June 22, 2007 21:33
Category: Writing
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It intrigues me as to how one can write a 'social media' article unless perhaps the article one is writing is about reviewing one of the social media sites. We know there're rules to write press release, business letter, story, and even obituary for that matter.
And yes over the past decade or so we've also known how to write web content optimized for search engines using keywords as potential 'weapons'.
But social media article? Does it fit in a proclaimed writing style? Are there rules - or at least clues if not rules - about how to write one? There are indeed as we'll see in this article, and they're from experts who have successfully exploited the social media phenomenon.
The point is there is no way one must ignore the social media. To be true, it is the 'in' thing in these times. What incidentally is also true is that if an article is digg-ed or stumbled upon, there is a chance of torrent of viewers embarking on it.
Let's talk an example. There're instances where after an article is digg-ed by someone, it has fetched as many as 100 'diggs' in just under 5 minutes - and who knows how many visitors!
Isn't that reason enough to get unabashedly attracted to social media if only to induce short-term viral marketing at perhaps negligible cost?
That said to me it's still a mystery as to what qualifies as a good social media article. To find answer, I've been looking at a few articles by bloggers who have seen it and done that. Let's examine them.
Muhammad Saleem On Writing For Digg
Saleem writes at Pronet Advertising, and what he says makes a good read. He advocates writing social media articles that are interesting tales carrying an appeal to readers without sounding too obvious.
To quote Saleem, at one place he writes thus:
It is okay to try and write for Digg as long as you can appeal to the Digg community and get the users to be passionate about your content, without deviating too much from the kind of content you would otherwise produce.
In other words, Saleem's suggestion is to not 'consciously' attempt writing for Digg, for there one runs the danger of moving away from his typical style of expression. The reason he gives makes sense.
Every content writer likely has a following of regular readers, who are practiced to see his articles in a way that for them make good reading. These are 'core readers' who are loyal and who love to be in touch with the writer's articles.
If the writer now attempts to appease Digg community by trying to inject some degree of sensationalism in his articles, he may alienate his core readers. Not a welcome situation.
Jennifer Laycock On Social Media Marketing
Jennifer's article is basically to counter Neil Patel's take on creating landing pages for social media sites. Neil prescribes special treatment for social media visitors by making landing pages unique for them (we'll come back to another of Neil's articles below).
Going by Neil's suggestion it follows that similar to PPC landing page there has to be a conscious effort to design a special page to contain social media article, one that would be different from the site's other pages.
Jennifer rebuts Neil's suggestions in her article. In essence she feels there is no need to mollycoddle social media visitors, because in doing so there is always a distinct possibility of veering away from one's own style of presenting things - something that finds echo with Saleem's opinion above.
I'll quote a small text of Jennifer's article I like:
Be Yourself. This one is a general life lesson that spills over into online marketing. Whether it's in your personal life or your professional life, this old adage rings true time and time again. Trying to hide any or all of who you are to make someone else happy rarely leads to positive outcomes.
del.icio.us: A popular social media site
Neil Patel On Content For Social Media Users
Neil writes regularly in his company blog, Pronet Advertising in which Muhammad Saleem too writes. But there appears a noticeable difference in what the two men suggest. Saleem looks a bit conservative in so far as actively promoting social media articles is concerned. There is a ting of caution in his suggestion (same with Jennifer).
Neil, as mentioned above, however feels that social media articles ought to have different hue though he readily admits that the majority of people out there are not too familiar with social media sites.
With that in mind, Neil in his article touches upon 5 areas that need close look while writing social media articles. A good reference that.
Catherine Toole On 7 Deadly Sins Of Writing for Social Media
Together with Neil's article above Catherine's '7 deadly sins..' present a good call on the subject of authoring social media article. While giving her list of 7 mistakes, she seeks readers' opinion about them.
In my opinion, her list applies to virtually any web writing, not necessarily only for social media articles. Of the 7, the two that appeal to me are the ones below (I quote):
#4
Not having the resource, the skills - or possibly the staying power - to maintain your content; to respond quickly and appropriately to negative comments/questions/reviews, or to participate in debates about your products or services.
#6
Expecting it to be easy. Building trust online takes time and requires brands to be both open and generous - to freely share their expertise and to work hard to create genuinely interesting and useful content.
Conclusion
Okay, we've the experts' opinion. What do all that mean? Here are my takes:
- Social media articles are those that thrive on fresh news. People like reading them especially if they're dipped in juicy narration. If there's some tangible benefit to be had, nothing like it, but served of course with catchy details.
- Hanging about social media sites is a big help. That gives fair idea about what succeeds and what doesn't.
- As far as feasible, it's better to stick to one's own style while writing social media article and not try something so offbeat that it puts off core readers.
- Social media traffic is in most cases unpredictable. Today you've a torrent you can barely manage. Tomorrow they're gone! Too bad, won't you say?
Well, that is what to my understanding social media article is in present time. What the future holds for it is anybody's guess. Readers' views are welcome.
Related reading: 4 Ways for Making Money With Social Media Optimization
