Chapter 7 Reading Analysis

     Chapter 7 from "Social Media for Strategic Communication" is all about strategic writing in social media. In one of my last week's blogs "Liven up Your PR Writing Webinar," I talked about the difference between academic and PR/social media writing. There's more to PR writing than just changing your style. Here are a few of my key takeaways from this chapter to keep in mind when trying to write effectively in the world of PR and social media. 

1. Content - What are you writing about? Is it relevant to your intended audience? Are you having a conversation with your audience rather than pitching a sale to them all the time?

2. Developing and maintaining a brand voice and tone- Although the two are different, they are connected with each other. A brand's voice is the overall personality of your brand. Tone is the way writing is portrayed through content. The most important thing about both of these aspects is to remain authentic. If your content seems inauthentic, people will notice and direct their attention elsewhere.

3.Understand the different demands of different platforms in terms of content- For example, creating a post for Twitter requires you to write with less than 280 characters. Tiktok and Snapchat require a visual post of some sort with little text. With platforms like these, it's important to be engaging. Overall, across all platforms, it is important to be clear and direct. You don't want your audience to get bored and leave your post before finishing it. It's also important so that your audience doesn't get lost in your message and misconstrue it's meaning.

These are just a few things that stood out to me from this reading. A more in-depth dive into these concepts can be found in "Social Media for Strategic Communication," pages 137-159.