Have you heard of the K.I.S.S. principle? You know, the acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid? Well, for Social Media , the principle of K.I.S.S.S might be more relevant: Keep it Simple, Short and Shareable.
Why Simple?
People don’t have much time. In fact, you probably only have 1 second to make an impression.
- When you Tweet,
- post on Facebook
- or update LinkedIn
Is it obvious what it is about?
I have seen paragraphs condensed into one tweet!! 140 characters full of abbreviations and acronyms. Would you be bothered to decipher it?
Keep one thought per tweet or post.
Action Point: Double check your tweet or post to make sure that it is obvious to the reader
Why Short?
- On Twitter - you have a limit of 140 characters. Do not be tempted to do a longer tweet even if certain apps allow you to do so. It means your reader has to open up a new page to read the message and then close it down. Little things can irritate people, especially, when the same thing could be said more succinctly.
- On Twitter - if you want people to retweet your message, you should only use a maximum of 125 characters or less to allow people to share your message easily with their followers.
- On Facebook Pages – research has shown that the shorter the post the greater the response! In fact, 80 characters is the optimum length of a post to get the maximum response. How long are your posts?
Action Point: Can you make your post shorter without losing meaning?
Why Shareable?
If you are using Social Media, you want people to respond to posts and spread them around the Social Media Universe.
How much thought are you putting into why someone would want to share your post?
- Do they make people laugh, smile or think?
- Are they helpful, insightful or informative?
- Remember: all your posts should be engaging, entertaining, educational or enriching!
Action Point: Check your posts before you share them and ask yourself, “ Would you share or engage with this post if you were reading it?”
What do you think K.I.S.S. should stand for? Leave your comments below, thank you.
Nicky Kriel
Nicky Kriel is a Social Media Coach & Trainer inspiring, educating and empowering Business Owners to use Social Media more strategically. She is also the author of How to Twitter for Business Success. For more information visit http://www.nickykriel.com or to find out about her courses that she runs in Guildford visit http://www.nickykriel.com/courses
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Love the new use for an old acronym. And, love the logic behind it…
Hi Roy, glad you like the acronym, thank you.
Our ebooks are Keep It Simple then Simplify. I love the KISS where the last S is not stupid. Excellent post and great action steps here
Hi Roberta
There is a great skill in simplifying things which is often underestimated. Thank you for leaving a comment.
Love KISS (Principle)
Good one Nicky