Every day social media algorithms prioritize compelling content and bury uninteresting content in order to maximize the value of ads sold on that particular platform.
When readers follow a link to your blog or story, you must hook them immediately with a good lead or you risk the reader leaving and your content being buried by the algorithm.
What is a lead? (spelled lede in most journalism circles) The lead is the first sentence or paragraph of your story, article, blog post, etc. A great lead will hook your readers, set a tone, and or summarize the important facts of your story.
A great lead is accomplished through trial and error and multiple revisions. And while a “great” lead is subjective, there are some simple things you can do to improve your lead writing immediately.
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10 Steps to Writing Better Leads
1. Realize the importance of your lead. If your story takes too long to get going, readers will tune out or click away. (Remember what I’ve said about Social Media algorithms, your content will be buried if people are clicking away)
2. Understand that readers are impatient. They want facts, now, so get to the point.
3. Learn the inverted pyramid (there are many writing formats, but the inverted pyramid will help you organize for today’s impatient readers)
The Inverted Pyramid:
- Gather your facts – the more you know, the easier it will be to summarize your idea in a lead.
- Think about what you would say if you only had 10 seconds to tell me the story? Practice this (what is the story’s elevator pitch?).
- Figure out the story’s 5 w’s (who, what when where and why) and write these down.
Example:
Who: Social media platforms
What: Use algorithms that are designed to prioritize compelling content and, if people are clicking away, bury that content
When: Every day
Where: On all social media platforms selling ads
Why: to maximize advertising value and exposure for their customers
- Prioritize/arrange the W’s by importance to your readers. (Is it more important that algorithms prioritize compelling content and bury uninteresting content, that all social media platforms seeling ads use algorithms, that it happens every day, or that it is done to maximize ad value?)
- Determine which W’s need to be in the lead and which can wait until a later paragraph.
- Write your lead; try leading using different W’s.
Lead examples to work through:
- Who: Social media algorithms are designed by platforms to maximize ad value for their customers by prioritizing compelling content and burying uninteresting content.
- What: Prioritizing compelling content and burying uninteresting content is how social media algorithms bring value to the ads sold on the platform.
- When: Everyday social media algorithms prioritize compelling content and bury uninteresting content to bring value to the ads sold on the platform.
- Where: Every social media platform selling advertising space uses algorithms to prioritize compelling content and bury uninteresting content.
- Why: In order to maximize the advertising value and exposure for their customers, social media platforms use algorithms prioritize compelling content and bury uninteresting content
Obviously, these are only a few examples; the possibilities are considerable.
- Ask yourself, is the lead concise and compelling? Is it clear? Do you want to know more after reading it? Rewrite and revise until you are pleased with the result.
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Most often leading with the who and the what works well, but you may prefer a different approach. In the above example, I prefer leading with the who or the where. But it all depends on your audience.
And remember, there is no wrong way to write your lead. Just keep in mind that you are trying to keep your readers attention, especially at the beginning of your story.
Ok, that’s all for today. Good luck out there!
#CreateSomethingGreat
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