Imperfect content stands out

Let’s cut to the chase. Don’t strive to be perfect, especially on social. Not too polished, not too professional. Give your content a personal touch. Show you are human. Get noticed. A few tips on how to produce engaging content.

Perfect content is perfect all the way. Excellent English. Spotless grammar, not the slightest fault insight. Layout and formatting by the book as all the written and unwritten rules prescribe. Optimized for digital experience, reading on the mobile.

And your visuals or videos, perfect into the details. Professionally produced. Great script. High-res quality. Amazing music even if it is produced for sound-off. Top-notch subtitles. Everything as it should be. The format is vertical or square for optimal IG experience. 

Perfect content is invisible

All sounds great and a marketeers’ dream. It’s not. Perfection makes boring. Nothing that intrigues or stands out. Pixel perfect doesn’t get noticed.

Actual, perfection makes your content invisible. And that’s the opposite of your goal.

Add character and have fun

That little raw edge gives character. A slight grammar mistake shows you are not a native. And that you have a personality. Writing short few words -sentences gives rhythm. To be creative with whitespace and to give one sentence its own alinea, makes it stand out. Playing with language and formatting shows you care and shows you are human.

Having fun with visuals makes you stand out. Bend the rules. Use those filters. Dare to be blurry. Imperfect visuals create a more exciting picture. And make your content worth looking at. Stopping the thumbing and attracting attention.

If 2020 and 2021 have taught us one thing, it is that not everything has to be perfect to get noticed. Remember the first days of the pandemic when all agencies closed their physical doors? And everyone and everything jumped online – with their homemade content. That was fun, showing the true colors of a brand. Those who were creative kept going and showing their personality and passion. And those who felt behind due to their own perfection and were afraid to make mistakes. 

Show you care

There are a few non-negotiable requirements. Be a professional.

• Typos: triple check, especially the auto-correct by Google or Microsoft
• Big grammar mistakes: use Grammarly to your advantage
• Mobile optimized: copy and visuals. Produced on a laptop, final and last review on mobile

Don’t try to be perfect. Social media is to connect, engage, to add value for your audiences. And show your personality along the way. They might even like you. 

Inspiration and image credits