Writing across platforms adapting content for websites social media and blogs

Tone-switching is when you adapt how you speak or write, depending on your audience or the medium in which the info is circulating. Cross-platform content writing is important, as there’s a difference between how you undress an audience when writing for a blog and how you can express ideas in a Twitter post.

In this article, we will look at these differences and give some tips on how to become a better writer.

Read examples

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There isn’t any shame in seeking out inspiration. What most writers do not like to admit is that most work is derivative, and a lot of people gather inspiration from the work of others. The best way to do this is to choose a subject. It almost does not matter which subject you choose.

It can be a blog, news site, or any other type of online forum. Then, try to read about that subject and notice the language used. Pay close attention to the tone. It’s that easy.

As an aside, you can also hire an online writer. There are many of them working for so-called “essay sites”, but the name can be misleading. These websites can provide you with a multitude of papers, including news articles or blog posts.

The idea is to receive an ideal example of how such a written article should look like, as you don’t have to contact them for a long period.

Types of online platforms

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As previously mentioned, multiple variations of online mediums showcase online writing. Here are just a few:

Forums

Here, on forums, the conversation style has to be a bit more casual. You are talking to regular people, many who are browsing and reading during their downtime. So, avoid a more formal tone and seek to adopt a conversational style.

In addition, forums such as Reddit have comment sections where the reader is expecting to contribute to the conversation. You must be prepared to answer questions, fight against pushback, and participate actively. Otherwise, your post will seem like some company’s HR department put it together.

Blogs

Blogs are the purest form of online writing. The intention of the medium is to provide the writer with a digital diary where they can write long articles. Some may ask: isn’t a blog similar to writing for a regular website?

Well, there is a difference when taking into account website vs. blog content writing. Usually, websites can be more formal, but the purpose is different.

Blogs do not focus on just delivering news or information. Blogs feel more personal, and by reading them, you feel like you are conversing with the writer. Again, the feel should be as if you are reading someone’s diary.

Be prepared to share personal experiences or give your opinions in a much more straightforward manner.

Websites

Your content strategy for multiple platforms has to take into account that most written web content is hosted on news sites, but that is not always mandatory.

As we hinted before, people read news sites to get information. Even though you are not a journalist, you should try to think and write like one as much as possible. The aim is to adopt an impartial tone and to relay facts divorced from your own opinions. This is the case when presenting news.

There is a slight exception when it comes to opinion pieces. As their name suggests, you will still give readers the facts, with the addition that the facts will be filtered through your own perspective. Here, you can still maintain a formal tone, but you can drop the impartiality.

Also, with this type of writing, you have to pay close attention to the structure. You can get away with a more unstructured approach when it comes to blog posts, but web articles are different. They need to have headers, sub-headers, paragraph spacing, and the whole 9 yards.

For tech review sites, you don’t have to go into robot mode, but you can’t also afford to write it like it is a forum post. You have to think in bullet points and address the potential customer’s needs. Energy consumption, material quality, and price are all factors that should be addressed.

Social Media

Social media is a river. Writers are often used to a more static way of showcasing their work. When adapting content for social media, you have to consider the fast-paced nature of the medium. People post, report, comment, and reply at such a break-neck speed that you can’t afford to take it slow.

Even our language betrays us in this case. What do we call the action of browsing social media? We call it scrolling social media. By nature, people scroll to browse, and you only have a few seconds (maybe even less) to get their attention.

You have to make those seconds count.

Your multi-channel content strategy has to be centered on “less is more” when writing social media posts. Try to avoid thinking like an essayist and presenting the arguments and counterarguments. Here, you will live and die by how brief and witty you are.

But it’s not all downsides. Social media allows for a broader range of expression, which is a bonus. For example, here is where memes live. You can find and use humor to your advantage, and you will do well.

Additionally, social media writing often requires quick turnarounds, which can be challenging. In such cases, you can always seek professional help by searching write my papers to ensure quality content that fits different platforms efficiently.

You can also embed and integrate other media forms, such as pictures, videos, or sound. All the other media mentioned before letting you integrate pictures, but you don’t have as much freedom.

Social media writing has the largest barrier to entry but also gives you the greatest toolkit to achieve your goals. It greatly rewards those who can think of catchy lines.

And, of course, the interactivity aspect is massive. We have comment sections in forum posts, too, but it’s nowhere near what you will see on Facebook or Twitter.

Since these are mostly free speech platforms, people can reply to anything. So, you have to exercise a degree of emotional control while carefully replying to questions and comments.

Conclusion

There was a fear in the early 2000s that the Internet would kill writing forever. To some extent, that was true. Traditional magazines and websites have massively dropped in popularity, and all but a few are running on skeleton crews.

However, only the old forms of writing have disappeared.  In this new age, writers must reinvent themselves towards a style that is better suited for the digital world. On top of that, there isn’t a single type of “online writing”, but a multitude that varies depending on the platform.

A multi-channel content strategy has to adapt to all of these. Choosing just one is equivalent to turning down exposure. Less exposure means less or less added revenue.

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