Three Questions to Consider When Writing Social Media Posts

Jenn Taylor

Throughout my internship at Obsidian, I have been given various assignments. From the basic intern-type tasks, like collecting the newspapers in the morning, to the more in-depth tasks, like formulating a media contact list, there is one particular task that I feel has grown on me quite a bit. Researching content for social media posts is an assignment that I consistently do every week. While working on these projects, I have learned that there are three very important questions everyone should ask when writing these posts. 

The three questions are: 

What audience am I trying to reach? 

I believe this question is the most important of all because if we do not know to whom we are speaking, how could we possibly know what content would be of interest? For example, we would not want to write about fashion or about celebrity updates for an accounting firm. The update on the latest E! network show, “Eric and Jessie: Game On,” is probably not going to be beneficial to the firm’s current and future clients. Considering the audience not only shapes the message, but also the tone of any post we craft. 

What is relevant, and what is currently trending? 

Something that I did not think about when I first started writing social media posts was that, yes, we need to ultimately use the company’s information and updates to write the posts, but we need to also remember that important events and holidays are occurring outside of the company. This approach helps pull in your followers who may not be completely invested in the company’s everyday posts but could easily relate to a general “Happy President’s Day” post. If anything, the most basic and timely posts can help keep those followers engaged through a possible retweet on Twitter or a share on Facebook. 

What is the overall mission/message the company wants to communicate? 

We have all visited our fair share of company websites to learn more about a company. Usually, one of the first things we read about or notice on the website is the company’s mission statement. The mission statement lays out the purpose of the company or organization and its reason for existing. It is vital to understand the mission statement of the company you are writing for to ensure consistent implementation of the company’s values and beliefs into the content. This will also help connect to an audience that may be alike in those values and beliefs. 

With social media becoming a popular communication channel for businesses and organizations of all types, I believe this newfound knowledge will be useful to me in my future career in public relations.

Public Relations is like…

Daniel Wade

We begin today’s discussion with a well-known brand. Ladies, help me out here. When considering a luxury brand such as Tiffany’s, what comes to mind?

Forget diamonds – have you seen their new leather collection? 

If we must speak about diamonds, did you know you could get an 18-carat white gold brooch with “Love” written in diamonds? All for today's low price of $40,000!

Remember your “normal” watch? How about a Tiffany’s cocktail watch in 18-carat white gold lined with diamonds for a cool $75,000? Good news: it’s water-resistant up to 30 meters. 

Have you ever worn something from Tiffany’s? Dare I say owned? What do you think about Tiffany’s? More importantly, why do you feel the way you do about this established brand? 

Now, let’s move to your business’ brand. Real estate is close to home for me, so I’ll use this as an example. There’s a difference in a real estate agent and a REALTOR^®. But, as a REALTOR^®, how do you communicate this difference? What’s the advantage? There has to be something more than the trademarked symbol. For those in this industry, this is their brand…just like Tiffany’s.

Here’s where public relations comes in. [What – you didn’t expect this?] Public relations is like the elevator button. When you want to go upstairs, you go to the elevator and push the button, and when it dings, you turn and walk in it. Very Pavlov. Follow me? REALTORS^® want to brand themselves so that when someone wants to buy or sell a home, they turn to a REALTOR^® and not just any old real estate agent. Make sense? More specifically (and here’s where we get competitive), when someone wants to buy or sell a home, they call your agency or better yet…you! Public relations works to accomplish this. 

Public relations is simply who’s talking about what you are doing. I’ve used the real estate industry as my primary example here, but this concept travels. Ideally, you want people to say: “I need to _____, so I’d better call ________.” Insert your law firm, photography studio or pre-manufactured metal building company, and you get the idea.

How can you begin to do this?

• Observation No. 1: Listen. 
• Do you read The Commercial Appeal, Memphis Business Journal or Memphis Daily News on a regular basis? Your clients are hearing things about your business and industry, and you need to be able to talk about that and provide perspective. 
• Observation No. 2: Find appropriate ways/areas to communicate your messages.
• Community Involvement – What a great arena in which to communicate in a grassroots manner about what it is you want to get across.
• Make it personal and credible – Advertising is not the way to do this. The praise of another takes on new meaning and legitimacy when it’s unpaid. 

You, and your employees alike, serve as ambassadors for your business and industry, whether you like it or not. Who’s talking about what you are doing? And what are they saying? 

Ding! Your elevator just arrived…

Messaging? **blink, blink**

Kim Morrison

For those of us in the PR business, when we talk about messaging, we know exactly what we’re talking about, but sometimes we forget that the concept isn’t as clear to everyone else. We talk about consistency in it, shaping it for the right audiences and getting it out in a timely manner, but what exactly are we talking about when we say messaging? So, here’s a little PR 101 for you on messaging.

