Adopting A Child As A Family - 1067 Words

Adopting a child, especially internationally, can be quite challenging, but it can also be one of the most rewarding experiences that a family can go through. Families who adopt cross-culturally inevitably face a few barriers when it comes to acclimating a new family member into their lifestyle, but, I happen to know plenty of parents who have taken the plunge, and I have seen the incredible joy that has sprung from it. I decided to interview a family who has adopted because I believe that it is one of the most â€Å"diverse† experiences a family can go through. I have plenty of friends that have adopted siblings, and, personally, I would love to adopt a child one day. For this specific interview, I picked one of my best friend’s family to†¦show more content†¦It is because of this that she has been acting out. She s very hurt inside and doesn t know how to deal with it so she can become very mean to us. She ll say things like, ‘You re not my mom’ or ‘I hate you, but once she calms down she s normal, fun-loving, affectionate, sassy, sweet Rita again. She sometimes actually does some pretty mean things too. For example, one time she dumped a glass of water on me when she was mad at me. I have also been punched, kicked and bitten, but she only does these things because she s confused and she s trying to process her emotions. Once she calms down, she always asked for forgiveness, and she s normal Rita again. I then listened to what Rita s mom, Casey had to answer to this question, For me, it would be gaining her complete trust. It is very difficult to obtain trust from a wounded child who learned to survive without parents before we adopted her. It can take a lifetime for 100% trust, or maybe even never all the way. This lack of trust and confidence in our love and authority over her comes out in some of Rita’s irrational behavior and decision making.† Some of these types of difficulties that Gabby’s family has gone through are just a portion of the aftermath of an adoption. The cultural shock alone can be quite daunting as well. Gabby told me during our interview that when Rita first came to America, she only knew Mama and Papa. She called Gabby and her older sister, AnnShow MoreRelatedA Need to Foster and Adoption1364 Words   |  5 Pages † To take a child of other parents legally as your own† is the definition of adoption in today’s society (merriam-webster). There are different types of adoption there is international and interracial. Various types of people can adopt a child, it does not matter if the person is black, white, Hispanic, gay, lesbian, poor, or rich these people can still adopt. There are several aspects to consider when adopting. A child could have emotional setback because of the care the child has receivedRead MoreThe Different Types Of Adoption1680 Words   |  7 PagesHaving t he opportunity to adopt has given many families the chance to have a family on their own that they may not have been able to have before. Although it benefits the parents who are adopting it also helps the birth mother tremendously. There are several ways to adopt. Parents who want to adopt should choose the best option for them while birth mothers should be more educated so they can be sure to make the best decision for herself and her child. Adoption Agencies: One of the most popular waysRead MoreBenefits of Adoption940 Words   |  4 PagesAdoption is a wonderful and rewarding way to grow a family. When you open your heart and house to a child through adoption, you make an everlasting commitment. It is an important decision that requires thought and discussion among the entire family. Adopting a child is without a doubt a life changing experience that requires patience and dedication. This experience allows families to change a child’s life who one day may have thought that they would never be loved. Parents who adopt from infertilityRead MoreAdoption Is Not An Expensive Process1702 Words   |  7 Pagespermanent families and over one hundred thousand waiting to be adopted (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Couples who cannot have children and are looking for ways for to have children can adopt. Children in foster care are alone and in desperate need of someone to love them unconditionally, showing them that no matter what they are wanted. Adoption is one of the ways couples can have children, through the adoption process, couples can rescue a child from a life in the child welfareRead MoreAdoption Is Necessary For Children Essay940 Words   |  4 Pagesof adopting a child comes with positive benefits and fiscal responsibility, such as government assistance and wiser spending. Children obtain a healthy childhood with a familiar sense of belonging. The drawback of this is the long governmental process of petitioning for adoption. Seeking the birthparents, if they are alive, retrieving consent, being fiscally responsible, and having a safe environment for the child to grow up in are all responsibilities to look forward to when adopting a child. TheRead More Adoption Essay636 Words   |  3 Pages Adopting a child is an experience that promises to bring great joy as it changes a couple or individual’s life forever. But what happens if the mother of that child w ants to endorse their child? Those are the issues that many adopting parents and birth-right mothers are facing today. Many biological mothers want their child back. There are many concerns for adopting parents to know- that there is the possibly that the birth mother may file for the child. As a birth mother or the adopting parentRead MoreGay Adoption Should Be Legal1355 Words   |  6 Pagesunfound families† (National Adoption Center.). Families together are one not anything different from every other family. No matter race, color, or the type of family. Adoption is just a way for anybody who wants to create a family would be able to have the access to have a family of their own. Even to the families who are not able to have a child or does not have a partner to have a child. The National Adoption Center allows the families in need to adopt a child in need of a loving family. Many peopleRead MoreAnnotated Bibliography Essay1443 Words   |  6 PagesBibliography Stone, A.. Both sides on gay adoption cite concern for children. Usa today. Gannett Co. Inc., 2006. Web. 18 Apr 2012 The article is about a couple who is gay having to move in order for both gay parents to get custody of the adopted child. It talks about the statistics of foster care and the number of kids being adopted right now. The numbers are very low and even for gays, its extremely low. It also states that gays are some good candidates for adoption but not being bias towards eitherRead MoreShould Same Sex Couples Be Allowed to Adopt?954 Words   |  4 Pageshomosexuals wanting to start a family which is an immense concern many people oppose to some people dont believe it is acceptable for homosexuals to be able adopt. There is a huge dilemma that same-sex couple’s homosexuality will influence (Marquardt), the children into becoming gay but that only seems to be a form of someones opinion instead of a fact.There are logical explanations to allow gays to adopt, but the main issue is, what the best interest is for the child involved in the situation. ARead MoreClosed Adoption : A New Hom e864 Words   |  4 Pagesadopted and never seen again, nor has any information been given out to our family to help locate him. He had entered closed adoption, which is an irreversible system where parents give up their rights to know any information and right to ever take part in their children s lives. The child is given a new home and grows up thinking the family raising them is their biological relatives. They never know anything about their true family or where they come from. They are mislead by this system of closed adoption

Effects of Globalization on the Micro Level Free Essays

Globalization was generally derived from the assumptions of neo-classical economics. In order for a country to achieve economic development, it must open its economy to trade liberalization. Trade liberalization serves as a redistribution mechanism of capital and goods. We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of Globalization on the Micro Level or any similar topic only for you Order Now Poor and developing countries can export unlimited volume of goods and services to developed countries. Added to that, the capital inflows from developed countries would serve as a stimulant for capital build-up in the recipient country (developing countries). Because developed countries usually experience labor shortages, labor immigrants from developing countries would serve as the compensating medium. Here economists assume that the â€Å"income† derived from labor migration would then serve as capital outlay. While for many economists globalization is a positive force of development, certain practical issues were laid exposing the bad effects of globalization on the micro-level (individual and communal). There are generally two negative impacts of globalization on the micro-level. The first impact focuses on the condition of the labor force of developing countries (exposed to globalization). It is generally noted while globalization aims for wealth redistribution between developing and developed countries, inequality in terms of income and capital increased (Goldberg, R.K., and N. Pavcnik, 2006). Skilled workers from developing countries are paid less than unskilled workers from developed countries. In China, for example, after opening to globalization, several multi-national corporations (which are based in developed countries) transferred a significant portion of capital to the country. The reason can be derived from the cost of labor in the country. It is estimated that the cost of labor in China is one-eight (on the average) compared to labor cost in developed countries (Goldberg, R.K., and N. Pavcnik, 2006). Multi-national corporations found it rational to shift a significant portion of their capital to labor-rich China. The economic assumptions are clear. Labor surplus would drive the market to realign wages. The more workers, the less average labor price. The inverse relationship between the number of needed workers and labor price pushed these corporations to increase their capital inflow to China. Needless to say, because labor costs are below the market price of labor, these multi-national corporations can increase their profit level, generating new capital (to be transferred to the â€Å"mother† country). Added to that, it was found out that after 10 years of exposure to trade liberalization, China experienced vast disparities in terms of income of its own citizens. Urban workers, on the average, have generally higher incomes than rural workers. Needless to say, these urban workers are generally better off than their rural counterparts. Thus, the vast disparity of income between developed and developing countries is mirrored out in the labor price of urban and rural workers. It can be said that the macro-level effect of globalization resulted to internal income disparities. This owes much to the economic rationalizing of multi-national corporations regarding the â€Å"proper† handling of labor costs. Exposure to longer working hours and poor working conditions are also major impacts of globalization in the workplace. These impacts severely decreased the labor productivity of developing countries. Stallings (2007, pp. 6-7) noted that in Latin America, the opening of several countries to trade liberalization and privatization led to capital build-up in the short-run. Foreign direct investment and other capital inflows contributed to economic growth as well