How Social Media Sites Have Given Consumers A Powerful Voice

By Clair Trebes

Image by ‘Allio’

There is no doubting the multi-faceted way that social media sites have reshaped how the world connects and the reasons we connect.

Off the top of my head, on a personal level I have used social media sites to share photos and memories with my family and friends, arrange events, network with like minded business people, find new customers, track down family members and trace family history, help other people, look for recommendations on products and services and last but not least CUSTOMER SERVICE (or should I say ‘complaints’)

Use Social Media Sites To Express Your Views

One of the greatest things I think social media sites have done for people, is to force big brands and services to sit up, take notice and have accountability!

Today people don’t think twice to go looking to Twitter for a corporate account of a company if they are having a problem or a question that they need answering. I say this confidently because I personally have done so with 3 large companies in the UK.

Let’s be honest, we all get frustrated being on ‘hold’ for a long time, and eventually being transferred to a call centre outside of your geographical area, (if at all) A ‘letter of complaint’ can often fall on deaf ears with response times being less than what we consumers deem acceptable.

Today taking to Twitter and using 140 characters to air our ‘frustrations’ seems to be a far more powerful and effective way to get the attention of the company in question, and more importantly obtain a response in a timely manner.

I’m a BIG fan of Gary Vaynerchuk and to quote him on this subject

“I genuinely believe that any business can create a competitive advantage through giving outstanding customer care”

Like most things Gary speaks about, he’s raising a REAL point.

My Own Experience

I’d like to, if I may, give you a scenario that I was recently in with a large UK parcel delivery company:

I’d been trying to get a parcel delivered to my workplace for over 1 week! Having made numerous calls, checking online, giving crystal clear delivery instructions to the exact location of my office, after 8 days I was starting to get a little bit ‘irritated’ by the whole situation!

Things kind of came to a head when I made a call on day 8 of the parcel not being delivered, and I found myself on the end of a phone line that went dead.

What did I do?

I took to my personal Twitter account to ‘voice’ my upset. Within 10 minutes I had a response from their customer service Twitter team and within 1 hour of that Tweet that I had sent, the problem with the delivery was being sorted as a priority.

Within 1 hour, the company had managed to turn me from an unhappy customer into a pacified customer, happy that finally someone had managed to sort out my problem.

Why Does It Work?

Why do businesses (irrespective of size) respond better to unhappy customers and queries online, than that of a phone call? I’m no expert here, but the fact that you all have a social media footprint, the mud can kind of stick!

Think about it. Anyone searching through Twitter’s dynamic search engine, means that my Tweets would have been seen by ANYONE searching that company name. That makes it VERY important that my complaint was handled in a timely manner.

Because of the speed that social media sites work at, as frequent users of the system we know we are going to get a more swift reply if we use this as our medium to communicate with the businesses in question, but more importantly than that, the businesses can benefit by publicly showing how good they are at delivering good customer service.

More people are searching via social media sites – that is a fact of this web 2.0 world, and more people are communicating because of it.

So for a business it makes sense to have a presence where their audience and customers are so that when problems do arise they have a chance to change their unhappy customers perception and also maintain their reputation.

On the other end of the scale, my family business (which is a London based print and graphic design studio) have a very active social media presence (thanks to me for maintaining it) and sure, we have had customers who are a little bit unhinged when a problem has arisen or a parcel has been delayed, or a print job has gone wrong. The trick to it (in my opinion) is obvious – treat others how you wish to be treated. We do our level best to go above and beyond the level of service in both the positive and the negative situations we find with clients.

Social media sites have encouraged more personal recommendations and referrals on GOOD services. In the past, people generally only tended to tell their friends and family about the bad experiences, but now thanks to social media sites, people are leaving a footprint of glorious updates, recommendations, and referrals when they have been more than pleased with a service!

All of which, any company can use to their advantage – as long as you have it documented / saved (favourite ALL positive tweets) then these can be used as customer testimonials for the future.

There is nothing more rewarding than reviewing your favourite tweets or reading your glorious recommendations via LinkedIn or Facebook every now and then as a reminder of the great achievements your business has made.

I would recommend that if you were using social media sites to connect with people and generate new leads for your business, that you seriously spend time looking at how you can enhance your current customer service level to your customers. Don’t be worried if you see a complaint or unhappy update towards your business, don’t ignore it, spend time to understand the issues and then get it sorted in a timely manner.

Read More

Buffer or HootSuite: Which is the More Powerful Social Media Tool?