Messaging pretty much incorporates any communication you’re sending out to your audiences, whether we’re talking about internal audiences, external audiences and any mode of communication, whether it be a newsletter, morning show interview, elevator speech, etc. We want to make sure that our communication about our clients -- what they do, their missions, their goals, etc. -- is accurate, consistent and concise, from the wording and phrasing we use down to the color palette we use for clients various print materials. If there’s a variance in those factors, you can possibly confuse your audiences, sound unsure in your position and potentially lose audience members due to lack of consistent communication. People like consistency, people remember consistency and people trust consistency. 

The best thing you can do to ensure the quality of your messaging when reaching out to anyone is to take an extra minute to step back and look at your email, newsletter, poster, etc., from an outsider’s perspective. Does it make sense? Is it too lengthy or too short? Is it missing any information? If you didn’t already know this information, would you receive a similar level of understanding from the communication you created? Will it capture your audience’s interest, or is it boring?

With just a little extra work, you can make sure that your intended audience is receiving the best messaging possible to communicate your point. Good communication is the foundation for any good relationship, especially business ones.

Frame of Reference

Thomas Whitehead

The other day at my gym, there was this dude who was working out with heavy weights on every machine. He was throwing down on every piece of equipment they have -- and with proper form and discipline. He was definitely one of the strongest guys that I’ve seen in there. Then, he started doing some push-ups, and I noticed that he could barely do them. His form was completely off, and he didn’t have any balance. 

The other day at my gym, there was this dude who started doing some push-ups, and I noticed that he could barely do them. His form was completely off, and he didn’t have any balance. Then, he started working out with heavy weights on every machine. He was throwing down on every piece of equipment they have -- and with proper form and discipline. He was definitely one of the strongest guys that I’ve seen in there.

Spoiler Alert – this is the same guy! However, go back and read those two paragraphs again. What is your impression of the guy in the first paragraph compared to the guy in the second?

If you are like me, the ending of the first paragraph’s story was surprising in that you would assume that someone who can work out with that much weight appropriately would be able to do push-ups with considerable ease. And, the second paragraph’s end provides the feelings of being surprised in that you assume this weakling can’t do any large amounts of weight, but then he outperforms expectations. 

I honestly was reflecting about this the other day because I was imagining how I would tell this story to someone who wasn’t there and how depending on the way I told it, the listener would have a much different reaction, as well as perception of the story I was setting up.

It is also a good reminder that companies, brands and organizations need to be very aware of HOW they are telling their stories. As the above example showed, there will always be several ways to share the same story. The challenge is to make sure that the way you choose to share your story is the RIGHT way for you, your company and its overall goals. 

Speaking with clients, we always stress consistency of message when different spokespeople communicate about an organization. This is more challenging than it appears. Each person who is designated to speak about a brand should be well-versed in some type of ambassador training in order to have extensive practice and awareness of the do’s and don’ts of speaking as it pertains to the specific company you are representing. 

Stories are the way that we share everything. Therefore, it is important that the beginning, middle and end of the story is well-planned and thought-out for the audience to which it is intended. 

Beware the scare (tactics, that is)

Courtney Ellett

My 13-year-old called me around 4 p.m. awhile back in absolute hysterics. She was crying so furiously that I couldn’t understand her. My heart sank, and the worst possible things were flooding my mind. After my brain started working again, I asked her to slow down (PLEASE!) and tell me what’s wrong.
 
She sucked up her tears long enough to say the words “FBI…break-in…15 seconds.” Now, my imagination really went into overdrive, and I was frozen by the thought that someone had broken into the house. I once again pleaded for her to explain and so she did.
 

www.flickr.com/photos/light_seeker/6779884645/

She was at Gram’s house after school, and my mom had left to pick up little brother. Now, my mom’s only gone for about five to seven minutes, and my daughter has never had an issue with being alone for that short time. But on this day, the house phone rang and she picked up. It was a robo-call explaining that the FBI reports that a home invasion happens every 15 seconds and suggested you get a good security system to protect your home and family.
 
You probably get the picture and understand why I got that worried call from my daughter. All she heard was “FBI…break-in…15 seconds,” and her mind went racing.
 
Now, I understand that it wasn’t the company’s intention to scare the pants off a tween – at least I hope not. But it happened, and I think there’s a PR lesson to be learned. Words can scare people, and those same words stick in their minds. It’s all they recall. Studies actually have proven that negative words are more easily recalled by humans than positive ones.
 
Our team – when prepping our clients for interviews or speeches or even website copy – advises that all negative words are removed and never repeated even if someone else introduces them. If you are in the hospital, the last word you want to hear is “mistake.” If you’re in a restaurant, you don’t want to hear “dirty.” If you are in search of a good courier service, “slow” isn’t a crowd-pleaser.  
 
And I suppose, some companies use scary words purposefully because they already know what we PR strategists teach, and they want the public to remember those words (and thus be scared enough into buying a product or service). But I say beware the scare tactics. You never know who is answering the phone.