as sustainability of the industrial sector. The labor sector though suffered. The expected level of employment growth as well as improvement in labor productivity in many sectors of several Latin American countries was not met. In fact, some industries like the garment and textile industries suffered from stagnation and high-costs of operations. Several governments were forced to implement longer working hours and tax incentives to several multi-national companies. The general effect: labor productivity decreased by half. Strikes became a common sight in the streets of major Latin American cities. Companies owned by local residents were forced to close as a result of the policy. Multi-national corporations though can easily shift their capital base to countries undeterred by political and economic debacles. We come now to the second general effect of globalization on the micro-level. Globalization requires that all national currencies be on a floating status. This would allow the efficient transfer of capital from developed countries to developing countries. As such, many economists assume that this policy would generally improve the overall economic standing of developing countries in terms of capital outlay and technology acquisition. This is though not the case. Akar (2007) noted that floating currencies would essentially alter the predictability of the market. Inflation, or in many cases stagflation, are usually the main economic problems in developing countries. Because developing countries only own a small percentage of the world’s total monetary reserve, they can easily be affected by price changes in the world market (Kasapidis, R, 1999). Price changes can destroy the predictability of the markets of developing countries. Inflation can become highly unpredictable. Thus, this puts financial institutions on a very high-level of risk. This high risk can be translated to low-level investment schedule of firms. Nonetheless, the overall interest rate increases as a result of monetary downfalls. Increases in interest rate causes inflation and concomitantly, low economic output. On the individual level, as inflation progresses, the present volume of goods and service that can be bought by the value of money is less than the previous volume of goods and services bought. In a simple relationship, globalization requires that national currencies be on a floating status. For developing countries, putting its national currencies on a floating status increases the risks on financial institutions. These risks are translated to high inflation and low economic output. The end: the current purchasing power of a consumer’s income is devalued. Bibliography Akar, O. (2007). Globalization. Available from: http://www.eli.vt.edu/news/archives/2001/news5.html [Accessed 24 October 2007]. Goldberg, P.K., N. Pavcnik. (2006). Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries. Available from: http://scid.stanford.edu/events/IndiaJune2007/DevelopmentResearch/Goldberg%205-17-07.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2007]. Kasapidis, R. (1999). The Opportunities and Dangers of Globalization. Available from:   [Accessed 24 October 2007]. Stallings, B. (2007). Globalization and Liberalization: A View from the Developing Countries. U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Available from:  [Accessed 24 October 2007].                How to cite Effects of Globalization on the Micro Level, Essay examples

FBO Operation Essay Example For Students

FBO Operation Essay Human Resources/ManagementEmployees4HausAir fixed base operation will provide the highest quality of flight instruction and comfortable charter services to the public; without compromising an ounce of safety, at a price lower than the competition. Human Resources/ Management FunctionsBreakdown of initial staff to begin at HausAir. (5) Receptionist/ClericalJason Henderson(Full Time)(6) Flight Instructors(Chief) Adam MacDonald(Full Time)(4) Mechanics(Chief) Greg Radd (IA; Full Time)Miguel Sanchez (AP; Full Time)(4) Line AttendentsJosh Hodny (Full Time)FlightOfficeServiceFinanceSalesThe HausAir flight instructors will follow some basic guidelines. They will be responsible for:? Student training for appropriate licenses? Maintaining proficiency in maneuvers? Proficiency required flight knowledge? Proficiency instructional techniques? Promoting a positive image of general aviation? Perform duties assigned by chief pilot? Maintaining safe and professional habitsThe position requires a minimum commercial multi-engine land instrument airplane and CFI certificate and those without a CFII will be expected to obtain the certificate within 6 months of start date. Instructors must be able to train a student from wherever their current ability level is to proficiency to the practical test standards for the certificate desir ed.Instructors will be required to follow HausAir flight training syllabus unless there is prior approval from the chief flight instructor. Instructors will be expected to give biannual flight reviews, checkouts to customers planning to rent aircraft and act as pilot or crewmember as required for charter operations. The FBO will follow all rules applicable to our business in order to create a profitable and safe environment. Start up requirements:? Obtain business licenses/permits ? FAR 47 Aircraft Registration? FAR 135 Air Taxi Operators/ Commercial Operators? FAR 145 Repair Station Certification? FAR 157 Notice of Construction on Airport? FAR 43 Maintenance, preventive maintenance, rebuilding, and alteration? FAR 61 Certification: Pilots, flight instructors, and ground instructors? FAR 67 Medical Standards and certification(Insuring that my charter pilot and flight instructors are current)? FAR 135 Air Taxi Operators/Commercial Operators? HMR 175 Fuel Considerations? Meet local/community requirements? Maintain Airport Minimum StandardsThe Piper Warrior will be used as the primary/instrument trainer and rental aircraft. The Bonanzas will be used as a complex trainer, rental, and some charter operations when it would be more economical or when the Baron is unavailable. The Baron will be used solely a charter aircraft. HausAir plans on purchasing all the aircraft through financing. This will enable ownership and benefit from tax savings. By financing we will avoid the lump cash sum all at once through payments. Financing will also give us some cash to utilize in other areas of out operations. Purchasing with cash would not give us flexibility and leasing is not cost effective and would limit our available excess cash. This aircraft is to be used for flight training and rental. The following numbers will be based on a $140,000 Piper Warrior. ? Piper Warrior- flown 60hrs/monthFuel (75% POWER)= $17.30Interest and Depr. 60hrs/month=$12.00Overhaul reserve and indirect cost=$16.00 Total (operational cost/hr)=$52.80Allowing for a 25% profit margin every hourCustomer cost is $52.80/.75 = $70.40Each aircraft will require a flight checkout from a CFI. The checkout will cover aircraft systems, procedures, and will follow the advisory circular for checkout procedures. Rental of the warrior will require a private license. Student pilots training with HausAir will also be allowed to rent aircraft for lessons. Pilots renting aircraft will be required to present: student pilot certificate (if required), pilots license logbook. Rental of other aircraft will have more stringent time requirements based on insurance and other factors; to be determined at a later time. The overall breakdown for the cost of an hour of flight instruction is as follows:TypeCostIns.Handling BenefitsTotal Above I outlined the per hour cost of the instruction. To keep training costs down and attract more students, I will not be applying a profit margin to the flight instructor rate. The figures I have arrived at below are based on a 100 hour/month with 6 same grade students for each instructor. It does not take into consideration that my instructors may teach in more than one category. Type of InstructorBenefits(Medical, Life, dental)PayWith four passenger seats, this aircraft is designed for the business traveler but may be used for any operation. It will not land at any airstrip that is not established with runway lights (unless down for repair). This aircraft will not initially be used for rental. .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 , .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .postImageUrl , .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 , .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632:hover , .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632:visited , .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632:active { border:0!important; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632:active , .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632 .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u62e60cb75231d17be8676ebd3487e632:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: MY FIRST TATOO EssayOil (Incl. Oil Filter @ 50 Hour Intervals)= $1.86Engine Airframe (100 Hours @ $38.00/Hour)= $37.35Total direct operating cost= $137.72Profit Margin of 40 %= $96.28Total per hour charge= $250.00The Baron flies at an average speed of 230 statute miles per hour. Based on all of the information presented in this section I will charge $1.08 per statute mile flown. Since we did lower the profit margin a little we will be required to charge a lay over fee. That will be equal to 75% of the $45 per hour charge for the pilots wage. This extra charge will not start to occur until the lay over exceeds 1 hour. One way charters, that are not picking up pay load on the return flight, there will be a charge of $.84 per mile. The reduction in price is accomplished but removing profit margin. HausAir will operate under FAR part 135 and under some of these regulations dealing with the certification and proficiency of the aircraft, crew, and flight operations. HausAir will use the regulations below to develop a manual for policies and procedures, operations specifications manual operating certificate acceptable for use. Copies of the manual will be issued to pilots and be accessible to other necessary employees. FAR 135 Subpart C- Aircraft and Equipment135.163 Equipment requirements: Aircraft carrying passengers under IFR. FAR 135 Subpart E- Crew RequirementsFAR 135 Subpart F- Flight Time and Duty Period Req. 135.267 Flight time limitations and rest req. for one and two pilot unscheduled operations FAR 135 Subpart G- Crewmember Testing Req. FAR 135 Subpart B- Flight Operations135.101 Second in command Req. under IFR135.109 Pilot in Command or second in command designation. 135.113 Passenger occupancy of pilot seat. 135.123 Emergency and emergency evacuation dutiesThe Determination of the hourly wage begins with the national average for a mechanic with an AP license, currently $11.83. HausAir is interested in having the best mechanics working for us and are happy with their pay.To start our shop rates will begin as follows until we have a better idea of our variable and fixed costs. The wages for out mechanics will begin at, but are subject to change based on shortages, business and regional mechanic average pay. Periodic research will be conducted by our sales and office team to determine how we fit into the national structure. The mechanics shop will not have paper library, but an electronic library. Manuals will be computer based to avoid large shelving units, paper loss, etc. The maintenance hanger will be separate from the storage hanger. Equipment will be purchased by HausAir. Consideration will be made to other variable costs including hazardous waste storage/disposal, overstock parts, building costs etc. We plan to earn a 40% profit. Which gives us a total fuel price of $2.74. With an average of 2000 gallons of fuel being sold/used in a week, that nets an income of $5480 with a profit of 2200 a month. Fuel will be stored and fueled by the fuel truck. Line service will fuel all incoming aircraft, regardless of size. HausAir will carry a wide selection of supplies and keep current with charts, approach plates, books and other aviation publications. We can make between 40-60% profit but will charge what competitors like sportys pilot shop charge. We will match their price and work prices around that range. Insurance is an important protection for this FBO. Due to the high amount of risk involved in aviation it will be important to hold monthly safety meetings, and have rotating safety officer schedule that will change every day. There are many different kinds of insurance that we must purchase. Some of the insurance coverage that is required:Fire and Natural disaster coverageBibliography:Bibliographyhttp://www.airplane.com/be58.htmRichardson, Rodwell, Baty (1995) Essentials of Aviation Management. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight free essay sample

