The 6C's in Writing for Social Media Marketing

Have you heard of the 6C's of content marketing? Just this month, we learnt about how to best write for social media.

Social media is all about visuals, and less about text. So, if you want to get your point across fast, it's best to keep things according to the 6C's:

• Complete
• Conscise
• Clear
• Correct
• Consistent
• Compelling

Use the 6C's in Your Upcoming Writing for Social Media

Complete

The information that you present should always be complete. 

State all the facts that your readers will need to go through with you call-to-action. You can also try reading through your written content and asking yourself, "What's in it for me?"

As an example, if you can read a Facebook post and understand that registering as a new member on an online fashion store will get you 20% off your first purchase, then you know what's in it for you.

If you then visit the website, complete your registration and find that each product comes with details like product dimensions, stock availability, pricing, sizes and more, then the information is complete too.

Concise

People want their share of information fast these days! 

Keep your message short and simple. Include only facts relevant to your readers and the purpose of your posts to make the information easier to digest.

Here's the key: It's not about keeping it as short as possible. It's about keeping it just as long as needed.

Compare the two lines below as an example:

1) There is a requirement for monthly testing of both treated and untreated samples for a determination of contamination levels. The sample testing and data analysis are carried out by our Chief Safety Technician.

2) Every month we must test both treated and untreated samples for contaminants. Our Chief Safety Technician tests the samples and analyses the data.

The second sentence is clearly a lot easier & faster to digest!

Clear

If you want a good & effective post on social media, you're going to want a simple & direct post so that your message is clear.

Use familiar words & ditch jargons to ensure that even your slowest readers can understand your message. 

Rather than saying: 

"We track the CLTV to ensure maximum ROI for digital marketing", 

which may be understandable to other individuals in your industry but not the public, you can say:

"We track the value a customer contributes to our business over the entire lifetime at our company to ensure that we are maximizing our ad cost returns."

Correct

Check your grammar, spelling and information before you post.

You may also want to check that the tone and style of your post should be consistent with the purpose & audience's expectations of said posting.

As an example, a post sympathizing with the misfortune of the recent flood victims should have a slightly gloomy tone rather than an upbeat one.

You may also want to clarify the details regarding the flood - location, date, who's affected et cetera.

Consistent

Every brand should practice brand consistency, and we preach this.

Your posts should be consistent with your brand tone and voice, maintained across pages on your website and posts on your social media.

If your website has a serious tone explaining your services on your 'About' page, for example, you won't expect to scroll down and see another paragraph including memes and jokes in it.

Stay consistent in your posts!

Compelling

When a short glance on your post gets the reader to stop scrolling, it might be compelling.

When your posts are interesting and relevant to the reader, it can be compelling.

When your posts make an impact, making them want to engage with them, it's compelling.

Each post you make should compel your readers to do something, even if it's something minor such as liking the post or checking what's in the link you provided.

In fact, we have a new post coming up describing just what it means to make your post compelling. Check out our next posts to find out more!