"Social Media for Strategic Communication" Ch. 7

Writing effectively on social media is one of the most challenging responsibilities of public relations professionals. You need to have strong writing skills along with an understanding of the six C's of effective writing for social media: content, community, culture, conversation, creativity and connection. All of these topics are important but for this blog I'd like to talk about conversation. Conversation is important in making sure social media content resonates with key audiences. People get tired of being promoted to and advertised to all the time. If a brand becomes too pushy with promotions and advertising audiences are more likely to tune out and move on. I love seeing big brands and celebrities have real conversations with their fans on social media especially on Twitter. Having actual conversations brings a wholesome factor to a seemingly untouchable brand or celeb.

It is important to understand the type of brand voice and writing style on social media when working for a company. Your response to a person's inquiry about your company or product should reflect the overall tone. Responding appropriately in communications that are not official social media marketing messages is an important skill. Sometimes we can anticipate these informal types of scenarios and other times we have to think on our feet. Conversing takes some training, education and testing because it may take a lot of trial and error to fully understand the brand voice and mission of the company. Communication is a basic and fundamental process for human beings but when communicating becomes your job it's important to get it right.