This poem starts with the description of the young lovers: the incomparably lovely virgin, Hero, dedicated to the service of the love goddess – she is Venus nun(line 45) and the handsome Leander. Both young people are described as having more than human beauty. Hero is so beautiful that the love-god Cupid mistakes her for that most beautiful of the goddesses, his mother Venus. Leanders description is even more extreme, and perhaps a bit bizarre. He is described as so attractive that even men find him beautiful. Marlowe shows his extreme handsomeness as feminine. Some swore he was a maid in mans attire (line 85). Later, Marlowe describes him, however, in great detail, with a muscular, masculine figure. This feminization of Leanders beauty was a Renaissance poetic convention. There was a limited vocabulary, at this time, for male attractiveness, and a feminine description was sometimes deemed necessary even when the subject was, perhaps, not as androgynous as it might seem. We will write a custom essay sample on Who ever loved that loved not at first sight ? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, in this case the homoerotic undertones of Leanders beauty are a foreshadowing of a future event in the poem. The two lovers live on either side of the Hellespont (the strait which joins the Black Sea and the Aegean.) Hero lives in Sestos, where she is a virgin priestess of the goddess. Her duties are to sacrifice to Venus, and to remain sexually pure. She has aroused, it appears, a dangerous desire for her beauty in her many suitors. Her kirtle blue, whereon was many a stain/Made with the blood of wretched lovers slain (lines 15-16). We see her first, in a sacred grove, sacrificing turtle doves to the goddess. The long-haired Leander lives across the water in Abydos. During the yearly festival to Adonis (one of Venus lovers) in Sestos, Leander and Hero first meet. After Leander has seen and fallen in love with Hero, Hero is subsequently shot with an arrow of love by the god Cupid. The two meet and speak of their prodigious attraction, but Hero has made a vow to the goddess Venus, no less, to keep her chastity. Though Leander uses clever-sounding rhetoric to assure Hero that remaining a virgin is no way to serve her goddess (or herself), Vessels of brass, oft handled, brightly shine (line 232), Hero demurs and returns to her tower. Leander is afraid of being missed, and goes home across the water to Abydos. There, his father can tell by his face that he has fallen in love. Leander flees and goes to stand upon the rocks, gazing across the water at Heros tower. He cannot bear to be parted from Hero any longer, so he takes off his clothes and dives into the water to swim back to her. While Leander is swimming, the sea-god Neptune sees him and mistakes him for another famously handsome youth – the king of the gods Zeuss cupbearer Ganymede. Neptune has long coveted this young man, and takes this as an opportunity to steal him from his brother-god. He captures Leander and takes him down to his palace in the deep. Descriptions of sea-nymphs and mermaids, and the wealth under the oceans, ensue. Once Neptune realizes that Leander is almost drowned, and therefore cannot be Ganymede (who was made immortal by Zeus), the god brings Leander back to the surface. Breathing air again, Leander begins to swim toward Sestos, but Neptune follows underneath him, kissing and caressing him at every stroke. Leander is frightened by this and cries out O let me visit Hero ere I die! (line 661) Neptune will not relent, and continues caressing him and talking of love. Once again Leanders sexual ambiguity is brought up – he tells Neptune he is no woman. Neptune at last sees that Leander will not give into him, and sadly lets him go. Leander reaches Heros tower, and knocks on her door. Hero is surprised to find Leander standing there, dripping wet and  naked. She brings him inside, and since he is cold she lets him lie next to her in bed. They engage in amorous embraces, but Hero, mindful of the value of her sacred chastity, attempts to hold Leander off for a time. Eventually they are overcome by their feelings, and, though they are both a little unsure of how to proceed, they consummate their love. The poem ends as morning dawns. Analysis Hero and Leander is a poem – an epyllion, that is, a short epic poem – which Marlowe composed based on work by the sixth-century poet Musaeus. The story, of course, is much older, based on various versions of a Greek myth. The narrative itself is one of iconic separated lovers, a tale full of Roman mythological references which would have been clear and meaningful to most of Marlowes readers. This poem was written in the last year of Marlowes life, 1593. It was a plague year, and the London theatres all were closed. Therefore Marlowe could not write for the stage, and poetry was his creative outlet. For a poem written in such a dark time, and about such a tragic subject (although the lovers end is actually not shown to us by Marlowe), Marlowes tone is surprisingly light, and the lines are full of a love of humanity and a wonder at the beauty of the world. Particularly the descriptions of Leander and Hero, and the vivid picture of the underwater kingdom of Neptune, are vivid and compelling. The poem has been termed mock-epic because it is so full of humor. Hopkins calls it one of the most deliciously comic poems of Elizabethan literature (literaryencyclopedia.com). Marlowes poem is thought to be unfinished, because the story of Musaeus goes on to tell of the lovers tragic demise. It is possible that Marlowe meant to continue the story (for he introduces characters who are not mentioned again – such as the dwarfish beldame (line 351) and Leanders father), but, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is just as likely that Marlowe meant never to continue this poem any further. Since the poems tone is so light and full of humor, it is hard to imagine the subject matter changing so drastically from the joy of young lovers to their deaths. However, Marlowe had already proved that he was capable of writing compellingly about the full range of emotions, so he could have intended to finish the story. The poem as it stands, however, can be judged as a complete work of art. George Chapman divided Marlowes lines,  later, in to two sestiads, and composed an additional four to finish the story. Those lines, however, are Chapmans, and differ greatly from Marlowes original work. They are not considered here. The insistence of Leanders feminine beauty, not once but twice in this poem, is seen by some critics as evidence of Marlowes homosexuality. It may well be, but this convention of the allure young men have for other men is evident in the original story, not invented Marlowe. The classical world was much more accustomed to references to homosexuality than the Elizabethan Christian world of Marlowe. He delights in it, however, lingering lovingly on descriptions of Leander (a full forty lines on Leanders description alone, compared with forty-five on Hero, though her description is as much about her dress as her person) and his attractiveness. The importance placed on Leanders attractiveness, however, is more than is usual in poems of this type. It is easy to see how Marlowe may have been putting some of his own feelings into the poem. On the negative side, the courtship of Leander by Neptune is both explicit and disturbing, because Leander is frightened, does not desire the attention, and doesnt exactly know what is happening. He is nearly drowned, and cannot imagine what this god would want from him. Leander shows his sexual ignorance by insisting that he is not a woman. This is not the only instance of his extreme naivetà ©; later, Leander he does not understand what it to be done to consummate his relationship with Hero. This extreme sexual innocence is common in classical poems (such as Daphnis and Chloe) and was considered by the Romans especially to be an interesting subject for a love-poem. This is not a common theme in Elizabethan poetry, so Marlowe took this from Musaeus. The joyous meeting and reunion of the lovers is love-poetry of a particularly effective kind. The emphasis is on the looks in the eyes of the lovers, the words they speak, the embraces they attempt. The realistic touches (such as Leander attempting, by sophistry, to convince Hero to sleep with him) are charming, and remind the reader that these two are not simply iconic lovers from the distant past. Hero and Leander are compelling because their reactions (even the less-than-truthful words of Hero, as she attempts to hold off Leander) are innocent and based on universal human emotions. Marlowe took a story from Greek myths intact, but made the characters believable to an Elizabethan audience. Who ever loved that loved not at first sight free essay sample Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? This poem starts with the description of the young lovers: the incomparably lovely virgin, Hero, dedicated to the service of the love goddess – she is Venus nun(line 45) and the handsome Leander. Both young people are described as having more than human beauty. Hero is so beautiful that the love-god Cupid mistakes her for that most beautiful of the goddesses, his mother Venus. Leanders description is even more extreme, and perhaps a bit bizarre. He is described as so attractive that even men find him beautiful. Marlowe shows his extreme handsomeness as feminine. Some swore he was a maid in mans attire (line 85). Later, Marlowe describes him, however, in great detail, with a muscular, masculine figure. This feminization of Leanders beauty was a Renaissance poetic convention. There was a limited vocabulary, at this time, for male attractiveness, and a feminine description was sometimes deemed necessary even when the subject was, per haps, not as androgynous as it might seem. We will write a custom essay sample on Who ever loved that loved not at first sight ? