5 Tips Great Modern Writers Teach Us About Short-Form Content Creation

On Life and Business
With Jake Erickson
March 12, 2023
Read the online version here.

As a youth, I paid little attention in English class.

I remember we read famous books like 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'Of Mice and Men.'

I didn't read them. And sometimes I regret that. It may have made me a better writer.

It's natural to feel like you could be better at something (if you had started sooner).

I'm paying that price now as I'm forging my path in content writing.

One great struggle I faced in the beginning, was learning how to write short-form content. Writing short-form content allows you to build an audience quickly. It makes you think clearer, build momentum, and gather data.

It's a lean method of testing if your ideas are getting eyeballs before spending 10 hours on a more significant blog post. You can't be a writer if no one reads what you write.

So in picking where I'd write short-form — I chose Twitter because it has over 326 million average monthly Twitter users globally.

Twitter is so friendly because you can tweet 5-7 times daily. It's a data-gathering marketplace! Unfortunately, you're likely to annoy people if you publish as much on other platforms.

To get good at short-form — I spent 5+ hours over the past week sucking in information. I learned from the best such as modern writers Nicolas Cole, Dickie Bush, Dan Koe, Russell Brunson, JK Molina, and more.

And if 1) you're a writer like me and 2) you want to save some time, I created this short guide that distills practical tips so you can create effective short-form content like the great writers of today.

Here we go.

Tip #1: Say One Thing Well 1,000 Different Ways

Here’s a ton of value that can save you a headache.

This advice comes from Justin Welsh, Dan Koe, and JK Molina, who amassed a combined 562k audience.

Look at the top content creators or content in your sub-market (use multiple platforms such as Medium, YouTube, etc.).

1. Scan the top content or their immediate profile in the past few months.

2. Gauge how the best content is doing and how much engagement it has.

3. Read them — get inspired by the ideas.

4. Then TAKE their big idea and put your UNIQUE spin on it.

You’re thinking, “What big idea is behind this tweet, and how can I repurpose it in a way that preserves its authenticity?”.

“Twitter is saying one thing well 1,000 different ways.” — JK Molina

Every tweet has an idea behind it. As long as you preserve the idea, the tweet will do well.

Dan Koe says everyone does this. We all steal from each other but give different perspectives.

Tip #2: Curating Your Own Tweets From Scratch

When in doubt — stay clear of this method.

When you are a beginner, trying to create your unique tweets will frustrate you.

Good tweets come by using proven structures. The structure is for writing out the idea in a way that’s already worked.

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” — Pablo Picasso

The problem that most people have is they think using structures is copying. Nonetheless, some people won’t listen and so if you’re going to create an original idea — use the 3 line structure.

The 3 line structure:

• Hook (open thought loop)

• Expand (elaborates on hook)

• Zero-Click vs CTA (close thought loop)

Russell Brunson says he diagnoses everything he wants to create attention online by analyzing the hook, story, or offer. For now — stay away from single-line tweets. You don’t want to use these until you gain more authority in your topics.

The following few sections will summarize the 3 line structure.

Tip #3: Put Some Grip On It — The Hook

Hard pill to swallow:

Your content matters when you get good with the fishing rod.

You see thousands of hooks every day. On:

• Email subject lines

• Social media

• pictures

• videos

• etc.

All are vying for your attention.

We live in an attention economy; if you can understand how to capture it, you win. In fact — they built a whole subject on attention economics. You can read it here.

There are many ways that can capture attention. Here are proven ways to do just that:

• Use a strong declarative sentence.

• Use a controversial opinion.

• Use a thought-provoking question.

• Use a moment in time.

• Use a vulnerable statement.

• Use a unique insight.

Then mix in:

1. Specific numbers

2. Pattern interrupts

3. Negativity bias

4. Group callout

5. Problem callout

6. Potential benefit

7. Social proof

8. Conviction

9. Active voice

10. Giving cautionary advice

If you want to become a true master — start building a list of powerful hooks using these principles.