Bryan Collins 20 Comments — Get my latest posts in your inbox

Did you arrive here from Google? Don’t have time to read a full review?Listen to my 30-second review now.

Buffer and HootSuite are powerful social media automation tools that make it easier for people to read and share information on a variety of social networks at times that suit them. They’re designed to save you time and help you build an audience.

I spent the last two months testing the two social media tools, and I’ve written this feature from the point of view of a small business person who manages multiple social media networks and wants to decide between Buffer or HootSuite.

Buffer

Buffer supports multiple Twitter accounts, personal Facebook profiles and business Facebook pages. It also supports personal LinkedIn profiles, LinkedIn company pages and LinkedIn groups, Google+ pages and App.net

I signed up to the free version of Buffer. The premium or “Go Awesome” version starts at USD10 a month and allows two team members to manage 12 social media profiles.

Buffer has an intuitive and clean interface and it is supported by Android and iOS apps. It took me fifteen minutes to connect Buffer to my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts and figure out how to use the service.

I used Buffer to post links to this blog and to other articles of interest on the web on my Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. I also tested the iOS apps on an iPhone 4.

Buffer doesn’t connect directly to Pinterest, and I wasn’t able to post on LinkedIn groups without ponying up for the premium version. Buffer also sent me lots of emails about my account and nudged me to “top up” with more articles.

I turned these annoying notifications off.

What I Liked

• Buffer’s analytics tools are easy to use and understand. I was able to quickly see how many people commented, liked, clicked, shared my posts. I was also able to see how many people could have potentially read my posts.
• Buffer is great for content curators. I used IFTTT rule to send articles I read on Feedly and Pocket to Buffer. Buffer then posted links to these articles on my preferred social networks at scheduled times.
• Similarly, I set up a schedule in Buffer for sharing content on various social networks. I added articles to Buffer using a Chrome plugin, and it shared them at these predefined times. This means, with a little planning, I can spend less time managing social media and more time working.
• The iOS apps is elegant and easy to use and perfectly suited for mobile.
• The Buffer blog is an excellent resource for bloggers and those interested in content curation. It’s also a damn good read.

Room for Improvement

• Buffer doesn’t allow me to see updates or feeds from my various social media networks.
• The free version of Buffer is more restricted feature-wise than HootSuite.
• The Buffer mobile app referred me to the website on several occasions, which kind of defeats the point.

HootSuite

HootSuite offers a free 30 day trial for business people. It supports multiple Twitter accounts, personal Facebook profiles and pages, LinkedIn profiles, LinkedIn company pages and groups. It also supports Foursquare, WordPress, MySpace and Mixi and Tumblr and YouTube. And it supports Google+ Pages through RSS feeds.

Users of the free version can connect five social media profiles and two RSS feeds to their HootSuite account. The premium version starts at EUR7.99 a month, and it supports 50 social media profiles and an unlimited number of RSS feeds. HootSuite comes on Android and iOS.

It took me an hour or two to figure out exactly how to use HootSuite and successfully connect it to my social media accounts. Even then, I had to consult various online help documents and forums before the dashboard made sense.

This is an issue the developers understand. They run a premiumonline university for users who want to get more out of HootSuite and out of social media in general.

What I Liked

• I was able to create tabs in HootSuite for each of my various social media feeds on my dashboard. This saved me a lot of time. In my Twitter tab, for example, I can see all my tweets, the tweets from my followers, my retweets and direct messages. I have a tab configured on my dashboard for each of my social media networks.
• HootSuite supports keyword tracking, which is really helpful for keeping up to date on business trends across various social media networks.
• I can write one status update or pose a question within HootSuite. The app will post this across all my social media networks immediately or at a scheduled time or at a time HootSuite thinks most people will read it.
• I was able to use HootSuite to pull content from my WordPress blog and to post content on my Tumblr blog.
• The analytics tools is great for creating professional looking reports for clients.

Room for Improvement

• HootSuite says it supports Google+ by using RSS feeds. It does but HootSuite posted the logo for my blog on Google+ instead of the featured blog image and I wasn’t able to find a fix for this issue.
• Conversely, HootSuite’s analytics reports aren’t as easy to run as Buffer’s and take some time to figure out.
• There’s a steep learning curve to HootSuite, which may put off time-strapped business people.
• The HootSuite iOS app doesn’t support information from or posting to LinkedIn groups.
• HootSuite struck me as service that could get expensive. The HootSuite YouTube app, for example, cost EUR1.99 per month. The more detailed analytics templates reports cost credits and are geared towards premium users. And so on.

