Student Guide: Writing for Social Media

Whether you’re currently enrolled or considering enrolling in our programs here at Concordia University Chicago, we’re sure you’ve met your next question, what now?

 

Students utilize social media in several ways, so why not establish a digital presence and gain credibility in your field by growing your network, expanding your business, or sharing your professional knowledge?

 

Over the next few weeks, we will publish a series of articles consisting of writing tips and strategies that will be useful in becoming a superior writer for digital media.  

 

To start with, we’ll kick off the discussion with some quick tips on how to begin writing and delve into blogs, social media posts, and infographics after that.

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Part 1: Writing Tips

Writing: the activity or skill of marking coherent words on paper and composing text. Writing is not just jotting things down; it is a process. Here are a few steps to help you get started.

Plan your writing.

The first step of writing contains two elements: figure out the purpose/topic of what you are writing about and who is the audience.

Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm.

Once you have the idea in your head, write down the important facts of your idea in bullet points, on sticky notes, however, and whatever works for you.

TIP: Don’t go off-topic. Focus on the purpose of your paper.

Your list of ideas is in front of you and now an outline needs to be made.  The outline will consist of an introduction that provides enough information to grab the reader’s attention and explain the overall topic.  From there we move on to the body which discusses the ideas and facts you had written down; the conclusion summarizes everything that was expressed.

 

Begin your writing.

Now that you have the purpose, audience, and outline for your paper. This next step takes the least amount of your time, writing.

REMEMBER, this is only a rough draft so it does not have to be perfect.

TIP: Don’t stop writing to revise your errors, let the words flow and edit afterward.

Your focus for the writing stage is going to be, content.

Here are a few pointers to think about when writing:

– Your arrangement of details

– Your main points have enough supporting points

– Be unique with each main point

– Repetitiveness is a no, no.

– The introductory, body, and conclusion paragraphs relate to the topic

If you checked everything off the list above, you are ready for the next step in the writing process: revision and editing.

 

Revision and editing.

This step is where you should take up most of your time. You will be attentive toward adding, repositioning, extracting, and substituting the content, wherever necessary, throughout the paper.

TIP: Ask yourself these 4 questions:

1. Are there enough facts for the story to make sense for your viewers?
2. Does the paper flow?
3. Is this piece essential? Does it go along with my paper?
4. Is there any contradiction in any of the sentences or paragraphs?

While you are editing, proofread every single sentence orally for typos and misphrasing. You will notice a lot.

TIP: Your text in your paper should stay consistent.

Points to look for when editing:

1. Echoing
2. Clarity
3. Grammar
4. Punctuation

TIP: TAKE A BREAK

With breaks, you can notice more of the minor details you left out and you will have a clear outlook of your paper.

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Part 2: Writing Articles

When writing an article, ask yourself this question, would you prefer to read something more conversational or more formal? The answer is both, with a little more emphasis on the conversational side.

The key to writing is understanding your audience. It is vital that you grasp how your audience verbalizes and the prime way they collect information. From there, you can write accordingly.

With a blog, there are two different lengths to consider. A short blog’s average length holds 500 words. Whereas longer blogs will conclude you with 1000 to 3000 words.

The structure of a blog will differ depending on the type of blog you are writing.

Your blog should have at least:

• A headline with action verbs to catch the eye of the reader.
• An introductory paragraph that includes two or three sentences that give an idea of what the blog offers.
• Three to six sentences that discuss the main points of your blog.
• Details under each of those main points.
• And for your conclusion, one to three sentences.

The final step is the editing stage. This is where all your focus needs to be. Go back through and read your blog out loud and check for spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes. Doing so will enable flow in your blog and make it easier for the reader to read.

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Part 3: Infographics

Infographics consist of two things: beneficial information and visuals that are pleasing to the eye. They are designed to drive engagement on social media and expose concepts in simpler terms.

The tone for an infographic runs as lively or professional, depending on the audience and the brand. That is when you must research the goal of an infographic and understand what the audience should take away from the reading.

The lengths for infographics can be long or short. You will have to understand the size guidelines and where your infographic will go, prior to making it.

Moving on to the structural aspect of an infographic, the first thing you should do is start off with an outline that has bullet points and details for the main points in your infographic. Now, infographics consist of visuals. As a part of the structure, notes need to be presented to the graphic designer including the main points that must provide clarity and present the information correctly, visually. If it is difficult to write out your ideas, sketch it out.

Before publishing your infographic, you must edit it. Again, for any social media writing, go over the punctuation, spelling, grammar, and specifically spacing, which can be affected during the layout process.