Criticism. It can be said that it’s a writer’s Achilles’ Heel, and the Kryptonite of a writer’s creativity. It’s a response that can either boost or kill an article. As a copywriter, we write with the goal of delivering a solid message to our readers. Ideally, we want to believe that what we’ve written is considered the Holy Grail of that particular subject. The harsh reality is that it isn’t.
A Copywriter’s Job
As a copywriter, you’re communicating to a vast audience comprised of several personalities. Some are passive and will receive what you have to say easily. Others will not. Those ‘others’ are the ones who will leave snarky comments trying to get the last word to one-up the overall message of your copy.
The Fans and the Critics
Sadly enough, these are a writer’s best fans. These people are the ones who get so emotional about your content, that they are compelled to share with the rest of their social media circle about how absurd your blog is. The next thing you know, you’re being bombarded with a storm of clicks—this is a good thing though!
So does this mean that you should write offensive content? Of course not! This is simply giving you another perspective on your audience. I’m sure that there’s somebody who can chop and dissect this article into their own masterpiece by pointing out what they think is inaccurate. On the flipside, as these people have the power to raise awareness about your content, depending on their following, they may also have the influence to discredit you as well.
The Power of Influence
Take Perez Hilton, a well-known entertainment blogger. By simply observing how others present themselves and brazenly journaling about it online, he has become one of the most famous social media bloggers in the entertainment industry. Thus, heavily influencing the masses’ opinion about whatever he writes about. Likewise, there are Perez Hiltons out there for every industry.
So how do you combat these types of opinionated personalities?
Writing Strategically
It’s all about being strategic. If you think that what you write is the end-all, be-all with no questions asked, you’re sadly mistaken. It’s important to play the Devil’s Advocate on all of your content. While writing, consider how someone might want to argue all of your points and combat it with an answer.
The objective here is to write a copy that will shut the mouths of those opinionated people. If you’re successful at this, you’ll inevitably gain the respect of those highly recognized bloggers and possibly get even more visibility. These bloggers not only criticize what they don’t like, but they also praise what they find as favorable content.
Working backwards here, before your copy even gets published, there’s the whole editorial obstacle course it must endure. Here, communication is critical. This is all about preparing a dish before it is served and no one wants an incomplete meal! Otherwise, you’ll get those Perez Hiltons who will shred your copy to pieces!
So here’s what you need to do to help repel any critics, and that is develop an editorial process.
Developing an Editorial Process
Being strategic with copy content on social media requires extensive research that entails keywords and/or phrases that a user will most likely type into a search engine. Keep in mind that for some marketing companies and publishing houses, the editorial process differs, and so will yours, but the good marketing companies will have the basics: good keywords, good topic titles and good content.
Based on the researched keywords, topic titles are created to hopefully match what is anticipated as a search word and/or phrase. The content is written to follow the same pattern. After the topic is written, it then goes through the second phase of the basic editorial process. First and foremost, the copy needs to make sense! It’s also crucial to verify that the structure of the article is intact, that the content flows well and there are no grammatical errors.
Here’s where it can get tricky: copywriters can create other errors while correcting others! This doesn’t necessarily mean that the writer sucks! Several factors can come into play. Listing them would just look like a bunch of excuses, but if you consider yourself a writer, you know exactly what I’m talking about!
That’s why there needs to be strong communication with the copywriting team. When juggling a large quantity of articles, its crucial to have another person review it before presenting it for final publication whenever possible.
So by developing a strong editorial process, you are sure to prevent the negative aspects that might come with copy criticism. If you feel that you could use a team that can provide you with a good editorial process, contact the team at Optimum7.
