Three and a half years ago, I joined as a ‘copywriter’. It was a bit of a misnomer, as back then every ‘head did pretty much everything – research, engagement, client services, reports. But although I have now moved into the more strategic realms of our social business consultancy, I have always remained a logophile at heart.

Talking about copy is slightly unfashionable in social media; it has intimations of that awkwardly formal, bizarrely enthusiastic, one-way unpersonalised PR-speak most of us have experienced via letter, email, or tweet.

But great copy is still just as essential nowadays, perhaps even more so. Our conversational world demands a sophisticated brand voice that combines the personal and professional, the emotive and the direct, the casual and the respectful. Most of us find it easy to strike that balance when talking to people face-to-face, but social media, particularly for brands, is a bizarre mixture of publication and conversation, requiring a balance between the natural and the self-aware.

Competitions such as the recent London Long Copy Challenge run by CBS Outdoor have attempted to prove that long copy is still an effective word of mouth trigger –  judge the results for yourself – and The Chip Shop Awards always demonstrate some great examples of WOM-worthy words.

But conversational copy is no longer the preserve of the ad man. It infiltrates most consumer touchpoints, from the Twitter feed to that email approaching a prospective advocate.

I was reminded of this last year when I stayed in the Felin Fach Griffin Inn in Brecon, on my way to talk WOM with Arts Council Wales. With gorgeous food, warm service and meticulously designed rooms, the inn drove my advocacy simply with the quality of its product, not to mention some basic word of mouth tactics:

However, the detail that really got me was the in-room pamphlet:

Any regular traveller is used to these ordinarily dry and functional documents informing you of WiFi passwords and breakfast times, but this was a very different compilation of quirky, witty copy, written by the owners of the inn themselves and really articulating the warm, witty and personalised ethos of the inn – as well as specifically encouraging word of mouth online and offline.

What are the best and most subtle examples of conversational copy you’ve seen?

Tags: advertising copy, copywriting, felin fach griffin inn, pr emails, social media, word of mouth