Saturday, May 2, 2009

How Facebook Has Made Me A Better Copywriter

When you write on your personal Facebook Wall it is like writing a personal headline for that day (or week, or minute.) Your friends seem to respond to some more than others. Ever notice that? So, I set out to see if there are some common themes in the Wall posts or "headlines" that get the most attention. Because if I can figure out which headlines cause people to take action by responding to my post, then that will help me figure out what headlines will cause customers to take action in general - which is the goal of copywriting.

Four common themes:

1 - Something sexy. Not too sexy because we don't want to get into T.M.I. territory here, but an interesting substory to my personal story is my romantic life.

2 - Things that make people jealous. I posted that I was going to the beach on a Monday and people really responded.

3 - Humorous things. This is probably #1. Any time I write something funny, I get sooo many responses. Either people saying a simple 'ha!' or people trying to be even funnier or add to the funny.

4 - Mention love for something others already know about. This includes bands, celebrities, coffee drinks, etc. If they also like that product (or if they hate it) they respond.


If you've noticed some common take action themes, please leave them as a comment. I'm sure there are many more!

1 comment:

  1. I have found that Twitter helps me for similar reasons.

    Persuasive headline writing is fun if you have fun with it.

    Keep up the excellent work!

    ReplyDelete