The more you talk about yourself on Twitter, the fewer followers you’re likely to have.

Or so says viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella.

Using TweetPsyche data on more than 60,000 Twitter users, he looked at self-reference on Twitter. He found that Twitter users who don’t talk about themselves much tend to have more users.

“Want more followers?” Zarrella asks. “Stop talking about yourself.”

In other TweetPsyche research, Zarrella found that Mom was right about social media as well as so many other things. To get more followers on Twitter, Zarrella writes, you should:

• Be positive. Writing about sadness, aggression, morbid thoughts and negative emotions and feelings correlates with fewer followers. (What a shock!) So if you want more followers, cheer up.
• Be sociable. Social language correlates with more followers, Zarrella found. So use words like “you” and “we” and write more about relationships and communication.

And remember: “You” is the most retweeted word in the English language.

So on Twitter as in so much else in life, better “you” than “me.”

Get the word out on the Web

Want to master the art of reaching readers online?

• Read Ann’s Web writing learning tools.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on reaching readers online at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s upcoming teleseminars on writing for the Web and social media.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a Web writing workshop.
• Work with Ann to polish your Web writing skills in one-on-one writing coaching sessions.
• Subscribe to our free writing tips e-zine.

My mother serves as Wylie Communications’ bookkeeper. (Yes, Mom still balances my checkbook.)

When she asked me recently to bring a bag full of business documents over, I put the bag on the bench by my front door so I’d see it on my way out. After forgetting the bag twice, I laced my purse straps through the bag handles. The act of untangling my purse finally reminded me to carry the bag to the car.

That’s called an environmental trigger — a visual cue in the right place to remind you to act in a certain way.

You use environmental triggers all the time:

• That’s why your vitamins are on the shelf in front of your cereal box.
• It’s why your take-at-bedtime prescription is on your bedside table next to your reading glasses.
• It’s why the first thing I see when I open my refrigerator is a party-sized tray of crudités from Costco. (Which, sadly, doesn’t keep me from reaching around the tray to grab the sour cream dip.)

Environmental triggers move you to act. You can also use them to move your audience members to act.

Get trigger happy

In a recent study, professors Jonah A. Berger and Grainne Fitzsimons used triggers to get college students to eat more vegetables.

In the study, one group of students saw this slogan:

“Live the healthy way, eat five fruits and veggies a day.”

Another group saw this one:

“Each and every dining-hall tray needs five fruits and veggies a day.”

The group that saw the message with the environmental trigger — the tray — ate 25 percent more fruits and vegetables the next week.

Another trigger-happy campaign is AT&T’s “It Can Wait” pledge on Facebook:

“Take out your phone right now and look at the last text message you got. Read it out loud. Is that text worth causing an accident? Texting and driving, it can wait. Please take the pledge not to text while driving. …’

Why not “Think of the last text message you got?” Because your phone’s the trigger. Next time you pull it out while you’re behind the wheel, AT&T communicators hope, you’ll think “It can wait.”

Do it now

BJ Fogg, experimental psychologist at the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University, catalogs three kinds of triggers:

• The facilitator, which simplifies an action you already plan to take. One-click shopping, for instance.
• The spark, which motivates behavior. I get alerts from Mint.com on my iPhone, for instance, every time I buy a Twix bar or otherwise threaten to step outside my budget.
• The signal, which neither motivates nor simplifies but indicates that now would be a good time to do this. A traffic light, for instance, is a signal.

Now comes the hard part: Choosing the right trigger for your message, given your audience and where they’re likely to be when you want them to act.

Move readers to act

Want to master the art of writing copy that sells, not just products and services, but programs, plans and positions, as well?

• Bring Ann’s team in to write persuasive copy.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a “Think Like a Reader” workshop.
• Work with Ann to Think Like a Reader in one-on-one writing coaching.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on persuasive writing at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find out about Ann’s next “Think Like a Reader” teleseminar.
• Read Ann’s “Think Like a Reader” toolkit.

___

Sources: Chip Heath and Dan Heath, “Time to Get Trigger Happy,” Fast Company, October 2007

BJ Fogg, “Design for behavior change: Why Facebook and Twitter are winning,” IABC 2009 World Conference, June 2009

I’ve been nagging my husband, Phil, to get regular massages — at least every other week — for 23 years. You’ll feel better, I say. Reduce stress. Get some blood flowing into your creaky knees. Be more flexible at the gym.