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, in this case the homoerotic undertones of Leanders beauty are a foreshadowing of a future event in the poem. The two lovers live on either side of the Hellespont (the strait which joins the Black Sea and the Aegean.) Hero lives in Sestos, where she is a virgin priestess of the goddess. Her duties are to sacrifice to Venus, and to remain sexually pure. She has aroused, it appears, a dangerous desire for her beauty in her many suitors. Her kirtle blue, whereon was many a stain/Made with the blood of wretched lovers slain (lines 15-16). We see her first, in a sacred grove, sacrificing turtle doves to the goddess. The long-haired Leander lives across the water in Abydos. During the yearly festival to Adonis (one of Venus lovers) in Sestos, Leander and Hero first meet. Marlowe described it with a memorable ten lines, which is often extracted from the longer poem as its own, stand-alone love-poem. Note the familiar sentiment about love at first sight; Shakespeare used something similar in Act 3 Scene V of As You Like It: It lies not win our power to love or hate, For will in us is overruled by fate. When two are stripped, long ere the course begin We wish that one should lose, the other win. And one especially do we affect Of two gold ingots like in each respect. The reason no man knows; let it suffice What we behold is censured by our eyes. Where both deliberate, the love is slight: Whoever loved that loved not at first sight? After Leander has seen and fallen in love with Hero, Hero is subsequently shot with an arrow of love by the god Cupid. The two meet and speak of their prodigious attraction, but Hero has made a vow to the goddess Venus, no less, to keep her chastity. Though Leander uses clever-sounding rhetoric to assure Hero that remaining a virgin is no way to serve her goddess (or herself), Vessels of brass, oft handled, brightly shine (line 232), Hero demurs and returns to her tower. Leander is afraid of being missed, and goes home across the water to Abydos. There, his father can tell by his face that he has fallen in love. Leander flees and goes to stand upon the rocks, gazing across the water at Heros tower. He cannot bear to be parted from Hero any longer, so he takes off his clothes and dives into the water to swim back to her. While Leander is swimming, the sea-god Neptune sees him and mistakes him for another famously handsome youth – the king of the gods Zeuss cupbearer Ganymede. Neptune has long coveted this young man, and takes this as an opportunity to steal him from his brother-god. He captures Leander and takes him down to his palace in the deep. Descriptions of sea-nymphs and mermaids, and the wealth under the oceans, ensue. Once Neptune realizes that Leander is almost drowned, and therefore cannot be Ganymede (who was made immortal by Zeus), the god brings Leander back to the surface. Breathing air again, Leander begins to swim toward Sestos , but Neptune follows underneath him, kissing and caressing him at every stroke. Leander is frightened by this and cries out O let me visit Hero ere I die! (line 661) Neptune will not relent, and continues caressing him and talking of love. Once again Leanders sexual ambiguity is brought up – he tells Neptune he is no woman. Neptune at last sees that Leander will not give into him, and sadly lets him go. Leander reaches Heros tower, and knocks on her door. Hero is surprised to find Leander standing there, dripping wet and naked. She brings him inside, and since he is cold she lets him lie next to her in bed. They engage in amorous embraces, but Hero, mindful of the value of her sacred chastity, attempts to hold Leander off for a time. Eventually they are overcome by their feelings, and, though they are both a little unsure of how to proceed, they consummate their love. The poem ends as morning dawns. Analysis Hero and Leander is a poem – an epyllion, that is, a short epic poem – which Marlowe composed based on work by the sixth-century poet Musaeus. The story, of course, is much older, based on various versions of a Greek myth. The narrative itself is one of iconic separated lovers, a tale full of Roman mythological references which would have been clear and meaningful to most of Marlowes readers. This poem was written in the last year of Marlowes life, 1593. It was a plague year, and the London theatres all were closed. Therefore Marlowe could not write for the stage, and poetry was his creative outlet. For a poem written in such a dark time, and about such a tragic subject (although the lovers end is actually not shown to us by Marlowe), Marlowes tone is surprisingly light, and the lines are full of a love of humanity and a wonder at the beauty of the world. Particularly the descriptions of Leander and Hero, and the vivid picture of the underwater kingdom of Neptune, are vivid and compelling. The poem has been termed mock-epic because it is so full of humor. Hopkins calls it one of the most deliciously comic poems of Elizabethan literature (literaryencyclopedia.com). Marlowes poem is thought to be unfinished, because the story of Musaeus goes on to tell of the lovers tragic demise. It is possible that Marlowe meant to continue the story (for he introduces characters who are not mentioned again – such as the dwarfish beldame (line 351) and Leanders father), but, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is just as likely that Marlowe meant never to continue this poem any further. Since the poems tone is so light and full of humor, it is hard to imagine the subject matter changing so drastically from the joy of young lovers to their deaths. However, Marlowe had already proved that he was capable of writing compellingly about the full range of emotions, so he could have intended to finish the story. The poem as it stands, however, can be judged as a complete work of art. George Chapman divided Marlowes lines, later, in to two sestiads, and composed an additional four to finish the story. Those lines, however, are Chapmans, and differ greatly from Marlowes original work. They are not considered here. The insistence of Leanders feminine beauty, not once but twice in this poem, is seen by some critics as evidence of Marlowes homosexuality. It may well be, but this convention of the allure young men have for other men is evident in the original story, not invented Marlowe. The classical world was much more accustomed to references to homosexuality than the Elizabethan Christian world of Marlowe. He delights in it, however, lingering lovingly on descriptions of Leander (a full forty lines on Leanders description alone, compared with forty-five on Hero, though her description is as much about her dress as her person) and his attractiveness. The importance placed on Leanders attractiveness, however, is more than is usual in poems of this type. It is easy to see how Marlowe may have been putting some of his own feelings into the poem. On the negative side, the courtship of Leander by Neptune is both explicit and disturbing, because Leander is frightened, does not desire the attention, and doesnt exactly know what is happening. He is nearly drowned, and cannot imagine what this god would want from him. Leander shows his sexual ignorance by insisting that he is not a woman. This is not the only instance of his extreme naivetà ©; later, Leander he does not understand what it to be done to consummate his relationship with Hero. This extreme sexual innocence is common in classical poems (such as Daphnis and Chloe) and was considered by the Romans especially to be an interesting subject for a love-poem. This is not a common theme in Elizabethan poetry, so Marlowe took this from Musaeus. The joyous meeting and reunion of the lovers is love-poetry of a particularly effective kind. The emphasis is on the looks in the eyes of the lovers, the words they speak, the embraces they attempt. The realistic touches (such as Leander attempting, by sophistry, to convince Hero to sleep with him) are charming, and remind the reader that these two are not simply iconic lovers from the distant past. Hero and Leander are compelling because their reactions (even the less-than-truthful words of Hero, as she attempts to hold off Leander) are innocent and based on universal human emotions. Marlowe took a story from Greek myths intact, but made the characters believable to an Elizabethan audience.

Free Essays on Plato Ethics

Introduction to Ethics Plato’s Gorgias Analysis of Socrates Argument with Polus Socrates Main Thesis: If something is wanted (P) for oneself then one must think that it (P) would be good for oneself. So, wanting something [P] (for oneself) requires one to think that [P] will be good (for oneself). Thus, it is a necessary condition for wanting something [P] for oneself, that [P] is good for oneself. Using this as his main thesis Socrates shows that tyrants do not have great power since they do not do what they want. In addition, they do what they want because they do not know what is good, and so they frequently do what is bad for themselves. Socrates Main Premises and Conclusion Polus: Tyrants and Orators have great power. Socrates: Tyrants do not have great power since they do not do what they want. And they do what they want because they lack knowledge of their good, and so frequently do what is bad for themselves. P1 = If one does something [ Z ] for the sake of some other end[ J ], then it is that end [ J ] one wants, and not [ Z ] the doing of an act itself. Simply: if one does [Z] in order to get (or for the sake of) [ J ]then * one wants [J], not [Z]. P2 = However, one only does anything [ Z ] for the sake of [ J ]obtaining good things for oneself. If one does something, then he does it for the sake of obtaining a good thing for himself. P3 = Therefore, one only wants to obtain good things for oneself. P4 = If one can only wants what is good for oneself, then he cannot want things that are bad for oneself. [Negation of Premise 3] Conclusion: [1] Therefore it anyone who does something that is bad for himself or herself, may not be doing what they want. [2] One is not doing what one wants if one does things that are bad for oneself. So, tyrants or orators who do things that are bad for themselves, do not do what they want. A Closer Look at the Logical Procession of the Argu... Free Essays on Plato Ethics Free Essays on Plato Ethics Introduction to Ethics Plato’s Gorgias Analysis of Socrates Argument with Polus Socrates Main Thesis: If something is wanted (P) for oneself then one must think that it (P) would be good for oneself. So, wanting something [P] (for oneself) requires one to think that [P] will be good (for oneself). Thus, it is a necessary condition for wanting something [P] for oneself, that [P] is good for oneself. Using this as his main thesis Socrates shows that tyrants do not have great power since they do not do what they want. In addition, they do what they want because they do not know what is good, and so they frequently do what is bad for themselves. Socrates Main Premises and Conclusion Polus: Tyrants and Orators have great power. Socrates: Tyrants do not have great power since they do not do what they want. And they do what they want because they lack knowledge of their good, and so frequently do what is bad for themselves. P1 = If one does something [ Z ] for the sake of some other end[ J ], then it is that end [ J ] one wants, and not [ Z ] the doing of an act itself. Simply: if one does [Z] in order to get (or for the sake of) [ J ]then * one wants [J], not [Z]. P2 = However, one only does anything [ Z ] for the sake of [ J ]obtaining good things for oneself. If one does something, then he does it for the sake of obtaining a good thing for himself. P3 = Therefore, one only wants to obtain good things for oneself. P4 = If one can only wants what is good for oneself, then he cannot want things that are bad for oneself. [Negation of Premise 3] Conclusion: [1] Therefore it anyone who does something that is bad for himself or herself, may not be doing what they want. [2] One is not doing what one wants if one does things that are bad for oneself. So, tyrants or orators who do things that are bad for themselves, do not do what they want. A Closer Look at the Logical Procession of the Argu...

