Writing teasers is a very specific type of copy that can almost be considered an art form. You want to write clever headlines that get attention, but that don’t lie or mislead your audience. You just want to pique their interest so that they’ll click through and read the rest of what you have to say. The places you might write teasers are Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and other social media sites. You might even want a nice teaser in an email subject line.
Under Promise and Over Deliver
You don’t want to write a fantastical headline that promises the moon and the stars when you’re only going to give them a rock. Make a solid promise in the teaser but avoid modifiers that are not provable.
Don’t Sensationalize
The news is famous for this. They take something out of context and put it in the headline. What happens when you flick through and read the article and realize midpoint that you were misled? You feel duped. Don’t dupe your followers or they’ll stop following you. You want to build trust.
Don’t Give Away the Milk
Your teaser should simply make the reader want to click through to read or watch the actual story. You don’t need to tell the entire story in your teaser. The teaser should leave them wondering and wanting more.
Make Teasers Important
A teaser is just as important as the other work that you do and the other copy that you write. Put just as much thought into your teasers as you do creating the product you are teasing, and you’ll be more successful. Off-the-cuff last moment teasers never work as well as planned out and focused teasers.
What Are the Benefits?
If you can identify benefits of watching or reading by clicking through, those can be the basis of various teasers. The focus should be the teaser; the meat of the product should be the teaser. But, don’t give it all away. Keep it to just a few words so that they’ll click through.
Ensure You Understand
If you don’t understand the point of the story, or the facts behind why you’re creating the teasers, it will be hard for you to create effective teasers. If you’re having trouble coming up with teasers, it’s possible that your product is at fault and not focused enough.
Avoid Snake Oiliness
“Should,” “better,” “if,” “could,” and other words like that make the reader feel slimy. You don’t want to be seen as a snake oil salesman – you want to be seen as an honest contributor to any discussion and an authority within your niche. Don’t “should” your customers and try to frighten them into watching or reading further.
Finally, consider asking for a second opinion or hiring an expert to help you write compelling and effective teasers to use on all your social media accounts and in email subject lines. You want to be very careful to create teasers that do not mislead anyone, because it could ruin your reputation and cause you to lose sales.
