5 ways to write promo copy for social media

I step through my 5 simple types of promo posts.. it's easier than you think!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, gorgeous recovering perfectionists. I'm Claire Riley, and you're listening to episode number 67 of the Recovering Perfectionist Podcast. You can head to clairy.co forward slash pod forward slash 67 for the show notes and any links that I mentioned today as well. So today I am going to be talking about my five favourite ways to write promo copy for your service or product on social media. This is the Recovering Perfectionist Podcast, and I'm your host, Claire Riley. Alrighty, we talk about this all the time in my beautiful monthly membership for creating consistent content, which is called Batch It Crazy. Yes, I know what it sounds like. No, it's not an accident. So one thing that we talk about a lot and that I get asked a lot is how to write effective promo copy for your freebie or your service to share on your social media pages as well as in other people's Facebook groups. And you can also use them in your newsletters and in a variety of other places as well. So I kind of developed a thing a few years ago which I find really, really helpful. I try and sit down and batch things, no huge surprises there, I'm sure. But when I'm creating a new service, whether it's a new webinar or if it's a product or if I'm doing some VIP promotions or something like that, rather than trying to create my promo copy every time I sit down to my computer to share into groups or when it's the time to do it on my Facebook page, because I just can't get into that energy all the time. But when I'm setting things up, I like to sit down and write all of the promos so that I can just copy and paste into the places I need as and when I need them. So that is my tip for you as well. But how do you do it so that they all seem a little bit different and you're not just babbling on about the same thing every time? So I'm going to walk through my five different types of promo posts that you can create while sitting down in one session to then be able to repurpose and reuse all around the internet to promote your free or paid product. Alright, so they are, and I'll just go through the first all of the five of them and then I'll go into a bit more detail. So there is long, short, outcome focused, process focused, and social proof. Cool. So the first one is long. This one is probably one of the more important ones because it's almost like a mini sales page. If people were really keen and they saw you posting about your free product, for example, maybe a webinar or a challenge or something like that on social media, maybe in another group, that they can just hit yes or download or sign up or whatever the thing is, and they've got the information they need. So it's almost like a mini sales page, as I said. So in this one, you would have a little bit of explaining, um, meeting them where they're at now, what what's going on for them, what's not working, what are the challenges, what do they think the problems are, that sort of thing, as well as what will be the transformation. So, what is it that you're offering as a solution? This is what it looks like now, this is what you want, right? Cool, this is what the process is. So then you would go into a bit more about the things that I'll talk about more in a minute. What are the outcomes that they can expect? What is the process you're going to take them through in a nutshell? You don't have to, you know, bear all just yet. And also, why would they trust you? Why would they go to your webinar versus someone else's webinar? Why would they sit in their car while they're waiting for their kids to be picked up, um, waiting to pick up their kids after school and listen to you rather than just flick through Instagram, for example, right? So we want this to be a bit more of a long form. Um, when you're posting this onto your social media, of course, you can use a mix of different mediums, whether it's uh the image might just be your link preview to wherever the sign-up thing is, it might be a self-review, or it might be a curated image that is fully branded and all of that sort of thing as well. But it's long, right? So it's it's got all the information, the where they're at, the where they want to be, the how it works, the what is included, and all of the call to action, what they need to do next. So that is the long form. The short form is similar, but short, right? So without all the bells and whistles, it might just be is this the problem you're having? Do you wish you had the solution? Here's what I'm offering in a nutshell call to action. It's very short and sharp. There might be, I would say, less than a hundred words in these ones, and there's it's highly bullet pointed, and it's for the visual people who are maybe, you know, sometimes you don't want to read a whole long post, but I'm still intrigued, but I don't want to read the whole thing. So if I see the post another time or another place, that's just a question. Do I feel this way? Yep. Do I want to feel this way? Yep. Here's what to do about it, here's my free offer, or something like that. Absolutely. It's really appealing to um to a lot of people as well. So a short version of the long version, if that makes sense. The next two are really important. Now, often people teach that when you are promoting something, that you should only talk about the outcome. Outcome, outcome, outcome. What are you going to do? Like promise the world and tell them exactly what's going to come at the end. And I think that's really important for some people, but we also talk about process, which is the next one I'm going to talk about. With your outcome-focused ones, we want to be really specific. So this may look like what the transformation will be. It may look like something that they no longer have to worry about or that they don't have in their life or in their mind anymore. It may look like something very tangible as well. So be really clear about what outcomes you expect people to walk away from. One of the things I really love with this sort of activity, as with asking for testimonials, is to think about what sort of words would you like them to use to describe what it was like doing this thing with you, whether it was a webinar or some work that you did together, what are the words that you would like them to describe? And then you start talking about right, how do I actually infuse that into the delivery? And that is when we talk about the outcome. The fourth thing is the process focus. So for the Virgos of us out there, hello, we like a bit more um process. So, yes, the outcome is very important and what's included and all of that sort of thing. But I really want to know like, what are some of the practicalities? How much time is it going to take? Is there a workbook? Is there a recording? Um, is it a workshop style or is it a sit back and listen? Am I going to be expected to close my eyes so that I have to, though I can't do it while I'm driving? All of those sort of things are really important to a lot of people as well, not just Virgo's. But we really want to know the process. So often we go, yeah, the outcome sounds awesome, but if I don't trust you and I don't know you enough, or I'm a little bit scared bit on the fence and I don't know what the process is going to be, or if the process is one that I've already tried, or if the process is something I think I can get on board with, I probably won't sign up in the first place. So having a promo post that is um heavily geared towards the process that you're going to take me on is really, really important for a lot of people. So it's slightly different to the outcome. It's more about what process are we going to take to get there. And it's one that I think is often missed. As I said, a lot of people who teach promo posts just talk about the outcome, which is, yes, very important, but it's not the be all and end all for everyone. So that's the fourth one. The fifth one is much heavier on social proof. So what I mean by social proof could be things like testimonials, reviews, sharing what other people have said about having done this work with you, whether it was paid or free. You can do this in a number of ways by either just screenshotting some testimonials or shout-outs that people have done for you and introducing them about, you know, in the post. You could even do things like case studies. So people who work with us, you know, to do this process or to go on this journey or whatever it is, often find that and list out some of those outcomes, but use some real words and use some real testimonials that have actually been given to you for this thing. So it's very social proof heavy. Um, and as you can see, those last three outcome focused, process focused, and social proof, really appeals to different types of um buyer behaviors. And some of us have a very specific, like I really like the process stuff, as I've mentioned. Some people really like the social proof, and it needs to be a bit of like who's who in the zoo and who's done this before, and do we trust you and do it? Are there other people out there who are credible who also recommend you and that sort of thing? Um, and covering all of these bases in very specific and um set promo type, promo post types that you can do really, really helps people to get over the line, especially if you're promoting something for a few weeks, they're likely to see it in a few different places, presented in a couple of different ways. And if one of them didn't appeal, they might be more appealed, um more interested in one of the other ways that you've talked about something. So I hope that's helpful. So just to wrap up, so there's the five things. So there's the long, the short, the outcome focused, process focused, and social proof. Love to know if this is helpful. And if you need a hand with um batching or with any of that sort of thing, please do get in touch. All of the links will be on the website clairiley.co forward slash pod forward slash 67. I'll see you in the next episode. Bye.