Writing Short-form Content is Tough

When you have a story to tell

Image designed by the author using Canva

Writing long-form is easier than writing short-form content. Short-form is saying a story in 2–3 lines or some 160 characters or in a single line that defines the whole thing. It is a combination of brain and creativity. That is why we see creators writing such content on social media with a MEME. The reason memes are being shared instantly and getting a wider reach is that they say the whole concept in a single line, which is also short, easy to understand, and relatable. Even companies are hiring people, who are good at understanding and creating meme content. They are clearly mentioning it in the job description. Nobody wants lengthy and 2–3 slides of content to promote their service or brand. Short is more today. Short is creative.

Short-form content on social media is mostly copywriting. Content writing is different from copywriting as we all know. Content writing is for engagement and copywriting is to persuade and sell. So, when a content writer writes a brief with 300 words, the copywriter takes the most influential words, making it more persuasive to sell the brand. That’s how it works on social media. So, the content writer is nowhere on the brand’s social media, they are on the website, LinkedIn, and other platforms where engagement is the main criterion.

What else is the short-form content?

Simply put — Short-form content is anything you write to persuade the brand and turn the engagement (likes, comments, shares, and saves) into buying. Lately, there have been no actual creative briefs to define the brand. Every firm is using either memes or moment marketing to promote and define their brand. I guess it is clear now how significant is copywriting in the media industry.

Advertising agencies, marketing agencies, IT consulting firms, and ed-tech companies need copywriters at any cost. Every company is craving social media attention and sadly the brand’s social media followers define their position in the media industry competition. It’s tough for companies to maintain consistency on social media because what works today doesn’t work tomorrow. Copywriters are burning out to create content that has to reach a certain number.

Recently, I have been following some amazing creators on Instagram and understanding how copywriting works. They do creative exercises and let people dive their creativity levels to an extent to get an impressive outcome of the copy.

What I learned about copywriting from the great creators I follow:

1. You don’t have to be born a genius to start practicing copywriting. You have to understand the brand voice from a social media audience perspective. Understand the social media.
2. Yes, you have to be obsessed with social media. Only then you will know what is working, what is trending, and what is selling.
3. No, you don’t have to be perfect at English. Many Indian brands use local language to connect with their audiences on social media. Copywriting isn’t confined to one language. End of the day it should connect with the brand’s audiences.
4. Yes, you can write your own copies for the brands you like and post them on your social media handle by tagging them. You never know the brand might see and like it. Experiment, share, and repeat.
5. There are numerous courses for copywriting exclusively. You can take one, learn the tactics, and then practice it on Instagram. Practice is an important step no matter how you learn, either paid or free.
6. Yes, you should keep consuming trending brand content, and that’s learning. That’s how you understand. That’s how you get ideas. That’s how you post something that makes sense.
7. Yes, it is not easy like writing a blog. In the long form, there is an advantage of saying something elaboratively — the way you feel. But in short-form content, you don’t have that liberty. You have a word limit and should express a compelling line within that word limit.
8. Yes, you should understand design as well because design and the copy go hand in hand. Your copy should have an attractive font, engaging design, and compelling words.

Keep learning and keep creating. It is all about storytelling, whether it is an ad or an article. Never feel underconfident about telling a story if it has a relatable intro, content, and a satisfying conclusion. People love to listen to stories. In today’s pool of social media content, it is the story that hooks readers and makes them come back for more again and again. Learn storytelling, create a story, and become a writer first to understand any type of content.

Happy reading :)

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[Original image link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAF09Pnr2Es/M-DBgJeAw4gDtFKH0ZnGMQ/edit?utm_content=DAF09Pnr2Es&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton]