Great content requires originality. With 190 million tweets being generated per day, people are looking for genuine insight and overlook bland and overused expressions.
Quite helpfully, LinkedIn have published their analysis of Top 10 Overused Professional Buzzwords in 2012. They include such well-known examples as:
- Creative
- Effective
- Motivated
- Analytical
- Responsible
Compared to their last year’s list, country-specific popularity of buzzwords has changed. Brazil has gone from being “multinational” to “experimental”, Spain – from “managerial” to “specialized” and UK – from “creative” to “motivated”. India has remained “effective”.
When it comes to avoiding buzzwords, here are two useful tips:
1. Find out the buzzwords specific to your industry. Create a list. Check against it any content you create. (Lists like this from D.M.Scott may give you a good start. And if you work in social media, have a read of our blog post on clichés in social media)
2. If no adequate word describes you or your product, why not invent a new one?
Great content requires effort. The explosive potential of social media provides great rewards to effort and originality. Engaging content gets shared, talked about and responded to, raising awareness and helping you achieve your aims.
