Brevity Takes Time

“If I had more time, I’d write a shorter letter.”

Mark Twain wrote these words, and in today’s world of Twitter, Facebook and emails, they’re just as meaningful.

You have 140 characters and a crowded news feed. That leaves a smaller space, and a need for more impact. Every character counts. It’s important to eliminate unnecessary words. The stronger the action verb, the better. If it’s a link you’re tweeting, you need to have the same impact you would from a headline. Get to the point. For example, “How To Rearrange Your Garage For More Space” might work.

While Facebook may provide a little more freedom as far as space, you still need to grab your readers’ attention, and quickly. It’s tempting to add to the meaningless drivel of who ate what for dinner, and where they ate it, but we both know that you’re better than that. Facebook is ideal for building relationships. That means creating an impact. That’s accomplished by well thought out posts, that interest people.

With emails, it’s important to say what you mean and get out. You want your message to be powerful, but concise. You’ll also need a strong subject line that invokes enough curiosity to stand out in a crowded inbox. Emails are personal by their very nature. Great care needs to be put into every word that you choose this way. It can be a rewarding medium, but a challenging one.

The smaller the space you need to fill, the stronger the impact you’ll need.

 Matt Brennan is a Chicago-area marketing writer and copy editor. He is also the author of Write Right-Sell Now.