August 6, 2020
Writing for social media ads might seem like a no-brainer, but there’s a lot more involved than you may think. Social media is a noisy landscape, and you can’t simply rely on your creative to get your audience’s attention – you need them to buy into what you’re selling (and saying).
We’ve rounded up some of the most important considerations when writing social media ad copy.
Write directly to your audience
Like everything you do on social, ad writing needs to address your target audience. Take the time to define the voice/tone of your audience, so that you can better speak to their unique experiences and pain points.
Keep it short, sweet and SIMPLE
This is easier said than done – particularly when you have an offering or promotion that needs explanation. But whenever possible, keep your writing simple. Audiences don’t want to work harder than is necessary to engage with your ad.
Write with the expectation that people will not click the “See More” button. Take out unnecessary adjectives and replace lengthy words with short ones.
Don’t neglect the call to action
Without a strong CTA, your ad can fall flat. The call to action should set the expectation of what’s coming next. You need to be asking yourself the following questions when writing your CTA:
- Where is your reader going next?
- How will it add value to them?
- What’s the ultimate goal of the ad?
Save hashtags for organic
There’s no denying that hashtags are a great tool for organic posting – they add reach, relevance and increase social conversations. But if the goal of a social ad is to drive audiences to your CTA, you might want to rethink adding a hashtag that could disrupt that user journey.
Write for the format and platform
Let’s be honest, most social media marketers have to work off a content calendar, it’s impossible not too! But your audience doesn’t need to know that and shouldn’t be able to identify it in your writing.
Differentiate your writing for the platform and format. Depending on whether you’re writing for an ad with an image, video, or carousel, your copy will be different. The same is true for the platform – for example, twitter tends to be direct and informal, whereas LinkedIn is often more professional and informative.
Experiment with emojis and capitalisation
Depending on ad content and audience, results can be dramatically affected by the use of emojis and capitalisation. Some campaigns perform better when Each Word Is Capitalised, while others do well in a simple sentence case. Similarly, for emojis, some audiences respond well to them while others don’t.
There’s no perfect science to this, which why A/B testing is so important. Add a few copy options to each creative and let the analytics decide.
When you start writing copy for your next ad campaign, keep these tips in mind. And for more on how you can produce better results, follow our channels or drop us a note.