Listen.

We’re not talking about writing an academic thesis or an epic novel here. Some people in comms might be tempted to write longer posts, either to fit in more information, or because a higher word count feels more serious, more professional.

If that sounds familiar, restrain yourself. For most messaging on mainstream media platforms, less is more, especially when there is a visual component as well. Therefore, as the Irish proverb goes, say but little.

However, there is a caveat: you must never sacrifice clarity for the sake of brevity. If parts of your communications require more words to make the message clear, then so be it. It could be technical facts, a political or a social message, or a human-interest story that needs telling - and that is relevant to your communications.

Some messages are not meant for single tweets, and, sometimes, stories are enhanced with additional narration. Therefore, whatever the category of your shorter or longer comms, make sure you say it well.

There will be times when several hundred words may be required for a blog post, an announcement, or another part of your communications output; unfortunately, these will also be the times when a large portion of your target audience will automatically scroll on to the next post on their feed, one that demands less investment.

So, when you can, grab their attention from the get-go and feed their interest with clarity and quality. And there can be no more pertinent example of such brevity and clarity than that Irish proverb to which I just referred: say but little, and say it well.

Choose your words wisely, impress with your eloquence, and get to the point.

July 2022

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