How To Write For Social Media To Create The Best Posts - CoSchedule

How To Write For Social Media To Create The Best Posts Social media success requires strong writing skills. However, not all social media managers consider themselves writers. Fortunately, writing great social media content doesn’t have to be difficult. Not every post needs to reinvent the copywriting wheel, after all. Still, taking the time to get your writing right is worth it. Lets  learn how to write for social media and start creating better content now. Why Does It Matter If You Write Well On Social Media? Every social post you publish reflects on your brand. If you’re sloppy, your company will look sloppy too. Even worse, it could undermine your success on social media. Thats why its important to write well on social media. Social media copywriting requires some unique skills.  You need to be able to cram as much value into as few words as possible. You also have to be consistent and engaging at all times. Plus, every network is unique. What works on Facebook might flop  on LinkedIn. This makes becoming a master social wordsmith even more difficult. And thats exactly why we wrote this post. How To Write For Social Media To Create The Best Posts Consistency Counts (So Build A Social Media Style Guide) Keeping your social copy clean and within brand standards can be a challenge. Developing a simple style guide can help with this. A basic style guide can be one or two pages long, and should include the following: Mission Statement: This can be twofold:  why does your business exist, and why are you on social media? Audience/Persona Summary: Briefly describe your core audience on social media. Who are you writing for, anyway? Social Media Brand Voice: Describe what your social brand voice should sound like (casual, serious, professional, irreverent, etc.). Tone: Describe your social tone (helpful, funny, authoritative, etc.) Branding: List requirements for brand spellings (and other copy-related branding elements). Message Types (By Network): Not all content needs to go on every network. Create some guidelines on which types of messaging are appropriate on which of your social networks. If you need help building a style guide, this guide from Hubspot  is a great primer. TIP: Use the Social Media Style Guide Template included in this post to build your own style guide. Put Together a Social Media Writing Toolbox The first thing you'll need is the Social Message  Optimizer! It's the latest FREE tool from your friends at .  Ã°Å¸Ëœâ€° The Social Message  Optimizer helps you nail the mechanics behind writing amazing social media messages. That means it analyzes your message type, character length, number of hashtags, emoji count, and more to help you optimize the perfect message for every social network! When you use the Social Message  Optimizer, you'll: Stop guessing what works (and what doesn't). Learning and then remembering all of the best practices for writing on every social network is super time-consuming and tedious. Now you have a clear place to start writing every social media message! Just write, review your score on each network, and optimize further based on real data. Get immediate feedback to improve quickly. Consider the Social Message  Optimizer your expert who is always there to answer your questions. You'll A/B test your messages before you publish them to get the most engagement on each network. Get even more engagement than ever before.  Capture more eyeballs with your messages! Get more likes, comments, shares, and link clicks by using the data from  6,399,322 social messages to refine yours to be among the top 10%. Use the Social Message  Optimizer now. Grammarly We've all published a social post with a typo before. And we've all felt like this as a result: This is where Grammarly's free browser extension (available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) comes in handy. It's a life-saving spelling and grammar checking tool. Install it on your browser, and it'll check your spelling and grammar on everything you write, anywhere (including on social media). Hashtagify.me Looking for relevant hashtags to incorporate into your tweets? Hashtagify.me should fit the bill. It's an easy-to-use hashtag search engine to help you find hashtags people are actually using. 9 Basic Social Media Writing Tips Like we said earlier, every network has its own quirks and best practices. However, there are some standard best practices that generally apply to most networks, too. Let's review those now. Start writing better on social media now.Understand Active Vs. Passive Voice Using active voice helps produce more engaging copy. According to PlainLanguage.gov, Readers prefer active voice sentences, and we should try to use the active voice in most of our business writing to communicate our message most effectively. Active voice clearly identifies the action and who is performing that action. Most writers are familiar with active and passive voice. If you’re not sure what the difference is (and were afraid to ask) though, then never fear. There’s no shame here. Let’s walk through each one: Hear the difference? The first example puts the subject (â€Å"I†) in the driver’s seat. It’s more action-oriented. The second example, however, sounds a bit more flat, factual, and lacking action. Writing for social media? Use active voice.Put Your Audience First It's rude to only talk about yourself. So, write in a way that puts your audience at the center of the story instead. How do you do this? Simple. Say â€Å"you† more than you say â€Å"us.† Here’s a good example from Threadless’ Twitter bio: Write Stuff People Want To Share This requires understanding why people  share content. Let's  break this down into five major reasons: Delivering value to their audience. People want to share things their audience will find valuable. This could mean content that’s helpful, entertaining, or otherwise worth paying attention to. Try writing posts that convey a clear benefit. If you create how-to content, consider writing copy that hints at what the linked article will help readers do. You can also create unlinked social messages that include a useful tip in your post copy or image copy. Here’s an example from Bobcat Company: To  express and define themselves. When sharing posts, people often think, â€Å"How does sharing  this reinforce my identity?† Use surveys or create personas to understand your typical audience member. From there, figure out how they identify themselves. For example, if you sell construction equipment, your audience might see themselves as â€Å"tough† or â€Å"hard-working.† Pickup truck manufacturers know their customers connect their identities to what they drive. This post from Ram Trucks capitalizes on this: To feel connected to others. Social media is about building connections and relationships. People naturally want to share posts that shows they’re part of something bigger themselves. They also like to share posts likely to start a conversation (so they can converse with other people). One way to do this is to write messages that encourage tagging and sharing. Like this: To make themselves feel valued. People want to share posts that are likely to get likes, shares, and positive comments. It feels good to share something your friends like, right?  You might also consider writing messages showing appreciation for your audience. To express beliefs or support causes. People love sharing opinions on social media.  You probably don't need to be told that, either. If it’s appropriate, take a stance on something or show your support for a cause. You don’t have to get too controversial (although sometimes a little bit of controversy is okay). Here’s an example from the United Nations: This tweet does each of the following: It promotes a cause (gender equality). It incorporates a relevant hashtag in the middle of the tweet. It uses positive language. It links to a page where viewers can take action. It also achieves each of these goals without being offensive or inflammatory. Before writing social posts, ask 'Why would someone share this'?Make Sure You Have Clear  Message-Match Between Your Posts And Destination Pages If your post is linking to an external page, then your post messaging needs to match your landing page messaging. In short, your social media content needs to follow through on the promises your posts make. Here are a few tips to keep in mind: Double-check that links are accurate. Only link to substantive pages with good information. And make sure your post copy is relevant to your destination page. Check out this tweet from Esquire. It’s written to stoke curiosity and intrigue. What will  happen on season 2 of Stranger Things? Who knows? I don't, but the destination page here better tell me. Once I reach the page, it’s immediately clear that the post copy directed me to a relevant link. The destination page’s headline is well aligned with the tweet, too. That’s a good thing, because if this ended up being click bait, I would have thrown my keyword. Don’t make people want to throw their keyboards. Make sure your social messaging matches your  destination page.Make Sure Your Copy Matches Your Visual Content, Too If you’re writing image copy, consider connecting it with your post copy too. Here’s a great example from Gary Vaynerchuk: See how the post copy connects with the image copy? One leads into the other to communicate one clear message. Here’s another example from the NFL that creatively incorporates a player’s number (in this case, Randall Cobb of the Green Bay Packers, the greatest sports franchise in history*): *Your favorite team is great, too. This creative campaign counted down the days until kickoff, including a different player down to opening day. Be Clear And Concise Avoid complex language and use short sentences. People skim on social media, so punchy posts tend to work better than long-winded paragraphs. Try to limit yourself to just one or two sentences, if possible. This isn’t a firm rule, but it may be a useful guideline to keep yourself from rambling. Struggling to keep your posts short? Try working through this simple exercise. Start by reading  this example post: â€Å"Here is our latest blog post about a very awesome topic you’ll enjoy.† This isn’t that bad, right? Well, there are a lot of wasted words we could do without. Let’s try minimizing stop words (is, a, etc.) and see how it sounds. We could also make the end of the sentence more specific, focusing on one detail to use fewer words. â€Å"Here’s our latest blog post about blogging.† Hear the difference? The second example says essentially the same thing. It just does it with fewer but more specific words, and sounds much better as a result. Clarity and conciseness are key for writing well on social media.Avoid Pushy, Overly Sales-Driven Messaging At least when it comes to writing organic social media content. While social ads need to be written to sell, organic social posts should be written to inform, entertain, or otherwise make a connection with your audience. That doesn’t mean you can’t promote yourself. It just means it’s best to find a way to sell people on the idea of taking an action without directly sounding like you’re making a sales pitch. Here’s an example from music distribution platform Bandcamp: If you must write a sales message, focus on benefits to the consumer. This tweet from Threadless lets people know there’s a sale going on without forcefully saying, â€Å"Buy Now† or â€Å"Shop Here.† It also uses a nice, clear image. Invoke Curiosity Write in a way that makes people want to click through. If you’re linking to another article or blog post, you don’t need to tell the whole story in your social media update. Instead, leave some details unanswered while implying your linked articles will answer their questions. What is the mystery on "The Curse of Oak Island," anyway?  