XCPD-762 - Writing for Social Media

Course Description

Although some bemoan the decline of literacy, effective writing is more important than it has ever been. Today, text messages can organize protests, tweets can announce a revolution, email and social media campaigns can influence elections, and blogs can make people rich.

At first, these forms of writing seem very different from the handwritten letters and manuscripts of the past; however, they may be closer than we think. To be effective, writing for online formats, including social media, must follow some very different rules that challenge writers to be concise and clear.

This course will explore the relationship between tone, audience, purpose, and text in a cross section of social media posts, including Tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram in-feed posts, and YouTube video descriptions.

We will discuss basic tenets of good social media writing, examine examples, assess what makes them effective, consider the appropriate tone and voice for content to resonate with intended audiences, determine how to reply to online audiences, practice writing using tried and true social media writing best practices, and develop a social media editorial calendar.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course a student should be able to: 

1. Compose social media updates that support communications and marketing objectives  

2. Define and build an authentic brand voice  

3. Apply social media-specific writing tactics to draft concise, persuasive content  

4. Ensure text and visual media complement each other in social media posts  

5. Craft tailored responses to mentions, comments, and questions on social media 

6. Build an editorial calendar to balance evergreen and timely social media content