Final Thoughts: Buffer or HootSuite?

HootSuite is the more feature rich of the two social media automation tools, but Buffer is easier to use and learn.

After two months with each, I gravitated towards HootSuite. That isn’t a criticism of Buffer. I simply preferred HootSuite’s ability to display multiple feeds from various social media networks at once.

I understand some users may find too much information overwhelming, and there’s a lot to be said for clean, intuitive interfaces and analytics. There’s nothing stopping users running both services at once and seeing which they prefer. The free versions of Buffer and HootSuite contain more than enough features for most users to begin with.

Conversely, I preferred the mobile experience of Buffer over HootSuite. The sheer volume of information on HootSuite made it difficult to use the app on my iPhone 4. I was more comfortable using HootSuite on a desktop, and the iOS app struck me as one best suited for a tablet.

My impression of Buffer and HootSuite is that they complement rather than replace Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. During my research, I read several post like this one. They argue posts made through social media automation tools are less likely to appear on people’s news feeds.

While Buffer and HootSuite are useful time saving apps, automation is not a replacement for engagement. Social media managers will still need to create original content and engage directly with users.

And this is a job no tool or programme can replace.

Do you use Buffer or HootSuite?

Please let me know what you think in the comments section below or connect with me on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Read More

14 Powerful Social-Media Sharing Strategies You Aren't Using

We all want to be the go-to person with the latest news, the most intriguing viral content, or the hidden gems followers wouldn't have otherwise found. Easier said than done, though, right?

It actually might be easier than you think--as long as you take the right approach.

The following is a guest post from Courtney Seiter, a content crafter at Buffer, a tool that makes social-media sharing smarter and easier. (You can read her posts on social media, productivity, and marketing on the Buffer blog.)

Here's Courtney:

The currency of social media is the share, and some people just have a knack for finding and crafting the perfect share. The rest of us have to work a little harder. Really, great social-media sharing is a skill. And like all other skills, it requires a little strategy and a lot of practice to perfect.

Here's a road map to quality social-media sharing, including what to share, when to share it, and how to share.

What to Share

Every day, we're inundated with lots of stuff--stuff to read and watch and see and think about. Probably too much stuff, honestly. The average American consumes 34 gigabytes of content and 100,000 words of information in a single day. That means the biggest challenge of great sharing is to make sure your stuff is better than all that other stuff. Want to know if it is? Ask yourself these four simple questions:

1. Would my network thank me for it?

According to Ann Handley, head of content at MarketingProfs and author of Content Rules, this is a good place to start. Is the content so useful that your audience would thank you?

Beyond that, would your audience's audience thank you? We've written before about the power of thinking beyond your audience to the next level of connectivity--it's a great method for attracting a broad, engaged audience. Your audience will definitely appreciate getting content it can then share with its audiences.

2. Does it make me say, "Holy smokes"?

"Useful" is only one of the signs of great content. Content can also be so funny, so ridiculous, or so rage-inducing that you simply must pass it on. What we're looking for here is the "holy smokes" reaction, which Jason Falls explains.

You want your audience to think, "'Holy smokes,' this message is: incredible/sad/awesome/beautiful/intelligent/informative/some other declarative response. According to Jason, ideally your audience will think, "Holy smokes; I have to share that with my friends."

3. Does it pass my Facebook test?

Think about the way people in your audience share and the patterns you've observed to determine whether the content you're considering will get traction. Buzzfeed chief revenue officer Andy Wiedlin says he urges Buzzfeed clients that produce sponsored content to think about how the content will play in the confines of Facebook.

"People share things that make them look clever and cool. They are building their own personal brands," Wiedlin said. "We spend a lot less time thinking how to target and a lot more thinking about what people are sharing."

Rule of thumb: If you would want to see it in your own Facebook feed, you're on the right track.

4. Would I email it to a friend?

This important question comes from Buffer's Leo Widrich, who uses it as a guiding principle for our own blog. Leo explains:

"It's an extremely simple proposition, yet it has changed my writing completely. If I put myself into a reader's head and can picture him or her saying, "Oh, this is interesting... John will really like this," then I feel good about publishing it. If not, I will iterate, find more research, get more examples...until I can truly imagine that happening."

When to Share

Now that you have a good feel for the content to look for, what is the best day and time to share on each social network? (If you use Buffer, you've already got a jump on the answers for Twitter, thanks to our partnerships with Tweriod and Followerwonk, which help you find your optimal times.)