You don't have to care about construction equipment to want to find out. Recommended Reading: How To Use Social Media Analytics To Create The Best Content Social Media Writing Tips For Each Network Every social media network is different. Different audiences. Different purposes. Different expectations. Your writing and messaging should be adjusted accordingly. Instead of writing one message for every network, tailor your messaging to each one individually. To do this, it helps to understand the purpose of each network, and what works best on each one: Consider audience expectations for each network when writing social media posts.Facebook Writing Tips With declining Facebook organic reach, sharp copy is now more important than ever. Keep Posts Short There’s some wiggle room on this one. However, data shows short posts perform best. Avoid Promotional Calls-To-Action Facebook’s algorithm can detect overly promotional language. This means wording like, â€Å"Buy Now!† or â€Å"Sign up here!† Posts with a hard sales message get demoted in the newsfeed, and with organic reach already in decline, that’s something you can’t afford. Write Shareable Article Headlines If you’re writing blog posts or articles, keep Facebook in mind when crafting catchy headlines. Think short, punchy, and conversational. Recommended Reading: Facebook Marketing Strategy: Why You Need One (And How to Build It) Twitter Writing Tips You can do a surprising amount with just 140 characters. Here are some tips to make the most of your tweets. Do More Than Simply Reshare Headlines As Post Copy This one is okay in moderation. However, it’s better to write copy that adds to the story your article is telling.  Here’s an example of what we mean: Instead of reusing the article headline as a social post, the post outlines the story in the article. This helps build interest in clicking the link, and prevents wasting people’s time reading the same text twice. Incorporate Hashtags Directly In Tweet Copy It’s easy to add hashtags to the end of a post. However, consider cleverly incorporating them directly into your tweets instead. In this example from Electronic Arts, a single hashtag is the entire post. This creates a clean look for your hashtags, and ensures they get seen. Get creative and directly incorporate hashtags in your social posts.Go Easy On Hashtags, Though Make sure your message isn’t lost in a sea of hashtags. Aim to use two, or maybe three, at the most. Recommended Reading: How To Use Hashtags Effectively Without Being Annoying Be Mindful Of Your Character Limit You have 140 characters here. Stay under that limit without cutting corners. Conciseness is no excuse for lack of clarity. If you can’t use complete sentences, you need to rewrite your tweet. Try Adding URLs In The Middle Of Tweets (Instead Of At The End) This tip comes from Dan Zarrella at Hubspot. This data is a little old at this point, but in 2011, he discovered that â€Å"the best area for clicks is about 25% of the way through the Tweet.† As a writer, testing this requires you to consider writing in a way that would let you place a link after just two or three words. Try following this formula: [Short Intro] + [URL] + [Longer Explanation]. Have you tried putting URLs in the middle of tweets, instead of at the end?Tag Other Relevant Accounts Within Your Tweet Copy This helps alert other folks that you’re talking about them. In turn, they’ll be more likely to share your posts. It’s win-win. Be sure to write your posts with other accounts in mind. Incorporate Emojis Into Your Tweet Copy Like it or not, â€Å"emoji† is turning into a language all its own. Used creatively, they can add a splash of character to your tweets. Check out this example from Sporting Kansas City, a Major League Soccer team: Tell A Story In A Tweet It’s possible to tell a complete story in a tweet. Here’s an example from Microsoft: This tweet outlines the entire article in under 140 characters. Recommended Reading: 15 Tactics to Boost Twitter Engagement (Backed By Research) Google+ Writing Tips Google+ is different from other social networks and allows for some interesting formatting options. Use that to your advantage. Write Compelling Post Headlines Google+ is unique in that it allows you to write bolded headlines. General best practices for writing headlines applies here. Don’t Be Afraid To Tell A Whole Story Google+ posts can run a bit longer than on other networks. Take advantage of that. Go into more detail than normal if you feel you need to. LinkedIn Writing Tips LinkedIn is a professional network. Here's how to make sure your writing reflects that. Be Clear Avoid using professional lingo if it won’t be understood by your audience. Be Concise Get to the point. Don’t ramble. Busy professionals don’t have time to waste. Stay Professional LinkedIn is a professional network. Don’t forget this when writing your posts. Stick to a professional tone. Instagram Writing Tips Instagram is a visual-driven network. However, the written word still has its place there. Think About Alignment Between Your Image Copy And Post Copy Instagram is a visual network, but the written word still has a place there. Write image copy that hooks people’s attention while connecting with your post text. Don’t Forget Hashtags Instagram likes hashtags. Don’t be afraid to use them liberally at the end of your posts. Recommended Reading: How To Improve Your Visual Marketing On Pinterest And Instagram Pinterest Writing Tips Pinterest is a highly visual network, but that doesn't mean you can neglect your writing chops here. Write Longer Pin Descriptions According to a study from Dan Zarrella, descriptions over 200 characters long received more repins. That could be thanks to those pins having more detailed context around what they're about to entice people to click and share. Include Links in Pin Descriptions If people like the images you pin, they'll probably want to learn more about where they came from. Adding a link helps, and don't be afraid to add a call to action, either. Include Relevant Keywords in Your Pin Descriptions Including keywords in pin descriptions can help them show up in searches on Pinterest. How To Define And Develop Your Voice And Tone People expect social media accounts to have a consistent voice. Your presence needs personality, even if you’re representing a brand. Social media is about generating conversation. No one wants to talk to someone boring. This means you’ll need to develop a consistent voice. One that’s both true to your brand or personality, while fitting for each social network you’re on. What Does Your Social Media Voice Sound Like? Your voice is essentially your personality on social media. Are you fun? Serious? Creative? What's The Difference Between Voice And Tone? Voice and tone are often used interchangeably. However, there is a difference, and it's important to understand them both. Your tone is the inflection you apply to your voice. Depending on the context, you could sound happy, sad, angry, or any other emotion that's appropriate. Buffer's Kevan Lee may have put it best: Essentially, there is one voice for your brand and many tones that refine that voice.  Voice is a mission statement. Tone is the application of that mission. How To Develop  Your Brand's Social Media Personality Start by asking these questions: What is my/our mission or purpose? What are our values? What kind of language and tone does our audience use? Then, try filling in the blanks here a few different ways: â€Å"We are ________ , but we’re not __________ .† An example answer here could be, â€Å"We are funny, but we’re not offensive.† Or, â€Å"We are professional, but we’re not stuffy.† The idea is to narrow down who you are, and who you’re not. Recommended Reading: This Is The Social Media Posting Schedule That Will Boost Your Traffic By 192% Are You Personable? Professional? Or Both? Social media is often used to keep in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. That means your social media content has to compete against updates from people users are close with. It's a simple fact that most people don’t log into a social network to see content from brands, companies, or bloggers. There are exceptions, of course. In any case, you need to write to stand out and hook people’s attention. This requires understanding what your audience expects to see from you. And that might be hard if your brand isn’t inherently â€Å"fun.† So, what can you do? Know Your Audience Who are your customers? What are their values, concerns, and interests? It’s important to figure this out if you don’t already know. Survey your audience if you have to. You need to know who you’re writing for before you can understand what they want from you. Creating a social media audience persona might help. This essentially entails creating a character description of your average target audience member. Building personas takes a little bit of work, but it can help you get a clear idea of who you’re writing for. TIP: Know who you’re writing for on social media. Do this by running surveys, building personas, or even just listening to what they say on social media. Know Your Competition Seeing what kind of content your competition is writing can help inspire your own approach. Check out some of your competitor’s social profiles and make note of the following: What does their brand voice sound like? Does their content appear to drive engagement? If this company were a person, would I want to talk to them? This can give you an idea of what works in your industry. TIP: Pay attention to competitors in your space on social media. Note their writing style. Take inspiration from what works, and then do it better yourself. Know Yourself. Cat videos, memes, and other distractions dominate on social media. Those things might work for your brand. They could also be totally inappropriate. The key is to find the right balance between personable and professional content and tone for your audience. Start by defining yourself under one of these three categories: Personable. Your brand is fun, warm, and inviting. Professional. Your brand is serious, authoritative, and orderly. Both. Your brand bridges both of the above, tying fun content into more professional themes. How do you know which is best for your brand? One answer is to use common sense. If you’re a legal firm, for example, you probably don’t want to sound lighthearted. If you run a pet adoption center, however, you’d likely want to sound fun and inviting to get people in the door. What do you do if it isn’t immediately obvious which of these three categories best fits your brand? Try working through these three exercises to figure it out. Exercise 1: Determine Who You Are (By Determining Who You’re Not) One way to help understand your brand voice is to ask â€Å"We are ______ , but we are not ______ â€Å" questions. This can help you know who you are, and just as importantly, who you’re not. As an exercise, fill in those blanks a few different ways. Here are some examples: â€Å"We're fun, but we’re not goofy.† â€Å"We're informative, but we’re not boring.† â€Å"We're authoritative, but we’re not arrogant.† Exercise 2: Try Summarizing Your Brand In Just Three Adjectives Another idea is to simply think of three adjectives that describe your brand. In traditional advertising parlance, this could be thought of as a â€Å"tag line.† According to The Balance, A variant of a branding slogan, a tagline can be used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create  a memorable dramatic phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of an audio/visual product, or to reinforce and strengthen the audience's memory of a literary product. Your mission (should you choose to accept it), is to do one of the following: Keep your company’s existing tag line in mind when writing on social media. Ask yourself, â€Å"How does this messaging support or reflect what we’re about?