VOICE OF AUTHORITY: Academics, experts and analysts top the chart of the most trustworthy people, according to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer

Nah, he’s said for 23 years. Don’t need ‘em.

Last week, Phil had his once-every-five-years rubdown at Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe.

“You should get regular massages,” his massage therapist, Karma, said. “At least every other week.”

“I should get regular massages,” Phil reported to me later. “At least every other week.”

While I’m grateful for Phil’s good Karma for setting him on the path to enlightenment, I also found it a little irritating that my husband bought the massage therapist’s advice, but not mine.

But then, social science explains that. Turns out Phil was just responding to the persuasive principle of authority: We look to experts to show us the way.

Authority recently got a boost, according to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual study of global opinion leaders. While people are less likely to trust their peers (a consequence of having 762 “friends” on Facebook?), they place the most trust in expert spokespeople and information sources.

Academics, experts and analysts are now the top three voices of credible information — outweighing peers, CEOs and company employees, according to the barometer. And analysts’ reports and articles in business magazines and newspapers now out-influence conversations with company employees and advice on social networking sites, according to the study.

So how can you tap the persuasive power of authority?

• Quote experts and authority figures in your persuasive copy.
• Don’t drop traditional PR efforts. Journalists remain important authority figures, according to the Edelman study. Let them help you tell your story.
• Cite your credentials. When an executive published the credentials of people brought in to turn around a London bureau, the government monitoring and advisory panel was more accepting of the rate and type of change the team made, reports Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive.
• Arrange for someone else to cite your credentials. In a study, researcher Jeffrey Pfeffer and his team asked one group to read passages about an author’s credentials from the author’s agent and a second group to read the same comments made by the author himself, according to Yes! Participants rated the author more highly on nearly every measure when the author’s agent sang his praises than when the author tooted his own horn. Testimonials, third-party introductions and displays of your diplomas and trophies shine a light for you without making you look arrogant.
• Look the part. Use design to increase your authority in social media, suggests viral marketing scientist Dan Zarella. Off-the-shelf themes and default templates are for rookies. Invest in a custom design that’s unique to your site, blog or page and that presents you as an expert. While you’re at it, make sure your design is sophisticated and professional. Avoid a MySpace-y look.

And if all else fails? Maybe you can get Karma to intervene.

Move readers to act

Want to master the art of writing copy that sells, not just products and services, but programs, plans and positions, as well?

• Bring Ann to your organization for a “Think Like a Reader” workshop.
• Work with Ann to Think Like a Reader in one-on-one writing coaching.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on persuasive writing at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find out about Ann’s next “Think Like a Reader” teleseminar.
• Read Ann’s “Think Like a Reader” toolkit.

___

Sources: Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive, Free Press, 2008; 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer, Edelman, 2010

by Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc.

Most press releases are pretty easy to parody.

Just ask Benny Evangelista, a technology reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. In a Softletter survey of media professionals about the quality of public relations, Evangelista complained of an increase in the number of “boilerplate” press releases — formulaic releases that all “sound basically the same. …

“Something like: ‘XYZ Co. Inc., a leading supplier of the world’s integrated real-time advanced software-aided microchips, announced today the availability of its latest product, the XYZ 4.2, version 3, which will revolutionize the software-aided micro-technology chip industry. “This will revolutionize the software-aided micro-technology chip industry,” said Joe Blow, XYZ Co. Chief Executive Officer and Founder.’”

Why do PR professionals flock to the fill-in-the-blanks model? Certainly not because it stands out in the crowd of all the other releases a reporter is likely to get in a day.

Instead of conforming to the conventional approach — which is dated, formulaic and, let’s face it, dull — choose a better model to follow. Study the winners of PRSA’s Silver Anvil Award, the highest honor in the public relations business. Here are some great approaches I found in the latest crop:

1. Write a feature lead.

Contrary to popular opinion, reporters don’t hate feature leads. They hate crappy feature leads.

Instead of the conventional “today announced that” lead, why not make your release stand out from the crowd with a lead like this one, from Pfizer Animal Health:

“Imagine the first few hours in the recovery room following a hysterectomy or … ligament repair. Consider what post-surgical life has been like for some pets undergoing common surgical procedures; intense hours WITHOUT pain medication. …”

2. Lead with the benefits.

Want to get your story into Forbes?