1. Test your data.

But anyone can determine the best times for his or her social networks with a little experimenting. One, determine when the largest percentage of your audience is online. For example, Facebook shows this information for brand pages in Facebook Insights under the Posts section.

You can also try posting the same content at different times of the day, at least an hour or so apart, and then pay close attention to how many clicks each version gets. (This post explains that experiment in greater detail, as well as a few more methods for finding your best times to post.)

You can also follow conventional wisdom, as long as you keep in mind your experience may vary given your particular industry and content:

2. For Facebook, focus on the end of the week.

Engagement rates on Facebook tend to rise as the week goes on; they're 18 percent higher on Thursdays and Fridays, according to a BuddyMedia study. Another study found that B2C marketers get 32 percent higher engagement on weekends.

And most studies indicate that afternoons (experiment with the window from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.) are the best times to post on Facebook.

3. For Twitter, try off-peak times.

On Twitter, swim against the stream to make your posts stand out by trying off-peak times--like on weekends, when click-through rates tend to be highest.

As for timing, considering the rhythm of the day for your audience--times such as lunch or before and after a meeting are when folks are likely to be taking a quick peek at Twitter, so try timing posts for the lunchtime period and for just before or after the hour to take advantage of the postmeeting crowds.

4. For Google+, try late-morning weekdays.

The Google+ crowd hits the site hardest on weekdays before noon. You can also try the free tool Timing+, which analyzes your Google+ posts to see which times garner the best engagement.

5. For Pinterest, it's all about Saturdays.

The crafters, cooks, and shoppers of Pinterest are busiest on the site late at night and on the weekends--particularly Saturday mornings, accordingly to bit.ly.

6. For LinkedIn, try before or after work.

LinkedIn is all about work, so it makes sense that the best times to post are weekdays, just before or after work.

Just remember: These are basic guidelines; use them as a start to determining when your particular audience is most engaged.

How to Share

Now that we've found our "holy-smokes-the audience-will-thank-us" content, and we understand how to time our posts, all that's left is to share our great finds the right way. That means developing a consistent style to show off your content in the best light.

1. Be consistent with post structure.

People are creatures of habit. We like to know what to expect.

Help your content's chances for success by creating a consistent style. (For example, if you pull a quote to share, always add quotation marks. That way, regular readers instantly know what they're seeing.)

Research by Dan Zarrella indicates consistency is also important on Twitter where link placement and tweet length are concerned:

• Placing a link about 1/4 of the way into the tweet is optimal for click-throughs.
• One hundred and twenty to 130 characters is the sweet spot for optimal tweet length.

2. Uncover the gems.

Maybe it's a great photo. Maybe it's a staggering statistic. Or maybe it's the perfect quote. Whatever gives you that "aha" moment when you read a shareworthy piece of content is the element to emphasize when you share.

"I read every story looking for the nugget, the gem that will make most people interested in the piece," says Callie Schweitzer, director of digital innovation at TIME. "It's the best quote or the best turn of phrase that will draw people in. And I've seen great responses like: 'Wow, I'd never read this, but that really brought me in.'"

On Twitter, in-line images are a great opportunity to add another "hook" to your share. On Facebook, don't forget you can edit multiple fields to take advantage of your quote, stat, or other "gem."

3. Develop a "type."

We've written previously about understanding your posts' general types, which may include things like:

• Links
• Images
• Quotes
• Retweets
• Questions or comments

You might like to share pictures most of the time. Or you might like to share your own questions and comments to encourage discussion.

Whatever works for you, make it your staple share "type" and then identify a few supporting types to back it up. Once you've built your staple, you'll be able to focus in on and become known specifically for that type of content.

4. Give credit to creators.

When you can, give credit to both the content creator and the site where it originated; for example, "by @LeoWid via @Buffer." Though you might have to trace back a few steps to find the content originator, it's worth it to give credit where credit is due.

It's also nice to give a hat tip, or "HT," to the person or pathway by which you found the content.

Here's how Austin Kleon, author of the upcoming Show Your Work!, sums up attribution in one chart.

Not only is giving credit the right thing to do, it's also a small gesture that can help build a bigger relationship in the future with the creators of the content you love.

What tips did I miss for the what, when, and how of amazing sharing? Please share in the comments!

Read More

How to Build Powerful In-Person Networks From Your Social Contacts

By Mike Bruny

Would you like to make lasting contacts from your social media friends and fans?

According to a Harvard Business Reviewblog post entitled, “Three New Networks for the Digital Age,” just having an online network isn’t enough.