† Come up with a new tagline. It doesn’t have to be one you use publicly. It could even just a short phrase you use internally to guide your copy. Let’s try developing a simple tagline using three adjectives. Taglines can be short phrases (typically no longer than five to seven words), but we’ll make this easy. The goal is to help you summarize who you are, in order to inform your social media voice. Start by choosing three adjectives that fall into one or all of the categories below: An adjective describing what you do. Another addressing how you do it. One more pertaining to why you do it. Let’s say you run a car dealership. What are some things you might value? Honesty Experience Quality service Put that together, and you could come up with a tagline like: Honest. Experience. Quality. How To Write For Social Media To Create The Best Posts Social media success requires strong writing skills. However, not all social media managers consider themselves writers. Fortunately, writing great social media content doesn’t have to be difficult. Not every post needs to reinvent the copywriting wheel, after all. Still, taking the time to get your writing right is worth it. Lets  learn how to write for social media and start creating better content now. Why Does It Matter If You Write Well On Social Media? Every social post you publish reflects on your brand. If you’re sloppy, your company will look sloppy too. Even worse, it could undermine your success on social media. Thats why its important to write well on social media. Social media copywriting requires some unique skills.  You need to be able to cram as much value into as few words as possible. You also have to be consistent and engaging at all times. Plus, every network is unique. What works on Facebook might flop  on LinkedIn. This makes becoming a master social wordsmith even more difficult. And thats exactly why we wrote this post. How To Write For Social Media To Create The Best Posts Consistency Counts (So Build A Social Media Style Guide) Keeping your social copy clean and within brand standards can be a challenge. Developing a simple style guide can help with this. A basic style guide can be one or two pages long, and should include the following: Mission Statement: This can be twofold:  why does your business exist, and why are you on social media? Audience/Persona Summary: Briefly describe your core audience on social media. Who are you writing for, anyway? Social Media Brand Voice: Describe what your social brand voice should sound like (casual, serious, professional, irreverent, etc.). Tone: Describe your social tone (helpful, funny, authoritative, etc.) Branding: List requirements for brand spellings (and other copy-related branding elements). Message Types (By Network): Not all content needs to go on every network. Create some guidelines on which types of messaging are appropriate on which of your social networks. If you need help building a style guide, this guide from Hubspot  is a great primer. TIP: Use the Social Media Style Guide Template included in this post to build your own style guide. Put Together a Social Media Writing Toolbox The first thing you'll need is the Social Message  Optimizer! It's the latest FREE tool from your friends at .  Ã°Å¸Ëœâ€° The Social Message  Optimizer helps you nail the mechanics behind writing amazing social media messages. That means it analyzes your message type, character length, number of hashtags, emoji count, and more to help you optimize the perfect message for every social network! When you use the Social Message  Optimizer, you'll: Stop guessing what works (and what doesn't). Learning and then remembering all of the best practices for writing on every social network is super time-consuming and tedious. Now you have a clear place to start writing every social media message! Just write, review your score on each network, and optimize further based on real data. Get immediate feedback to improve quickly. Consider the Social Message  Optimizer your expert who is always there to answer your questions. You'll A/B test your messages before you publish them to get the most engagement on each network. Get even more engagement than ever before.  Capture more eyeballs with your messages! Get more likes, comments, shares, and link clicks by using the data from  6,399,322 social messages to refine yours to be among the top 10%. Use the Social Message  Optimizer now. Grammarly We've all published a social post with a typo before. And we've all felt like this as a result: This is where Grammarly's free browser extension (available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) comes in handy. It's a life-saving spelling and grammar checking tool. Install it on your browser, and it'll check your spelling and grammar on everything you write, anywhere (including on social media). Hashtagify.me Looking for relevant hashtags to incorporate into your tweets? Hashtagify.me should fit the bill. It's an easy-to-use hashtag search engine to help you find hashtags people are actually using. 9 Basic Social Media Writing Tips Like we said earlier, every network has its own quirks and best practices. However, there are some standard best practices that generally apply to most networks, too. Let's review those now. Start writing better on social media now.Understand Active Vs. Passive Voice Using active voice helps produce more engaging copy. According to PlainLanguage.gov, Readers prefer active voice sentences, and we should try to use the active voice in most of our business writing to communicate our message most effectively. Active voice clearly identifies the action and who is performing that action. Most writers are familiar with active and passive voice. If you’re not sure what the difference is (and were afraid to ask) though, then never fear. There’s no shame here. Let’s walk through each one: Hear the difference? The first example puts the subject (â€Å"I†) in the driver’s seat. It’s more action-oriented. The second example, however, sounds a bit more flat, factual, and lacking action. Writing for social media? Use active voice.Put Your Audience First It's rude to only talk about yourself. So, write in a way that puts your audience at the center of the story instead. How do you do this? Simple. Say â€Å"you† more than you say â€Å"us.† Here’s a good example from Threadless’ Twitter bio: Write Stuff People Want To Share This requires understanding why people  share content. Let's  break this down into five major reasons: Delivering value to their audience. People want to share things their audience will find valuable. This could mean content that’s helpful, entertaining, or otherwise worth paying attention to. Try writing posts that convey a clear benefit. If you create how-to content, consider writing copy that hints at what the linked article will help readers do. You can also create unlinked social messages that include a useful tip in your post copy or image copy. Here’s an example from Bobcat Company: To  express and define themselves. When sharing posts, people often think, â€Å"How does sharing  this reinforce my identity?† Use surveys or create personas to understand your typical audience member. From there, figure out how they identify themselves. For example, if you sell construction equipment, your audience might see themselves as â€Å"tough† or â€Å"hard-working.† Pickup truck manufacturers know their customers connect their identities to what they drive. This post from Ram Trucks capitalizes on this: To feel connected to others. Social media is about building connections and relationships. People naturally want to share posts that shows they’re part of something bigger themselves. They also like to share posts likely to start a conversation (so they can converse with other people). One way to do this is to write messages that encourage tagging and sharing. Like this: To make themselves feel valued. People want to share posts that are likely to get likes, shares, and positive comments. It feels good to share something your friends like, right?  You might also consider writing messages showing appreciation for your audience. To express beliefs or support causes. People love sharing opinions on social media.  You probably don't need to be told that, either. If it’s appropriate, take a stance on something or show your support for a cause. You don’t have to get too controversial (although sometimes a little bit of controversy is okay). Here’s an example from the United Nations: This tweet does each of the following: It promotes a cause (gender equality). It incorporates a relevant hashtag in the middle of the tweet. It uses positive language. It links to a page where viewers can take action. It also achieves each of these goals without being offensive or inflammatory. Before writing social posts, ask 'Why would someone share this'?Make Sure You Have Clear  Message-Match Between Your Posts And Destination Pages If your post is linking to an external page, then your post messaging needs to match your landing page messaging. In short, your social media content needs to follow through on the promises your posts make. Here are a few tips to keep in mind: Double-check that links are accurate. Only link to substantive pages with good information. And make sure your post copy is relevant to your destination page. Check out this tweet from Esquire. It’s written to stoke curiosity and intrigue. What will  happen on season 2 of Stranger Things? Who knows? I don't, but the destination page here better tell me. Once I reach the page, it’s immediately clear that the post copy directed me to a relevant link. The destination page’s headline is well aligned with the tweet, too. That’s a good thing, because if this ended up being click bait, I would have thrown my keyword. Don’t make people want to throw their keyboards. Make sure your social messaging matches your  destination page.Make Sure Your Copy Matches Your Visual Content, Too If you’re writing image copy, consider connecting it with your post copy too. Here’s a great example from Gary Vaynerchuk: See how the post copy connects with the image copy? One leads into the other to communicate one clear message. Here’s another example from the NFL that creatively incorporates a player’s number (in this case, Randall Cobb of the Green Bay Packers, the greatest sports franchise in history*): *Your favorite team is great, too. This creative campaign counted down the days until kickoff, including a different player down to opening day. Be Clear And Concise Avoid complex language and use short sentences. People skim on social media, so punchy posts tend to work better than long-winded paragraphs. Try to limit yourself to just one or two sentences, if possible. This isn’t a firm rule, but it may be a useful guideline to keep yourself from rambling. Struggling to keep your posts short? Try working through this simple exercise. Start by reading  this example post: â€Å"Here is our latest blog post about a very awesome topic you’ll enjoy.† This isn’t that bad, right? Well, there are a lot of wasted words we could do without. Let’s try minimizing stop words (is, a, etc.) and see how it sounds. We could also make the end of the sentence more specific, focusing on one detail to use fewer words. â€Å"Here’s our latest blog post about blogging.† Hear the difference? The second example says essentially the same thing. It just does it with fewer but more specific words, and sounds much better as a result. Clarity and conciseness are key for writing well on social media.Avoid Pushy, Overly Sales-Driven Messaging At least when it comes to writing organic social media content. While social ads need to be written to sell, organic social posts should be written to inform, entertain, or otherwise make a connection with your audience. That doesn’t mean you can’t promote yourself. It just means it’s best to find a way to sell people on the idea of taking an action without directly sounding like you’re making a sales pitch. Here’s an example from music distribution platform Bandcamp: If you must write a sales message, focus on benefits to the consumer. This tweet from Threadless lets people know there’s a sale going on without forcefully saying, â€Å"Buy Now† or â€Å"Shop Here.† It also uses a nice, clear image. Invoke Curiosity Write in a way that makes people want to click through. If you’re linking to another article or blog post, you don’t need to tell the whole story in your social media update. Instead, leave some details unanswered while implying your linked articles will answer their questions. What is the mystery on "The Curse of Oak Island," anyway?  