This document outlines an 8-step guide for writing effective social media copy, emphasizing the importance of planning, narrative, and audience engagement. Key steps include determining goals, crafting narratives, researching, writing without interruptions, and editing carefully. The document concludes with notes on common writing mistakes and the need for post-publication evaluation and iteration.

1. 8 Steps to Write Flawless
Social Media Copy

3. Who is this human?
Hi, I’m Celeste, and I manage social &
community at Grammarly.
LinkedIn | Twitter | Email

4. What We’ll Discuss Today
• What to do before you
write.
• How to set up your writing
space and mindset.
• What to write about.
• A few quick editing tips you
can use anywhere.

5. Before You Write
“Planning is bringing the future
into the present so that you can
do something about it now.”
— Alan Lakein

6. 1. Determine your goals.
• What is the action this
content will encourage?
• What is my north star
metric?
• Who do I want to attract
with this content?
• How do I want my audience
to feel when they read this?

7. 2. Craft your narrative.
• What overarching brand
narrative will this piece of
content map to?
• What have we done in the
past that was successful?
• How can I iterate on
existing brand narratives?

8. 2. Find your voice.
• What are the
characteristics of our
brand voice I can
bring to this piece of
content?
• How do I adapt that
per channel and
situation?

9. 3. Plan your milestones.
• What major campaigns do
you have coming up?
• How are you supporting other
teams’ announcements?
• Which #holidays make sense
for your business?

10. 4. Do your research.
• Who are your
content heroes?
• Where can you curate
rather than create?
• What are your
competitors doing?

11. While You Write
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
— Margaret Atwood

12. 5. Set your atmosphere.
• Can you block off at
least an hour without
distractions?
• Where are you most
focused IRL?
• Do you have a writing
playlist?

13. 6. Start writing—
and don’t stop.
(Frankly, this one’s
self-explanatory.)
Go write something!

14. After You Write
“When you write a book, you
spend day after day scanning and
identifying the trees. When
you’re done, you have to step
back and look at the forest.”
— Stephen King

15. 7. Check yourself.
• Will this copy resonate
with your audience?
• Have you created a
clear call-to-action in
your post?
• Is there a typo?
(No really, check again.)

16. 7. Common Mistakes
1. Comma misuse
2. Hyphen confusion
3. Preposition problems
4. Nowhere/anywhere splices
5. Wouldn’t of vs. wouldn’t have
6. Nowadays
7. Altogether/all together errors
8. Bonus: Misspelled hashtags!

17. 8. And finally . . .
publish!
(Congrats!)
Note: Social media
“gurus” tend to over-
index on optimization
here.

18. 9. (Okay, I lied. Just
one more step.)
• Did your post achieve
its goal(s)?
• Is it time to run an A/B
test?
• How can you iterate on
and optimize this copy?

19. Q&A