First off, before we get into the heart of it, this piece is inspired by two people that taught me a priceless lesson about blogging and writing, without even knowing it.
Specifically Alin Vlad, which is a copywriting beast of great content and Sonia Simone from copyblogger.com, who makes words come to life to the point where you reach the end of her articles without realizing what happened and you’re gonna beg for more.
And if I ever meet one of them on the street someday, I’ll most likely hug them without a warning and say ,,Thank you”. I”ll expect the very likely mace spray, but it’ll be worth it.
What lesson did they teach me about writing and social media? Great content isn’t just great info but an emotional dialogue.
You’re going to say, what’s so surprising about that? We all know it, get on with what you want to say, stop wasting my time, it’s a platitude. But I’m still going to tell you why I find this the most important lesson when you’re writing content, copy, marketing content, whatever term you prefer.
As human beings, the information we tend remember the most is the one tied to an emotional feeling. And most of all, if it’s relevant to us. It separates great content from writing trivia.
Now on to the show. Hope you’re still with me. Come along, I’ll show you something, I’ll tell you a story. After you.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon began one of his books, ,,The Angel’s Game” with the following lines that I’ve never been quite able to forget. (thankfully)
,,A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood and the belief that, if he succeeds in not letting anyone discover his lack of talent, the dream of literature will provide him with a roof over his head, a hot meal at the end of the day, and what he covets the most: his name printed on a miserable piece of paper that surely will outlive him. A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on he is doomed and his soul has a price.”
There is a grain of truth in there. And for some of us, a whole giant silo. Blogging is a cruel mistress. And even though blogging can’t be defined as being literature, nonetheless, they share the same essence: We create stories, insight, useful knowledge and best of all, we create and grow communities.
We often write with unending time constraints, headbutting the desk every five minutes, staring absently at the floor for an idea that never comes, drinking biblical amounts of coffee, smoke and all those nice quirks writers in the world have been doing to die young in a blaze of glory. Sometimes it’s hell. Sometimes it’s the greatest feeling in the world besides chocolate cake.
Now I’m going to show you what I’ve learned, how I stumbled and how copywriters aren’t each other’s enemy, but each other’s strength.
Write first, SEO can drink its coffee, take a nap and wait
Content often spreads not necessarily through 110% optimized SEO words, but through people. After all, we are writing for people, not search engines. Content goes viral word to mouth through quality and reputation.
Going overboard with SEO and keywords can sadly lead to unintelligible content. Content writing, even at its worst, is still a conversation between reader and writer. As such, SEO should come last.
Lesson learned the hard way.
You have 5 minutes or less, make them count
When I first started, I wrote in a convoluted and in a distant manner. I forgot that using long sentences and fancy words can lead to a garbled message. As Brian Clark once said it, if you do it wrong ,,Words get in the way of the words.”
Here’s an illustrative situation.
You’re in a train, you look out the window, clear your mind and take in the view. Everything’s great. But fate decided that day that your wallet found a clever way to fall out of your pocket. Panic ensues in your mind and the fact that a ticket collector is tapping you on your shoulder isn’t helping. ,,Tickets please!” makes you sweat and you invent a couple of innovative curses. When all seems to go downhill, a stranger clears his throat, hands you your wallet with a smile that speaks volumes. Nothing is missing from the wallet. ID: check, money: check, ticket: check, everything’s there.
To top it all off, that kind stranger wrote a sticky note on the back of the wallet that says ,,Funny ID photo”. The stranger tells you he’s about to reach his destination in less than five minutes. Your mind is frozen. ,,A great person” you think to yourself. ,,Thanks” just doesn’t cut it. You might never see him again. What do you tell him?
It has to be meaningful. It has to matter. Writing is like that. The stranger in the story would be your readers. You have less than 5 minutes to thank them by being helpful, informative and even fun.
A nice and short title would be just the tip of the iceberg. Then a first line that provokes an emotional reaction to make someone interested in reading further. Or in other words : a pledge. It follows the same rules in books or journalism. That something that sparks a subtle smile on someone’s face. Something that kindles that natural curiosity we’re born with.
Be vulnerable
Wait, wait, what?
It’s about the same vulnerability everybody faces in social media.
Social media is a forested with possible mistakes, uncertainties and volatility. It can be confusing and contradictory. As a blogger, it’s good to empathize with your readers. See things from their point of view. Ask the questions they’d ask before them. Even criticizing yourself shows the mark of an objective and open writer.
It’s about not taking anything at face value and doubting it. That builds trust. It’s ironic, and you’re going to say that trust is the the opposite of doubt.
But social media is all about informing readers and customers. It’s just as much education as it’s marketing. Vulnerability can be key in relating to those that read you. It builds something to start from.
Valuable content, what’s that?
There’s no perfect way to define that. But it consists of a few things.
First and foremoset: usefulness. No one wants to read useless info.
Second: It either answers a problem, gives directions or asks a question no one ever did before. Even reassessing so called ,,unchangeable rules” and debunking myths is gold.
Third: If it’s new, it’s interesting. And more so if it’s experimental. Though you can make a lot of blunders with experiments, untread paths offer the greatest rewards.
Durable is key as well. As long as we’ll have Monday mornings, durable content like this one will be here for years to come.
A part of the beauty of copywriting is that you learn alongside your readers. You’re a teacher and student. Writing great content is as much about learning as it’s about writing easy to process info.
In the end, there’s as much value as you put in it.
We absorb a lot of dense info in simple story form
Stories are a part of us. We carry them everywhere. Yet often, we don’t remember a lot of things that aren’t contextualized. Being run over with so much info everyday, it’s no surprise.
After all, first we were storytellers. That hasn’t changed in social media. Good writers grab you by the throat with a few words and you’re going to smile because of that.
The truth is, I could make a long list with what I’ve learned. But these are the important ones and there’s not enough space to write down that library of lessons learned in my head.
To those that taught me, directly or indirectly what good content is all about, I make a humble bow.
Someone once told me that great people inspire greatness in others. They do it through simple things, and often not through ponderous self-help books or ,,how to” guides. They actually show it.
And with that in mind, I leave you with a question.
What really gives content a certain feeling of ,,I want you on top of my bookmarks tab” ? What simple things fuel that inner fire of social media and writing?