You don't have to care about construction equipment to want to find out. Recommended Reading: How To Use Social Media Analytics To Create The Best Content Social Media Writing Tips For Each Network Every social media network is different. Different audiences. Different purposes. Different expectations. Your writing and messaging should be adjusted accordingly. Instead of writing one message for every network, tailor your messaging to each one individually. To do this, it helps to understand the purpose of each network, and what works best on each one: Consider audience expectations for each network when writing social media posts.Facebook Writing Tips With declining Facebook organic reach, sharp copy is now more important than ever. Keep Posts Short There’s some wiggle room on this one. However, data shows short posts perform best. Avoid Promotional Calls-To-Action Facebook’s algorithm can detect overly promotional language. This means wording like, â€Å"Buy Now!† or â€Å"Sign up here!† Posts with a hard sales message get demoted in the newsfeed, and with organic reach already in decline, that’s something you can’t afford. Write Shareable Article Headlines If you’re writing blog posts or articles, keep Facebook in mind when crafting catchy headlines. Think short, punchy, and conversational. Recommended Reading: Facebook Marketing Strategy: Why You Need One (And How to Build It) Twitter Writing Tips You can do a surprising amount with just 140 characters. Here are some tips to make the most of your tweets. Do More Than Simply Reshare Headlines As Post Copy This one is okay in moderation. However, it’s better to write copy that adds to the story your article is telling.  Here’s an example of what we mean: Instead of reusing the article headline as a social post, the post outlines the story in the article. This helps build interest in clicking the link, and prevents wasting people’s time reading the same text twice. Incorporate Hashtags Directly In Tweet Copy It’s easy to add hashtags to the end of a post. However, consider cleverly incorporating them directly into your tweets instead. In this example from Electronic Arts, a single hashtag is the entire post. This creates a clean look for your hashtags, and ensures they get seen. Get creative and directly incorporate hashtags in your social posts.Go Easy On Hashtags, Though Make sure your message isn’t lost in a sea of hashtags. Aim to use two, or maybe three, at the most. Recommended Reading: How To Use Hashtags Effectively Without Being Annoying Be Mindful Of Your Character Limit You have 140 characters here. Stay under that limit without cutting corners. Conciseness is no excuse for lack of clarity. If you can’t use complete sentences, you need to rewrite your tweet. Try Adding URLs In The Middle Of Tweets (Instead Of At The End) This tip comes from Dan Zarrella at Hubspot. This data is a little old at this point, but in 2011, he discovered that â€Å"the best area for clicks is about 25% of the way through the Tweet.† As a writer, testing this requires you to consider writing in a way that would let you place a link after just two or three words. Try following this formula: [Short Intro] + [URL] + [Longer Explanation]. Have you tried putting URLs in the middle of tweets, instead of at the end?Tag Other Relevant Accounts Within Your Tweet Copy This helps alert other folks that you’re talking about them. In turn, they’ll be more likely to share your posts. It’s win-win. Be sure to write your posts with other accounts in mind. Incorporate Emojis Into Your Tweet Copy Like it or not, â€Å"emoji† is turning into a language all its own. Used creatively, they can add a splash of character to your tweets. Check out this example from Sporting Kansas City, a Major League Soccer team: Tell A Story In A Tweet It’s possible to tell a complete story in a tweet. Here’s an example from Microsoft: This tweet outlines the entire article in under 140 characters. Recommended Reading: 15 Tactics to Boost Twitter Engagement (Backed By Research) Google+ Writing Tips Google+ is different from other social networks and allows for some interesting formatting options. Use that to your advantage. Write Compelling Post Headlines Google+ is unique in that it allows you to write bolded headlines. General best practices for writing headlines applies here. Don’t Be Afraid To Tell A Whole Story Google+ posts can run a bit longer than on other networks. Take advantage of that. Go into more detail than normal if you feel you need to. LinkedIn Writing Tips LinkedIn is a professional network. Here's how to make sure your writing reflects that. Be Clear Avoid using professional lingo if it won’t be understood by your audience. Be Concise Get to the point. Don’t ramble. Busy professionals don’t have time to waste. Stay Professional LinkedIn is a professional network. Don’t forget this when writing your posts. Stick to a professional tone. Instagram Writing Tips Instagram is a visual-driven network. However, the written word still has its place there. Think About Alignment Between Your Image Copy And Post Copy Instagram is a visual network, but the written word still has a place there. Write image copy that hooks people’s attention while connecting with your post text. Don’t Forget Hashtags Instagram likes hashtags. Don’t be afraid to use them liberally at the end of your posts. Recommended Reading: How To Improve Your Visual Marketing On Pinterest And Instagram Pinterest Writing Tips Pinterest is a highly visual network, but that doesn't mean you can neglect your writing chops here. Write Longer Pin Descriptions According to a study from Dan Zarrella, descriptions over 200 characters long received more repins. That could be thanks to those pins having more detailed context around what they're about to entice people to click and share. Include Links in Pin Descriptions If people like the images you pin, they'll probably want to learn more about where they came from. Adding a link helps, and don't be afraid to add a call to action, either. Include Relevant Keywords in Your Pin Descriptions Including keywords in pin descriptions can help them show up in searches on Pinterest. How To Define And Develop Your Voice And Tone People expect social media accounts to have a consistent voice. Your presence needs personality, even if you’re representing a brand. Social media is about generating conversation. No one wants to talk to someone boring. This means you’ll need to develop a consistent voice. One that’s both true to your brand or personality, while fitting for each social network you’re on. What Does Your Social Media Voice Sound Like? Your voice is essentially your personality on social media. Are you fun? Serious? Creative? What's The Difference Between Voice And Tone? Voice and tone are often used interchangeably. However, there is a difference, and it's important to understand them both. Your tone is the inflection you apply to your voice. Depending on the context, you could sound happy, sad, angry, or any other emotion that's appropriate. Buffer's Kevan Lee may have put it best: Essentially, there is one voice for your brand and many tones that refine that voice.  Voice is a mission statement. Tone is the application of that mission. How To Develop  Your Brand's Social Media Personality Start by asking these questions: What is my/our mission or purpose? What are our values? What kind of language and tone does our audience use? Then, try filling in the blanks here a few different ways: â€Å"We are ________ , but we’re not __________ .† An example answer here could be, â€Å"We are funny, but we’re not offensive.† Or, â€Å"We are professional, but we’re not stuffy.† The idea is to narrow down who you are, and who you’re not. Recommended Reading: This Is The Social Media Posting Schedule That Will Boost Your Traffic By 192% Are You Personable? Professional? Or Both? Social media is often used to keep in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. That means your social media content has to compete against updates from people users are close with. It's a simple fact that most people don’t log into a social network to see content from brands, companies, or bloggers. There are exceptions, of course. In any case, you need to write to stand out and hook people’s attention. This requires understanding what your audience expects to see from you. And that might be hard if your brand isn’t inherently â€Å"fun.† So, what can you do? Know Your Audience Who are your customers? What are their values, concerns, and interests? It’s important to figure this out if you don’t already know. Survey your audience if you have to. You need to know who you’re writing for before you can understand what they want from you. Creating a social media audience persona might help. This essentially entails creating a character description of your average target audience member. Building personas takes a little bit of work, but it can help you get a clear idea of who you’re writing for. TIP: Know who you’re writing for on social media. Do this by running surveys, building personas, or even just listening to what they say on social media. Know Your Competition Seeing what kind of content your competition is writing can help inspire your own approach. Check out some of your competitor’s social profiles and make note of the following: What does their brand voice sound like? Does their content appear to drive engagement? If this company were a person, would I want to talk to them? This can give you an idea of what works in your industry. TIP: Pay attention to competitors in your space on social media. Note their writing style. Take inspiration from what works, and then do it better yourself. Know Yourself. Cat videos, memes, and other distractions dominate on social media. Those things might work for your brand. They could also be totally inappropriate. The key is to find the right balance between personable and professional content and tone for your audience. Start by defining yourself under one of these three categories: Personable. Your brand is fun, warm, and inviting. Professional. Your brand is serious, authoritative, and orderly. Both. Your brand bridges both of the above, tying fun content into more professional themes. How do you know which is best for your brand? One answer is to use common sense. If you’re a legal firm, for example, you probably don’t want to sound lighthearted. If you run a pet adoption center, however, you’d likely want to sound fun and inviting to get people in the door. What do you do if it isn’t immediately obvious which of these three categories best fits your brand? Try working through these three exercises to figure it out. Exercise 1: Determine Who You Are (By Determining Who You’re Not) One way to help understand your brand voice is to ask â€Å"We are ______ , but we are not ______ â€Å" questions. This can help you know who you are, and just as importantly, who you’re not. As an exercise, fill in those blanks a few different ways. Here are some examples: â€Å"We're fun, but we’re not goofy.† â€Å"We're informative, but we’re not boring.† â€Å"We're authoritative, but we’re not arrogant.† Exercise 2: Try Summarizing Your Brand In Just Three Adjectives Another idea is to simply think of three adjectives that describe your brand. In traditional advertising parlance, this could be thought of as a â€Å"tag line.† According to The Balance, A variant of a branding slogan, a tagline can be used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create  a memorable dramatic phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of an audio/visual product, or to reinforce and strengthen the audience's memory of a literary product. Your mission (should you choose to accept it), is to do one of the following: Keep your company’s existing tag line in mind when writing on social media. Ask yourself, â€Å"How does this messaging support or reflect what we’re about?† Come up with a new tagline. It doesn’t have to be one you use publicly. It could even just a short phrase you use internally to guide your copy. Let’s try developing a simple tagline using three adjectives. Taglines can be short phrases (typically no longer than five to seven words), but we’ll make this easy. The goal is to help you summarize who you are, in order to inform your social media voice. Start by choosing three adjectives that fall into one or all of the categories below: An adjective describing what you do. Another addressing how you do it. One more pertaining to why you do it. Let’s say you run a car dealership. What are some things you might value? Honesty Experience Quality service Put that together, and you could come up with a tagline like: Honest. Experience. Quality.