid using things like too many exclamation marks and emojis, which may make your writing sound too informal. Unless of course, that is exactly what it asks of you in the brief.

3. Sell benefits, not features
Ask yourself how your product or service can help make someone’s life better, rather than focusing on its features. Paul uses the example of the iPod’s selling line “a thousand songs in your pocket”, which focuses on the end benefit for the user, rather than the more technical feature of “64G of music capacity”. Good copy connects with an audience on an emotional level, and people are more likely to want to buy something if they can easily understand how it will improve their lives in some way.

4. Don’t use complex language
In the fast-paced world of social media, people don’t have the time or patience to sit and decipher the meaning behind your words. Their eyes may only rest on your copy for a couple of seconds as they scroll through their feeds, and you are in constant competition with many other brands also producing a high volume of content on a daily basis. There also isn’t the space to write long, convoluted sentences, so keep your language simple, sharp, and to the point.

5. Don’t forget your audience
Make sure that what you write is relevant to the brand, but also interesting to your audience. In other words, don’t just talk about yourself, but see if there is a way you can find an angle or adapt what you are saying about your brand to the interests of your target reader.

Did you enjoy this tutorial? If you’d like to learn more about how to use words to tell your brand’s story, easily brainstorm ideas, and craft a marketing campaign with relevant copy that attracts and engages your brand's audience, check out Paul Anglin’s online course Copywriting for Social Media.

You may also like:

- Copywriting Tutorial: Tips to Make Your Elevator Pitch Successful
- Copywriting Tutorial: 5 Key Concepts for Beginners
- Top Tips for Using Copywriting to Strengthen your Personal Brand
- Copywriting: Principles of Writing for Advertising, a course by Erica Igue