Example Style Guide
This is the Writing for Social Media page of a Style Guide, provided as an example to illustrate style guide development.
Writing for Social Media
Writing for Social Media
We use social media to build relationships with Example Company clients and users and share all the cool stuff we do. But it also creates opportunities to say the wrong thing, put off clients, and damage our brand. So we’re careful and deliberate in what we post to our social channels. This section lays out how we strike that delicate balance.
Basics
Example Company will have a presence on most major social media platforms. Here are our most active accounts and what we usually post on each:
- Twitter: Product news, brand marketing, events, media mentions, evergreen content, “we’re hiring!” posts
- Facebook: Product news, brand marketing, events, media mentions, evergreen content, “we’re hiring!” posts
- LinkedIn: Product news, recruiting content, media mentions, evergreen content, “we’re hiring!” posts
- Instagram: TBD
These channels are all managed by the Marketing team. We may eventually also have a few team-specific accounts on Twitter, Tumblr, Dribbble, and other platforms. The guidelines in this section will apply to all of Example Company’s channels.
Guidelines
Our writing for social media should generally follow the style points outlined in the Voice & Tone and Grammar & Mechanics sections. Here are some additional pointers, too.
Write short, but smart
Some social media platforms have a character limit; others don’t. But for the most part, we keep our social media copy short.
- Twitter: 280 characters.
- Facebook: No limit, but aim for 1-2 short sentences.
- LinkedIn: No limit, but keep each article short and concise; Create Blog Post and link if longer copy needed
- Instagram: No limit, but try to keep it to 1 sentence or a short phrase. Feel free to throw in an emoji.
To write short, simplify your ideas or reduce the amount of information you’re sharing—but not by altering the spelling or punctuation of the words themselves. It’s fine to use the shorter version of some words, like “info” for “information.” But do not use numbers and letters in place of words, like “4” instead of “for” or “u” instead of “you.”
Engagement
Do your best to adhere to Example Company’s style guidelines when you’re using our social media channels to correspond with users. Use correct grammar and punctuation—and avoid excessive exclamation points.
When appropriate, you can tag the subject of your post on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. But avoid directly tweeting at or otherwise publicly tagging a post subject with messages like, “Hey, we wrote about you!” Never ask for retweets, likes, or favorites.
Hashtags
We employ hashtags rarely and deliberately. We may use them to promote an event or connect with users at a conference. Do not use current event or trending hashtags to promote Example Company.
Trending Topics
Do not use social media to comment on trending topics or current events that are unrelated to Example Company.
Be aware of what’s going on in the news when you’re publishing social content for Example Company. During major breaking news events, we turn off all promoted and scheduled social posts.
This guide has been adapted from content originally created by Mailchimp. The content is being reused with Mailchimp’s permission under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License.