How To Write Awesome Social Media Headlines That Your Audience Will Love
How To Write Awesome Social Media Headlines That Your Audience Will Love
Click To TweetWhy Spend Time Writing Good Headlines?
No matter how fantastic, informative, and downright awesome the content you wrote is, none of that will matter if you don't have a good headline. You know that saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover?" Let's be honest, we all look at the book cover to decide if we want to read it or not. The same goes for headlines.Need a Few Tools for Writing Better Social Media Headlines?
Start writing better headlines, optimized for social media. Download these three free templates:- A tear sheet of emotional power words that encourage clicks and shares.
- A Social Media Headline A/B Test Template to help you optimize your headlines using our Headline Analyzer Studio.
- A Catchy Blog Title sheet with 500 power + emotion words, plus 100 headline writing templates to hone your craft.
How To Write An Effective Headline That Connects With Your Audience
The headline accounts for up to 50% of your blog post’s effectiveness. You're overall goal for writing a headline is to get someone to click on it. In order for someone to click on it, they have to connect with the headline in someway. There are several different headline categories, such as:- Question
- Benefit
- How-To
- List Post
- Generic
Take a look into five types of #social #media #headlines:
Click To Tweet1. Question
A question headline is exactly how it sounds; it asks a question. This question has to relate to the content it's linked to. If you wrote about Facebook engagement, then your question headline would sound something like "Are You Struggling To Engage With Your Facebook Audience?" The person reading this will make the connection that they need help with Facebook engagement and click on the link to find the answer. The goal of a question headline is to leave the reading wondering the answer. Be careful when using question headlines. At least tease the answer to the question in your introduction to keep readers interested.2. Benefit
A benefit headline offers a quick snippet of what the reader will obtain after reading the content. The benefit headline has to give the reader (you guessed it) a benefit. If you wrote about email marketing, then your benefit headline would sound something like "15 Tactics For Increasing Your Email Subscribers by 137%." The person reading this will know that after reading this post they can increase their email subscribers. Studies have shown that headlines with numbers tend to generate 73% more social shares and engagement. The higher the number, the higher the engagement. Would you rather read a post that has 5 ways to increase Facebook engagement, or 21 ways? Studies also found that using odd numbers have a higher chance of engagement compared to even numbers.Do your headlines convey clear benefits to your readers?
Click To Tweet3. How To
A how-to headline offers the reader actionable steps to do something better. The how-to headline has to provide insights to what the 'how to' is. If you wrote a post about Instagram followers, then your how to headline would sound something like "How To Skyrocket Your Instagram Followers With These 15 Tactics." The person reading this can connect that they need more Instagram followers, and this post will help skyrocket that. You’ve probably seen a lot of “how to” headlines. That’s because… well, they work. When your audience searches for information, it could be because they want to know how to do something better. That’s where you can step in and provide helpful content to position your business as a source of relevant and useful information.4. List Post
A list post headline provides a round-up of content or information around a given topic. The list post headline has to include a piece from the content it's linked to. If you wrote a post about marketing calendars, then your headline would sound something like "10 Steps To Fill Your Marketing Calendar With Brilliant Ideas." There are different ways to write a list post:- 10 Ways ...
- 10 Things ...
- 10 Steps ...
- 10 Tips ...
- Top 10 Most ...
- Top 10 Reasons ...
- The #1 Reason ...
5. Generic
A generic headline is well ... generic. This is something you don't want. You don't want to have a headline that's already been written by 10 other people. Even if you are covering the same topic, your headline should be unique and provide an emotional connection with your audience.Don't write a headline that's already been done by 10 other people.
Click To TweetGood vs. Bad Headlines for Social Media
Now that we know what kind of headlines work, you're ready to start writing headlines! Okay...not quite yet. Keep in mind the headline you're writing is something that you would be interested in. If you won't click it, no one else will. Here's some examples of good vs. bad headlines:- How To Write Good Headlines. (Bad! Provides no benefit or inside look.)
- How To Write Headlines That Drive Traffic, Shares, And Search Results. (Good! Provides the reader with a benefit.)
- Do You Know How To Write Good Headlines? (Bad! Very vague, close-ended question.)
- Are You Struggling To Write Memorable Headlines? (Good! Connects with the audience.)
Writing social media headlines? Choose your words wisely.
Click To TweetUse The Right Words In Headlines
I keep talking about making an emotional connection with your audience, but what does that mean? Emotional words in your headlines entice your audience to click through to read your post. And once they’re reading your posts with emotional headlines, your readers are more likely to share them. You have a good headline if 10–15% of the words in your headline are emotional. Like emotional words, power words are usually phrases that are well-known for inciting action. Power words are uniquely different than emotional words because they are a bit out of the ordinary. These words inspire an emotion or call to action without a lot of context. Power words are typically rarely used words or phrases that almost guarantee some clicks through to your blog posts. Great headlines have at least one power word in them. Along with using the right words and making an emotional connection with you're audience, you also want to incorporate the 4 U's:- Your headline should be unique.
- Your headline should be ultra-specific.
- Your headline should convey a sense of urgency.
- Your headline should be useful.
Write Headlines That Drive Traffic, Shares, And Search Results
Writing headlines is an important part of writing content, but it can be tedious and time-consuming. We created our Headline Analyzer Studio to make writing headlines fun again. With the Headline Analyzer Studio from CoSchedule, it's as simple as 1-2-3.- Type your headline into the text box.