A crash course in B2B social media copywriting

Social media has been ingrained in our lives for well over a decade now. So you may think I’m a bit late to the party with this guide on how to write for B2B on LinkedIn, Facebook et al.

Well, not quite. Here’s the problem: since we all started, social media has exploded in its popularity. Like, really exploded. And that makes it harder than ever to be heard.

If you post something to Twitter right now your tweet will be relevant for about two seconds, before being replaced by thousands and thousands of other people (or bots), saying the same thing.

And that’s the issue some B2B brands are having on social media. They’re active, but often their content  just doesn’t cut through the noise.

This is a shame because, when it’s done right, social media is great for things like driving traffic to your website, and getting your content in front of exactly the right people.

The moral? It’s time to make those characters count.

So here’s my guide to writing social media posts in the B2B world.

Keep it short

For any writer, working on social media seeds is a really good way to keep your skills sharp and ensure your writing is punchy and relevant. When you’ve got a limited number of characters to work with, there’s no room for slowly sparking up a conversation.

In just a couple of lines, you’ll need to frame the challenge, the solution, and what you’re offering.

Practising that skill – stripping out excess words or finding a shorter way of saying the same thing – is always worthwhile, whatever you usually write.

And remember: always count your characters when you’re done. There’s nothing wrong with writing one social post with the same messaging for multiple channels, but make sure you edit each one to reflect each channel’s limitations.

TL;DR: research suggests the most effective lengths for status updates are…

• Facebook: 40-80 characters
• Twitter: 71-100 characters
• LinkedIn: 50-100 characters

Make it interesting

Consider what your hook is going to be. It may be that you’re promoting an asset that has some unique insight no one’s ever heard before. Or your product has a feature that’s unique to your brand.

But frankly, who cares?

What people care about is what value your post has for them.

So frame your message within the challenge it addresses; something you know will resonate with people. Match your solution to the challenge, and then point people towards your call to action.