Dickie Bush has 50-100 hooks that he uses repeatedly. If you have a system or strategy that you can use consistently, you'll never have writer's block for creating high-quality hooks.

And make it a weekly practice to learn psychology.

It’ll make a big difference in your marketing.

Tip #4: Elaboration and Expansion

The next most important part.

Once you capture them with a hook, you need to HOLD them.

The best advice I can give you is — to provide practical, funny, and interesting content.

Make it easy for them to read that content.

Here are some ways you can make it interesting and easy to read:

• Bullet lists – numbers, bullets, and anything that breaks your text apart feel like a story.

• Line Breaks – use line breaks to help with your writing flow

• Start concise – short sentences, in the beginning, are better

• Break sentences apart – use parentheses and “–” over commas. If a sentence is too long (that is fine as long as you use the parentheses)

• Novel perspectives – use metaphors, personal experiences, and new concepts

If you can craft a compelling story in it, even better!

But remember — storytelling is NOT always a story.

It can be anecdotes, research, examples, metaphors, other tweets, quotes, and anything you can do to help someone else understand a topic.

The REAL story is guiding someone toward solving a problem.

It is proven that we use stories as recognizable patterns (to find meaning in the world around us). Basically — we see ourselves in them (making them personal).

Here is an excellent article on the psychology of storytelling.

Tip #5: Zero-Click Vs CTA

You can end your tweets one of two ways.

1. Add a call to action (CTA)

2. Keep the tweet zero-click

Call to actions are the most crucial part of your message as a marketer.

It tells your audience what to do. It turns your audience from observers into customers (think "Buy Now" or "Sign up for my newsletter:). You're going to need them in your content.

"The call to action is the wizard of conversion optimization." – Neil Patel.

You will need to craft your CTAs (each unique to what you're trying to get your audience to do).

It is a powerful psychological tool that will increase engagement in everything you publish if used right.

Here are some of the psychological drivers of the call to action:

• We expect a reward (through classical conditioning)

• It arouses curiosity

• It builds pleasurable anticipation

However, social media platforms ding you whenever you use links in your content. Data has shown that tweets without links got about 140% more impressions than tweets with links in 2022. The main reason is that they want to keep people in their app. They don't want you to leave it. They are competing for attention as well.

Introduce zero-click content.

This content provides valuable insights — without giving any option for your audience to click.

Just give out the value in the world.

The goal is to generate so much value for the reader it builds authority and trust.

It's to build a relationship. Amanda laid out this type of content perfectly in her Twitter thread here. But, as she says, it's tough out there as marketers.

The earlier your journey – the more you should use zero-click content.

Build authority and trust in your topic areas FIRST.

Just share your thoughts.

Start with 95% zero-click and 5% CTA and phase in over time.

Key Takeaways

There you have it.

Once again. The practical tips for creating effective short-form Twitter content are:

1. Take a great tweet and put your unique spin on it.

2. Use a proven structure format.

3. Be a life student of psychology. Learn the drivers of getting attention.

4. Provide value. But DO it in a way that makes it simple for your audience to understand.

5. Lean towards building a relationship with your readers. Give something away 10 times before asking for something once.

And lastly, just get started.

You’re going to get better just by doing.

- Jake

Thanks for reading! 🙂

When you’re ready, there are 3 FREE ways I can help you:

1. Hop on a FREE call with me: I’ll help you gain traction, build a routine, and get your practice started at NO CHARGE. I’m strictly doing this to help (for now). You just need to fill out a form here.

2. Follow me on Twitter where I document my journey on breaking down complex ideas into a digestible format related to mindset, marketing, and online business.

3. Visit On Life and Business on my website: Here I distill EVERYTHING I learn for creators and entrepreneurs who want to apply business practice in a way that gets their products and services and the things they BELIEVE IN — out to the world. You can access everything FREE on my website here!

See you again next week!