In this post, I’ll explore steps you can take toturn those online contacts to offline business relationships. I’ll use the thought of heading to a large event or conference as the stake in the ground so you have a “when and where” for connecting with some of your online contacts.

Here are 8 things you can do to turn social media contacts into offline business relationships.

#1: Get Clear on Your Goals

Start out by using a tool like Evernote to capture some of your thoughts.

Evernote allows you to create your plans in a linear fashion.

Capture what you’re currently working on, your current goals, the people you think can help you move your goals forward and what you’re currently looking to learn. (You may or may not actually have a name for your direction, but a title will do—think of creating a networking persona.)

If you’re less of the linear type, you can use a mind-mapping tool like MindJet.

MindJet allows you to create your plans in a non-linear fashion.

Being clear on your goals, the kinds of people who can help you and what you want to learn helps narrow down the list of people in your network with whom you would like to connect.

#2: Gather Your Contacts

Next, you have to set up a system that’s going to help you learn as much as you can about your soon-to-be-offline contacts.

Tools like Engagio can help pull together your contacts from Twitter, email, Facebook and LinkedIn and keep track of their social media activity in one location.

You want to know when your contacts get that promotion or when they express frustration with their new tax guy (really helpful to know if you are in the tax business).

Engagio allows you to keep track of social media conversations in one place.

#3: Meet Virtually

After doing the recon and getting a sense of what is going on with your target contacts, the next step is to go from text to video communication.

Video moves you from being another tweet or Facebook message to an actual person. Nothing beats being able to look someone in the eye and see their expression/reaction to something you just said. You just can’t get that with Twitter or Facebook.

You can use a tool like Skype or a Google+ Hangout to make the visual connection.

Skype is a great way to move relationships from text to video. I like to call it virtual coffee (BYOC).

Of course you can never tell if someone is dressed nicely from the waist up while wearing PJ bottoms, but that shouldn’t matter. The trick to video chat as you move your relationship closer to meeting face to face is a little bit of preparation and a whole lot of curiosity about the other person.

You want to learn their backstory, but for that first chat, don’t take too deep of a dive and ask them to tell you their deepest, darkest secret. Yes, someone actually asked me that on our first Skype call.

#4: Remember People

You’re a busy professional and one of the biggest challenges in keeping a network alive is to remember to reach out. There are several tools you can use to help you set up reminders.

Ming.ly lets you choose the frequency of your interactions with your contact and sends you a message if you haven’t reached out in the selected time-frame.

The idea here is to put yourself in a “set it and forget it” mode while still staying top of mind before actually meeting in person.

Ming.ly helps you to remember to reach out regularly to the people who matter in your professional network.

#5: Acknowledge People

Let people know that you’re looking forward to meeting them in person. You can leverage Twitter to send a quick message like, “Hey @Joe, great Skyping with you. Can’t wait to meet you in person at #SMMW13.”

There’s no doubt that there are people you would like to meet, but haven’t connected with yet. Put out the following message: “Who else is going to Social Media Marketing World in April?”

Once you get a response, you can reply and also take the opportunity to put your recon (see step #2) skills into action to learn more about the person who replied to you. Is he/she someone you would like to connect with in person?

#6: Connect PeopleStart following the person on different social media platforms, listen to his/her social media conversations and propose a 15-minute Skype session to get to know each other better.

“Your network should be wide and deep,” said Dr. Ivan Misner, founder of Business Networking International (BNI) and The Referral Institute.

This advice is valuable because you want to be known as a giver; someone who willhelp others solve problems by introducing them to people with the expertise they’re looking for.

Groups on different social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn serve as an excellent place to ask questions like, “Does anyone in our group focus on podcasting for beginners? If so, I’d love to chat for 5 minutes.”

Once you validate connections, ask them if they mind if you introduce them to someone who could use their expertise.

The introduction can sound something like this: “Joe, meet Sue. I thought with your mutual interest in podcasting, it made sense that you two know each other. I’ll let you take it from here.”

You may not have both parties’ email addresses, but if you’re all on Facebook, a private message to both is a great way to go.

Use the social media platforms you are familiar with, like Facebook, to connect great people.

#7: Have Fun and Capture the Moment

When I recently arrived early to a Seth Godin event, I ran into Seth himself in the hallway and quickly let my friends on Path know. One of my friends quickly responded, “With no pic, it didn’t exist.”

Capture the moments when you meet people at events.

Be sure to capture the moment when you finally turn your online contact to an offline relationship, or as I like to call it, turn #HashtagsToHandshakes.

