Content is King
When it comes to Digital Marketing, content is king. It provides you with a great opportunity to impress the reader with your knowledge, expertise or ethos. Through the correct utilization of content, you can not only sell your product effectively but also reduce the social distance amongst the reader and yourself, allowing for readership loyalty. One might then ask – What makes good content? How can you utilize content effectively? This all falls under the understanding of basic Applied Linguistics.
What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is commonly known as the scientific study of language in relation to its structure and development. Subjects that fall under it include Grammar, Syntax, Semantics and Phonetics. How do digital marketing and linguistics tie hand-in-hand? When it comes to digital marketing, the 4 main aspects of language to understand are target audience, diction, tone and structure. Being able to master these skills allows you to market yourself in a certain manner regardless all depending on the demographic targeted.
Target Audience
Target Audience refers to the group at which a certain product is aimed for. Prior to applying any literary device in a piece, you need to ask yourself – Who is reading it? Who am I targeting my product to? Following that deduction, allows for the planning of tone, lexical choice and structure. For example, if the target audience is young female adults, the tone would be relatively informal, incorporating positive connotations and the use of colloquials.
Diction
Diction is the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing. Depending on the lexical choice, you can portray your business in any manner. For example, for a company trying to portray a more serious image, utilising colloquial words would be deemed unfit as it portrays an image of informality. Hence, prior to the development of content, understanding the company’s branding is extremely crucial.
Structure
Structure also known as syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentence in a language. When it comes to digital marketing, structure is where you can get most creative as it allows for the bending of grammatical rules. For instance, the phrase “Looking for a new concealer?”, would be incorrect according to the Prescriptivist rules of grammar as it lacks the phrase “Are you” prior to the verb “looking”. However, for the purpose of social media marketing, utilising this phrase on would be seen as acceptable as it resonates with the manner in which one would speak on a daily basis, allowing for a more personal touch, thereby reducing the social distance between the reader and the business.
Tone
Tone and diction tie hand-in-hand. In written composition, it is a writers’ attitude towards a subject matter. It is generally conveyed through lexical choice or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. In regards to digital marketing, it’s how you and your business want to present yourself. A tone will set up the image of the business. For example, a business utilizing modal verbs i.e. (we will) in its’ content, allows for the reader to feel more comfortable using the services as the verbs portray an image and tone of certainty and confidence with the products/services they provide.
As complicated as it sounds, simply understanding the basics of linguistics – target audience, diction, structure and tone will allow for better content production. Always remember, Content is King!
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