What you should really do on Twitter
Business users coming to Twitter receive some advice that may not help them in the long run. Here’s an alternative view.
I have now composed over 12,000 Tweets. Laid end to end, they’d make a decent-sized book. A really boring, intensely repetitive book about eating soup, last night’s TV and, from time to time, a little bit of copywriting.
When it comes to Tweeting, I’ve earned my stripes.
I’m not saying I’m a ‘social media expert’. But I do find that my experience clashes with some of the received wisdom about using Twitter for business. Here are five pinches of salt to go with some of the stuff you might read online.
Five great examples of product page copywriting
While product page design has improved in the past few years, an often neglected area is sales copy.
A common mistake is to simply place the manufacturer’s product descriptions on pages. While this approach is easier, a more personal touch and unique tone of voice can help your product pages stand out and really sell the benefits of products.
I'm going to explain why good sales copy is so important, and look at some examples where retailers are getting this spot on...
How to optimise headlines using the 65 character rule
I’m currently developing some wireframes as we pave the way for a revamp of this blog later this year. There are lots of things to think about. One of those things is typography. Closely related to that is optimal headline length.
I always try to write headlines that fit on one line, though I don’t always succeed. Nevertheless, short headlines beat longer ones for lots of reasons. As such I’d like to introduce the 65 character rule. Actually it’s 65 or less, to be precise.
Here’s why...
Seven reasons why you shouldn’t hire a ghost-tweeter
I believe that if you resort to using a ghost-tweeter to update your Twitter feed then you’re doing it wrong.
Why? Well mainly because I think social media is about customer (or audience) centricity. It is about placing the customer at the very heart of your business, and caring about what they have to say. And as such it has an impact on – and it reflects – organisational culture.
The brands that are doing social media right are very much focused on listening, sharing, communicating and responding. Outsourcing these tasks is myopic, and it can also be rather dangerous (especially if you fire the ghost-tweeter and fail to change the passwords to your social media accounts).
Why you need a freelance copywriter
Using a freelance copywriter isn't just about flexibility and convenience. It's often the best way to get a quality result.
A few weeks ago, Sharon Flaherty wrote a guest post here entitled Want quality content? Produce it in-house. As her title suggests, Sharon argues that the best way to get high-quality content is to employ an in-house copywriter.
Although I commented on the post, I feel it deserves a more considered response, so here it is.
Psychographic targeting in B2B marketing
There are so many ways to segment an audience and target your messages – by job title, industry, seniority, behaviour... But there's an important dimension that's often ignored by B2B marketers: psychographics.
How different prospects feel about things can guide your segmentation, offers and creative. The trick is to find ways to get your psychographic targets to identify themselves so you can market to their specific biases.
How to use content curation to add value to your own website
If you are responsible for adding high-value content to your website, you are constantly being challenged to find page or post topics which are new, shareable, helpful and original.
Why you should start to think like a media publisher
Every business is now a media business. Smart and successful ones think and behave like media publishers even though their origins are miles away from content creation.
Aiming content at competitors
Some brands, by their nature, find it hard to build a social profile and reap the SEO benefits. One way round this is to build a community of peers and competitors rather than customers.
How gobbledygook clichés make your web copy invisible
Every copywriter and marketer faces the challenge of writing web copy that connects with their readers. Engaging copy encourages visitors to find out more, spread the news to colleagues and make return visits.
