Targeted communications treasure huntIn our workshops we teach people how to write for the social web. One of the first things people struggle with is how to write targeted content.

This is because we are so used to writing as a company – to the market.

But this has changed. On the social web your content is found by individual people. It’s one on one. And actually… this is way more normal and natural than your typical corporate communications.

An example from home

Just yesterday evening I came across a little example of targeted communications – at home!

My wife had spent the entire day on a treasure hunt in the Amsterdam Vondel Park, along with 2 friends and 7 kids, to celebrate our son’s birthday. In the evening she wanted to drop her two friends a text message to say she enjoyed the day and really appreciated them helping out.

But she was tired, and eager to hit the sack. So she drafted one single SMS to send to them both. But as she was writing it – she got stuck.

She couldn’t drop them both the same message. Different friends, different relationships.

Writing them both the same message didn’t feel right. She realised she needed to use a different tone of voice and actually wanted to highlight different parts of the day.

Same same, but different

She ended up writing them both a completely different message. Interestingly enough, the objective stayed the same. She wanted to tell them she had a great day and thank them for being there.

It’s exactly the same when you are writing content for the social web.

One size doesn’t fit all. You have different target audiences. Different things are important to them. They have different knowledge levels. Need a different conversation entry point.

How to write targeted content

I want to leave you with a practical tip:

We always use the format of Message Audience Medium. It’s a neat little framework that allows you to think more targeted and write better content for your target audiences.

Check it out!