“Present the key element … that explains how your story can benefit Forbes readers,” suggests Bruce Upbin, Forbes senior editor.

No surprise, then, that many Silver Anvil winners lead with the reader benefits. This example is from UnumProvident:

“Employers now have a better way to measure, monitor and manage employee absences, thanks to UnumProvident Corporation’s expanded online Comparative Reporting & Analysis information services.”

Beats by a mile the tired traditional approach: “UnumProvident Corporation today announced the expansion of its online Comparative Reporting & Analysis information services.”

3. Try a tipsheet.

Take the benefits approach to the furthest extreme, and you wind up with a value-added, or service, piece. Explain “how to,” and watch the media pick up your release. Some Silver Anvil-winning approaches:

• “Infuse your party with style: Tips and trends for a spectacular summer soiree,” from VOX vodka
• “Interview opportunity: Tips on how people can get more use out of their health coverage,” from Cigna
• “UPS offers 10 tips for worry-free packing, shipping”

4. Drag them in with your subject line.

“With print, at least they have to pick it up to throw it away,” says Pat Jones, a communicator at TDS Telecom.

Not so when you’re sending a pitch via e-mail. Online, you’re just one click of the delete key away from obscurity. Your only chance to get the message read: the subject line.

A provocative subject line, like this one from Enterpulse, can get your message opened:

“New survey stats for Internet ‘Death Penalty’”

This brisk pitch outlines Internet usage trends, including a “Silent Killer” that can keep people from returning to a company’s site.

5. Give great bio.

Do your executive or director bios read like a resume?

Snooze.

Wake your bios up with human-interest details and storytelling. Here’s a great example from Embassy Suites hotels:

“It all started (when) Carlton Calvin (was) reading a brief item in the Los Angeles Times about the growing popularity of push scooters in Japan. With a spark of creative thinking, Carlton, president of Razor USA LLC, spawned the ‘Razor scooter,’ one of the hottest trends to hit the United States within the last two years.”

Hint: “It all started when …” leads draw the reader in. The moment of creative inspiration is a great place to start an executive or director bio — or any story, for that matter.

6. Use human interest.

What’s more compelling: an announcement about custom-fitted breast prostheses? Or a “breast cancer survivor profile”?

Let people tell your story with leads like this one, from ContourMed:

“In 1989, Elizabeth McCann of Spring, Texas, felt a knot in her left breast. Her physician told her that she needed a biopsy, but was 99 percent sure it would be benign. McCann kept putting it off — until the pain in her breast woke her up at night. …”

Instead of just filling in the blanks, use any or all of these approaches when you write your next release or pitch. Make your copy creative and compelling, not just one more cliché.

Reach bloggers, journalists and readers

Want to master the art of writing successful media-relations materials?

• Read Ann’s “Anatomy of a Release, Pitch and E-mailed Release” toolkit.
• Get dozens of advanced PR writing tipsheets on RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s next “Anatomy of a News Release” teleseminar.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a PR writing workshop.
• Work with Ann to polish your PR writing with one-on-one writing coaching.

About Ann Wylie:

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2005 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.

by Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc.

a

Quick! Which would you rather read: a story about David Barton Gym? Or one about how to look better naked?

The gym is a feature. “Look better naked” is a benefit. (It’s also the slogan of David Barton Gym, New York’s celebrity body-sculpting palace.)

As writers, we tend to focus too much on our stuff — the gym — and not enough on reader benefits — looking better naked. Do more of the latter and less of the former, and you’re sure to boost readership.

Benefits writing gets read

Benefits writing has never been more important.

That’s because Americans are bombarded with information —more than 5,000 messages a day, according to some statistics.

In this environment, readers select a fraction of the stack of information they get each day. That tiny sliver of the stack is all they’ll read. The rest, they toss.

To make sure your communication is among that minute amount of information your readers will actually read, you need to think like a reader.

That is, you need to focus on your readers’ needs instead of just on your organization’s products, services and programs. You need to make your copy more relevant and valuable to your reader.

The best way to do that? Write about reader benefits.

Put the benefits first

An easy formula to use to write about reader benefits is to lead with the benefits and substantiate with the features.

