Do typos in social posts matter?

A recent dustup between copywriters on the socials got me thinking. In the end, everyone ended up being quite pleasant, which was nice to see. But it was a topic worth exploring.

At issue: Do copywriters who post content with typos and grammar mistakes risk hurting their credibility among potential clients??

On one hand, you had a commenter wagging a finger, tsk-tsking the poster’s flawed copy.?

On the other,? the original poster defended unedited copy as raw, genuine and authentic. They write social posts to make connections and share value, they argued, not to present perfectly formed prose.?

You could say that I'm one of THOSE people.?

Keep in mind that a long time ago, I was a newspaper copy editor for 13 years. I worked with some really good copy editors. The attributes that make them so good at their jobs can also make them intolerable to live with. (They always called you out on read-back. Bless ‘em.)?

So for me, it doesn't matter if you're writing web copy for a client or a last-minute grocery list. Typos, misspellings, and poorly constructed sentences DO work against your credibility. It doesn’t make them bad people or not very good at something like, say, strategy. But when it comes to actually writing, they land in a group of folks who are just a little less… careful? Detail-oriented? Less something, anyway.?

When I spot a typo or error in content posted by a friend or connection, I send a DM giving them a heads-up. Some thank me. Some tell me to go shit in my hat. So it goes.

Here are a few tips for making fewer mistakes -- and affirming your credibility among your readers.

The Apostrophe

No, an apostrophe is not one of those 12 guys who hung out with Jesus. This is the little, tear-shaped symbol dancing above the end of a word.?

The tear shape is appropriate. It’s like the poor apostrophe knows most people don’t understand it, and that makes it very sad.?

Hell, there’s a website dedicated to stopping apostrophe abuse.?

The apostrophe’s most common application is to make a word possessive. If the word already ends in an s and it’s singular, you also add an ’s. If the word ends in an s and is plural, just add an apostrophe.

• The broker accepted Sam’s offer.
• The broker accepted Chris’s offer.
• The broker needs to know their clients’ employee demographics.
• You’re going to the Reids’ for the holiday. Not the Reid’s.

Make sense?

Exclamation Marks

Or, if you’re from New England, exclamation points.

Either way, don’t. Just don’t.

But if you must, use exclamation marks sparingly. Like blue moon, four-leaf clover, weapons-of-mass-destruction sparingly.?

Why? Because they’re annoying. Just ask anyone who receives a lot of high-priority messages on Outlook and Teams! (Not everything is a high priority, people!!)?

Exclamation marks go inside quotation marks. Like periods and question marks, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

Quotation Marks

This one “drives me nuts.” Years ago, someone (*cough* a lawyer cough) decided to place quotes around words you weren't supposed to take literally.

You see quotation marks a lot in a more formal context. You know, when people are trying to sound casual or fun or faintly human. Do quotation mark mistakes really drive me nuts? Of course not.?

There is no need to put quotation marks around common, informal words or phrases. People who do are trying to send up a flare that the quoted words comprise a colorful turn of phrase. The quotes sometimes have the opposite effect.

Suppose you're reading a corporate email newsletter. The writer notes that the sales team "stole the show” at the conference.?

Does the writer mean the sales team performed well? Or are they introducing irony or sarcasm??

You could come away from that line assuming a job well done. Or wondering what went wrong.

Rando Caps

The needless use of capital letters is one of the great linguistic mysteries of the universe.

Somewhere in history, long before Schoolhouse Rock, someone must have thought they’d heard that you should always capitalize nouns (persons, places, or things). For example, “My Cat was smoking three Packs a day. So my Mother finally brought him to the Vet.” This should read, “My cat was smoking three packs a day. So my mother finally brought him to the vet.”

Here are two quick rules of thumb:

• For compositions: Capitalize the principal words in titles of books, movies, plays, poems, operas, songs, radio and television programs, works of art, etc. Example:?

• For personal titles: Capitalize formal titles when used immediately before a name. Lowercase formal titles when used alone or in constructions that set them off from a name by commas. Example: Grand Poobah Wilson arrived on the 1 pm train. Wilson, the grand poobah, arrived on the 1 pm train.

In general, avoid unnecessary capitals. See your house style guide or the guide your organization uses (Chicago, APA, etc.) for a more detailed discussion. The AP Style guide is a personal fave.?

That’s all I’ve got for now. If you’d like to see a writing style guide I created for a recent client, check the samples posted to my profile.?

Meanwhile, where do you come down on the whole typos in social posts count/don’t count discussion? I’d love to see your comments. And, yes, if you have suggested corrections for this or any other post, please do let me know.?