To make a video on social media you need a good script – but what is a good script? And how do you write one? Storykit asked a pro to share her best tips.
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You can always improve your scriptwriting skills – especially by listening to other writers. Storykit talked to Anna Kleinwichs Magnusson, a copywriter who founded Stockholms Skrivbyrå (“writer’s agency”). In the podcast Storykit Talks she describes how she works with video scripts and shares some key insights. Here are her 10 best tips to write better scripts for social video:
- Think before you write. What do you want to say – and to whom? How should you tell your story to this person? This way you can narrow the video. If you want to sum up as much information as possible – make several different videos instead. The tighter the angle – the better the video.
- Make a disposition. Even if you’re just making a 15 second video with 4 lines of text. Make a list of what you want to include in the video and make sure it follows a dramaturgy – that it has a beginning, a middle and an ending. Then you can start with the copy.
- Be very specific when you choose your words. If you can talk to a niche audience in their language, it’s likelier that you will get your message across. Avoid sweeping, abstract expressions, like “Full Service Agency”. Be precise.
- Boil the copy down to micro copy. Just like when you’re boiling jam – you start with a pot full of berries. But the more you boil it down, the better the result. Rephrase until you find exactly what you want to say with as few words as possible.
- Don’t forget punctuation. Finishing your sentences has a good feeling to it – to both readers and writers.
- Always ask someone else to check your copy. Sometimes a word that seems normal to you might be awkward to others. One example might be “bursting” – for some it’s an energetic word, others feel uncomfortable reading it.
- Try to be as positive as you can. If your video script has negative expressions, try to twist them around and make the statement in a positive sense.
- Don’t be too formal. A good jargon is better than written standard in videos. Write as if you’re telling the story to your friend or your mum – without getting chatty.
- If you get stuck: Ask yourself how you would make the video as bad as possible. A video that no one understands or want to watch. That way you might see clearly what needs to be done to make it good.
- Tempo is key. Don’t write long sentences that won’t fit in one screen. And try to switch in even shorter sentences. Sometimes a sentence of 2-3 words can be more effective than 10 exclamation points.
If you know Swedish you can listen to the entire interview with Anna Kleinwichs Magnusson on our podcast Storykit Talks, you can find it on Apple, Google, Spotify, or loads of other Podcast platforms.
Or, you can watch it on Youtube here:
