Proofread Your Social Media Posts

by Molly Jo Realy @RealMoJo68

Even social media typos can challenge our
credibility as writers.

We see it a lot. Those nasty little things we call typos. They’re everywhere. And *gasp* we’re even responsible for some of them. Oh, call the writing police and throw me in jail!

Folks, that’s why we have editors. Amazing, awesome, hand-holding editors who take the reins and shape our story into what we want it to be. They can see beneath our fast-typing mistakes. They interpret the message from what we mean to what it’s supposed to be.

Let’s be real: We know in a published book a typo can mean certain death. At the least, it removes the reader from the story and causes us to pause. It can shift our reading from, “What happens next?” to “What will I find next?” And you know I don’t mean that in a good way.

But there’s another venue that needs just as much attention, and for this we must rely on ourselves. Peeps, I’m talking about our social media platform.

There’s something detrimental to our authority as an author when our Facebook feed is littered with misspellings and grammatical errors. When Twitter replies are more in the form of “This doesn’t look right.” instead of “You’re right about that!” it’s not, well, shall we just say, helpful. Am I right? Sure, we laugh at memes that make fun of such issues. But aren’t you, like me, secretly hoping to never become such an example?

The ease of posting fast snippets via Smart Phones has lent itself to a barrage of “What are you trying to say?” moments. I can’t express how important it is to be your own editor here.

Slow down. Take a breath. Read each word individually and see if it makes sense. Sometimes, your little inner voice will tell you there’s a mistake, even if it’s not at first visible. Listen to your leprechaun! He knows how to work media magic.

Especially when it comes to a marketing post, you’ll want to verify the accuracy of every word. I once put my Kindle books up for free for a day. But I put the wrong date on the post. Needless to say, I fixed that mistake fast . . . and not through my own discovery.

Our friends and family will be tolerant of errors, but when they occur with frequency, we may be tuning out the very audience we’re trying to bring in. And since word of mouth is more important than any other form of advertising, we should do what we can to make sure what comes out of our “mouths” (whatever vehicle we choose that to be) is nothing short of our best.

What are some typos you've seen or . . . made yourself? Share your experience in the comments section below.

With a backspace button and something to say,

~Molly Jo

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Proofread your #socialMedia posts - @RealMoJo68 on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Our credibility as a writer is reduced when our #socialmedia feed is littered errors - @RealMoJo68 (Click to Tweet)

Molly Jo is a writer, editor, social media ninja, and producer of the weekly Firsts in Fiction podcast. She has been featured in children’s magazines, on blogs and devotional websites, and her short stories have earned her awards and scholarships from nationally acclaimed writing programs. She is the founder of New Inklings Press and author of The Unemployment Cookbook: Ideas for Feeding Families One Meal at a Time, and other books available through her website and on Amazon.

Her current work in progress, NOLA, is a location mystery set in New Orleans and is scheduled for publication in late 2017.

You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and her blog, Frankly, My Dear . . .