I have no doubt that you have already researched and read about the different ways to communicate with your clients or customers online. Whether you’re drafting a blog post, creating marketing materials or have something to say on social media, getting that perfect message across can be tricky… I’ve tried to make it easier for you by breaking messaging down into three key points. Consider these points whenever you have a message you want to get across, and you’ll be drafting and posting with confidence.

One: Topic

We’ve all heard the saying about too many cooks in the kitchen spoiling the broth, well the same goes for messaging and key points. Make life simple for you and your reader by focusing on one topic, one key message or one call to action — build your writing around that one take-away you are offering.

Do you have a launch or sale coming up, a business milestone, or perhaps there is something on your mind? You might have lots of things to share but try your best to use a single idea each and every time you communicate.

Using this single-message method will also help you bulk up your posting schedule. If you push your messages out one at a time you’ll have more to say without hitting everyone with a “big bang” story. 

Two: Tone

I see tone happening in two ways when it comes to effective communication: A) What you are saying combined with when you are posting it and B) The way you are saying it.

Consider what you are promoting and when (day/month/newscycle) in today’s fast paced online climate. Whether we are battling a global pandemic or a natural disaster or special event, it’s important that you check that your messaging and ‘goal’ is appropriate at the time that you post. And yes, if you pre-schedule it’s good practice at the start of the week to see what you have coming out and keep it top of mind as the week rolls on. If you think something could be perceived as poor taste due to a news event, delete it and save it for another time.

Tone also applies to the language you use — and this is where I greatly encourage you to have fun. Please show your personality with your messaging, use language and words that you would use with your friends or colleagues, depending on your business. It can make your messaging and business persona so much more acceptable and approachable for potential clients/followers.

A brilliant example of this is the police force in Australia. The state police and the federal police often throw puns, jokes and memes into their social media feed, making them seem more ‘everyday’. It also helps with the ‘share’ factor of their posts, which get re-shared and attract active conversations and comments, pushing out their key message even further. 

Three: Timing

I touched on this just before but it’s definitely a point that warrants its own mention and explanation. Timing is EVERYTHING when it comes to communicating online.

Think about the day and time for each post and make sure it appears:

  • When your audience is most likely to be online (simply consider morning, noon or night)
  • When the news environment is acceptable e.g. a global or local crisis
  • When it could get picked up and/or be part of a celebration, theme or important day e.g. Easter recipes, Spring clothing, Christmas themed books etc.

In fact a great idea is to go through the month or year ahead and see what celebrations are coming up, and pre-write your post to fit in with that. It’s an incidental way for your post/story to get pulled into bigger traffic (of course, there’s also the risk it gets lost in the crowded market, it’s up you to weigh up the risk and/or lift your creativity to stand out).

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO ACT!

ACTION STEPS:

Look at the next four weeks ahead and see if there are any personal/business events or milestones you could write about and promote. If not, what about a national or international celebration day? 
Find one for each of the four weeks and pre-write a blog post or social media post. Pre-schedule or note in your diary when to post it appropriately.

Happy writing and posting,

J x

PS: While you’re here a big thank you for reading and following! Please sign up to my newsletter for more great tips and action steps to get you writing for business.

 
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