Social Media Monday—Don’t Give Away the Ending with Your Social Media Updates

Everyone knows how important it is to post regular updates on social media. But what a lot of people don’t know, is how important it is NOT to give away the ending with your social media updates.

The purpose of social media, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or another platform is to engage others in a conversation and develop valuable relationships. The best way to do this is either with open-ended questions (meaning those that don’t allow for just a yes or no answer), and well-planned updates that lead them somewhere for the answer they’re seeking.

Let me give you an example.

I wrote a blog post about Hootsuite. The point of the blog post was how to use Hootsuite to organize social media. But the Facebook and Twitter updates I sent out didn’t give that away. Instead, I chose to tease my friends and followers with this update:

Organize your social media with ONE simple tip. http://bit.ly/11GqMix #socialmedia

If I had used something like this:

Use Hootsuite to organize your social media. http://bit.ly/11GqMix #socialmedia, there wouldn’t have been any reason for people to visit my blog because I told them in my social media update how to solve the problem.

I hope you see the difference and how important it is to phrase your social media updates carefully.

Here are some reasons why you shouldn't give away the ending: 

• Teasing your friends and followers builds anticipation in what you’re sharing.

• Not giving away the ending will drive traffic to the site whose link you included in the update.

• If you give away the ending there’s no reason to visit the link included in the update.

Here are 3 simple ways to intrigue your friends and followers when you compose an update:

• Ask a question. Chances are if you are puzzled by something, so are your followers. So ask the question in your update.

• State the problem. Don’t ignore the elephant in the room. Like my example above, we all have trouble with organization (okay, maybe only ninety-nine percent of us). So don’t be afraid to share the obvious.

• Give the result, but DO NOT lay out the steps to get there.

Now it’s your turn, I’m listing several topics for blog posts below. It’s your chance to practice composing an intriguing social media update. Don’t be shy, lets learn together!

Topic One

Using Bitly to shorten social media links.

Topic Two

Find copyright free images on Microsoft Clip Art.

Topic Three

Hashtags on Twitter are the easiest way to gain new followers.

Post your social media updates in the comments section below. (Remember, I’ve had to go to moderated comments so yours may not show up immediately, but I'll approve comments as soon as I can.)

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie