What I Learned From A Terrible Mother
January 8, 2010 by David Lanning · View Comments
About the author: David Lanning is the founder of Tweetalize and CEO of Galapagos Collection, Inc. David has more than 20 years of experience in the retail industry with a specialization in retail promotions and online marketing. Read more from this author...Sorry Mom, you really weren’t a terrible mother.
I just wanted to illustrate a point about writing social media status updates that are compelling and stand a much better chance of getting Twitter followers and Facebook fans clicking thru to your site.
Actually I stole the headline from the cover of the January 2010 issue of Psychology Today Magazine .
When you saw the headline on my Twitter feed or Facebook fan page, did it make you want to click on the link to find out what I could have learned from my terrible mother? Or, maybe you were wondering what my mother had done that caused me to write an article about her misdeeds? Perhaps you might have had a terrible mother yourself and are wondering if you had missed some important lesson from mom.
The point here is that in your retail social media marketing, there’s a lot of competition for attention. And, it’s just getting more and more difficult to get your message noticed and even more difficult to get readers to click on links that you have in your status updates.
In most cases (whether it’s Twitter or Facebook) you only have seconds to grab the readers’ attention. And, if you don’t… you lose.
So, here are a few tips on writing compelling status updates for your social media marketing:
- Pose a question that can’t be answered. People are wired to be curious and to seek the answer to questions. But, it has to be a question that sparks interest in the first place. For example, a headline that states ” 21 Items In Every Womens’ Purse That Will Cause Embarrassment At Airport Security” will not cause me to click to find out what they are… but, my wife sure will. Especially if my wife is a frequent traveler.
- Make your status updates timely and tied to current news if possible. The example above is a good one in wake of the recent attempted airline bombing and security breaches. People at the time of this posting have a heightened awareness of airport security issues because it is current and in the news… right now. It’s like peoples antennas are up for this topic.
- Avoid making your update sound like a sales pitch. No one likes to be sold to. Period. In general, people are selfish, lack attention, and don’t care about what you have to say… unless it can benefit them in some way. It sounds like a negative comment, but it’s not. It’s reality. So, after you write your status update, ask yourself, “What’s in it for my follower or fan?” Is there a compelling reason to click on a link to find out more?
- Your not as interesting as you find yourself. Sorry. I accept this fact and you need to also. Don’t take it personally. You are interested in yourself, your company and your products way more than anyone else is. So, as difficult as it is, step outside of yourself when writing your social media status updates and read them through the eyes of your followers or fans.
Well, at the risk of not adhering to my own advice, I’ll wrap this post up now before you nod off.
Just because I find copy writing, behavioral psychology and lessons I learned from my terrible Mother interesting, you may just be looking for what to leave home on your next airline flight.
Got a great headline that intrigued you recently?