Path is a great way to share information and link it to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Tumblr. Path serves as an excellent recordkeeper because of its search functionalities. It’s handy when you want to go back and research exactly when you first met someone face to face and at what event.

#8: Attend Conferences

An excellent opportunity to turn your online contacts to offline contacts is at conferences. They already serve as a natural filtration system based on the topic of the conference.

I’ll be helping facilitate in-person contacts at Social Media Marketing World. I hope to meet you there!

Social Media Marketing World is Social Media Examiner’s latest mega-conference—taking place at the waterfront San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego, California on April 7-9, 2013.

As you’d expect, Social Media Examiner recruited the biggest and best names in the world of social media marketing for this conference. Only the best for you! Be sure to check it out.

Read More

How to Write Powerful Headlines that Will Conquer Social Media

How to Write Powerful Headlines that Will Conquer Social Media

No king heading into battle would go at it without a strong army to back him up. Here’s a quick way for him to conquer the land: Come in with a strong, powerful army to intimidate the rivals, sending them running for their lives before the battle begins.

You? You’re the king. Social media? Your battle ground. Your headlines? Your soldiers. The more powerful your headlines, the stronger your army.

To put into perspective how much your headline matters, only 20 percent of people who see your headline will read past it. Furthermore, 90 percent of readers won’t engage on your blog, leaving few people who will actually share your content. So yeah, if you want to get more people reading and sharing your content, your headline matters.

Ready to conquer social media and send your blog posts spreading like a wildfire? Use these tips to help you write powerful headlines.

Hook Your Readers

Before readers click on your links and share your content, you have to intrigue them with something powerful.

Not sure where to start? Use one of these hooks to grip your readers.

1. Pique their curiosity. 10 Reasons Why You Need to Improve Your Social Media Customer Service
2. Ask a question. When is The Best Time to Post on Facebook?
3. Make a list. 7 Reasons “Facebook Fraud” is Seriously Flawed
4. Connect with the news. Facebook Turns 10! Ten Facts to Consider
5. Call out your readers. 8 Compelling Reasons Why You Should Be Using Social Media
6. Tell a true story. How to Handle Awkward Situations on Social Media: A Bank of America Story
7. Solve a problem. Raise Your Content Marketing ROI With Effective Distribution
8. Shock your readers. Social Media Saves Stranded Drivers in Atlanta
9. Connect with an unrelated idea. Is Social Media Really a Teenage Mutant Ninja Hurdle?
10. Imply time-sensitive information. New Survey Reveals Top Workplace Trends for 2014

Play With Emotions                                                         

It’s not enough to use one of the mentioned hooks without including an emotional element. For instance, you could ask the simple question, “Are You Using Social Media to Market?” but that doesn’t grip readers. Instead, you want to bring emotion into the content.

Some emotions you can play with include:

• Pleasure (for learning something new)
• Anger (for sparking controversy)
• Happiness (for seeing something funny)
• Empathy (for hearing a story)
• Shock (for learning something surprising)
• Guilt (for realizing they’re making mistakes)

Knowing this, you could turn your question headline from “Are You Using Social Media to Market?” to “Are You Making These 10 Social Media Marketing Mistakes?” to play off their guilt.

Promise Something of Value

If readers don’t think your post is going to offer value by teaching them something or making them laugh, they’re certainly not going to care to click on your links or share your blog posts. Make sure they know they’re getting something of value by promising it in the headline.

For instance, you could create list posts so they know they’re getting heaps of information, you might promise to reveal a secret, you could offer a solution in the title, or you could give offer tips, steps, or ways to do something so they know they’ll be learning something new.

Use Strong Verbs and Adjectives

To help create a more emotional headline, use strong verbs and adjectives to pull readers in. Avoid using words that have already been overused or don’t spark much interest such as awesome, great, cool, etc.

For instance, I could have easily titled this article “How to Write Great Headlines.” When I add the words “powerful” and “conquer,” readers like you felt more compelled to read what’s to come because the title is more engaging.

Examples of strong adjectives include:

• Surefire
• Exceptional
• Eye-Catching
• Explosive
• Outrageous
• Shocking

Bonus Tip:

If you can’t seem to write incredible headlines the first time, challenge yourself to write 10 headlines or more for each piece you write, and then choose the best one. Want more ideas on how to craft incredible headlines? Check out FreelanceWriting.com’s free eBook Headlines That Sell.

Still not sure about writing headlines for social media? Share your concerns in the comment section.

Read More