That means focus on your reader’s needs first, then follow up with your organization and its products, services and programs.

a

These benefits leads from PRSA Silver Anvil-winning campaigns are great models of leading with the benefits and substantiating with the features. (The Silver Anvil is PRSA’s highest honor for excellence in public relations.)

a

Make the switch

Sometimes, a small switch is all you need to put the benefits first. This one leads with the company name:

XYZ Corporation (NYSE: XYZ) today announced that print and copy costs can be reduced up to 20 percent with our new ABC product.

Instead, move the readers and their benefits to the top of the piece:

a

Next time you write a press release, brochure or newsletter article, put the reader benefits first.

And if you have trouble remembering why that’s important, ask yourself, “Would I rather go to the gym? Or would I rather look better naked?”

Move readers to act

Want to master the art of writing copy that sells, not just products and services, but programs, plans and positions, as well?

• Read Ann’s “Think Like a Reader” toolkit.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on persuasive writing at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s next “Think Like a Reader” teleseminar.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a “Think Like a Reader” workshop.
• Work with Ann to Think Like a Reader in one-on-one writing coaching.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2006 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.

A note to editors:

Please feel free to run this story complete with the promotion, full author’s bio and copyright line. Sorry, we do not grant permission to publish without the promotion, full author’s bio and copyright line.

by Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc.

In tough economic times, the communicators who thrive  — and those who help their organizations thrive — are the ones who know how to write copy that sells: not just products and services, but programs, plans and positions, as well.

Let’s face it: In this environment, organizations can’t afford to communicate just to get the word out. They need communicators who know how to move the needle on the bottom line.

Sadly, most communicators were taught to report and inform, not to write copy that drives readers to action. In fact, many of the standard practices in business communication and PR writing today actually do more to put readers off than to persuade them.

But here are three ways to write copy that moves readers to act:

1. Put the reader first.

The secret to writing to persuade is to position your messages in your audience’s best interests. (Most communicators position their messages in their organization’s best interests.)

So write about the reader and her needs instead of about your organization and its stuff. One simple trick: Change the structure of your messages from “We offer this” to “You’ll receive that.”

To focus your copy on your readers’ interests, put the reader first. Start your sentence — and your story, for that matter — with the word “you.”

2. Write in verbs, not nouns.

People don’t buy products, services and ideas. They buy what those products, services and ideas will do for them.

So instead of writing about your organization’s stuff, write about the benefits that stuff will deliver to readers.

That takes verbs.

Benefits are verbs (“get back to work faster”), not nouns (“ability assurance”). So when you’re writing about things, you’re not writing about benefits.

The headline writer for a conference ad almost got it right. The deck — that essential one-sentence summary under the headline — is a benefit. How do we know? It starts with a benefits-focused verb:

Revitalize your sexuality
and justify your chocolate obsession

Sounds good to me. But the headline — “Women’s Health Conference” — is a yawner. So is a tertiary head naming the speakers. That’s because the conference and speakers are features, not benefits. They’re nouns, not verbs.

Want to sell your products, services and conferences? Write in benefits, not features.

And that takes verbs, not nouns.

3. Use “that means you will …”

Having trouble finding those reader benefits?

Try prompting your subject matter expert with the line “that means they will …” The end of that sentence is likely to be a benefit.

Your subject matter expert says, “We can handle our client’s internal audit functions.”

You say, “That means our clients will …?”

Your subject matter expert says: “That means our clients will free up their own employees for bottom-line projects and better control the costs of producing internal audits.”

“That means you will …” also makes a great way to present your benefits:

“XYZ Company can manage your internal audit function. That means your management team will no longer have to worry about day-to-day responsibilities like recruiting, training, planning, execution, reporting or methodology. And that means you can focus management talent, capital funds, overhead and other resources on your core business. …”

Try it. “That means you will …” can help you discover — and deliver — reader benefits.

Move readers to act

Want to master the art of writing copy that sells, not just products and services, but programs, plans and positions, as well?

• Read Ann’s “Think Like a Reader” toolkit.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on persuasive writing at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s next “Think Like a Reader” teleseminar.
• Bring Ann to your organization for a “Think Like a Reader” workshop.
• Work with Ann to Think Like a Reader in one-on-one writing coaching.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2009 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.

The Think Like a Reader cheat sheet of formulas and checklists provides you with all the action steps of the Think Like a Reader Toolkit on one piece of paper. Keep the checklist by your computer to use on every piece you write and edit. Our clients tell us that this job aide is one of the most valuable tools they use for applying new skills to their daily writing.