How to write an effective community post on Tech in Asia

Do you have something you really wish to write and share with the community but not sure how to do so?

If you are regular reader on Tech in Asia (TIA in short), you would noticed an interesting growing group of writers writing a variety of new topics, on top of the factual reports and stories about start-ups. TIA has kindly opened the gates to allow the community to produce their own user generated content, with basic guidelines in place. As a contributor myself, I would like to share my experiences on how to write an effective community post in the hope of seeing more community posts coming up in TIA.

Why write a community post?

This is a sharing community, the more the merrier! And the more information people share, the more we learn from each other. Expressing your opinion and beliefs help to define thoughts in others who may build upon your ideas. Who knows, the thoughts might contribute to that next big exciting start-up! If you have learnt something from an event, a mentor or from reading a book, pen it down and give your own interpretations and how readers can benefit from reading. If you are an expert in a specific field, please feel free to share what you know.

Who are you writing to?

From the guidelines: The readers are all related the tech industry start-up in Asia, either as entrepreneurs, would-be entrepreneurs, community players like education institutes, sophisticated investors, VCs or people who are just keen on understanding the tech scene in Asia.

What to write about?

Do not write about your own start-up and self-glorify! I am sure the TIA team will shoot the article down first before it gets published. If you wish to get your start-up featured, read this article by Terence Lee on the guidelines on submission.

Rather, your article should be focused on the community at large. Write anything and everything that is applicable to entrepreneurship and tech start-ups. It can be something localised like your country’s development of technology to an observation on a certain vertical works in different countries, e.g, how eCommerce has affected you as a consumer or taking a cab ride on a taxi-sharing app.

How to write?

Here is a listicle to help you out in writing your article.

1. Start first by writing on a Word document first. It helps you to control and edit the article. When complete, you can cut and paste into TiA and do the necessary hyperlinks.
2. Intrigue readers with a tagline that want them to open and read the article. It can be in a form of a question that readers will ask themselves, or a statement that readers will want to find out more.
3. The first few lines need to be able to draw a reader into your world. You can open an article in many ways, from writing a story that leads to the crux of the topic or quotes that are relevant and intriguing. You can also open with a statement, followed by a series of questions that people will want to know the answer.
4. In the body of the article, self-experiences and self-expressions are the best. Write in your own style where your mind flows best. Describing your own experience also helps a lot, eg. Using apps from different start-ups and how the difference has been.
5. Be consistent in your writing style. If you are writing in first person, maintain it that way. Everything is written as I, me and myself. If it is written in third person, you can highlight as “this writer”. If you are light-hearted in your writing, maintain that the flow of fun, eg. “marketing lessons from the durian trade”. If you are serious and factual, write as appropriately, eg. “Is Singapore still relevant after 50? An entrepreneurial view.”
6. For factual information, hyperlink all quotes and sources. Do not make up your own facts unless you have substantial research and analysis done beforehand and can back up such information.
7. Highlighting examples of start-ups / companies. It is always good to relate what you are writing back to relevant start-ups / companies which are doing what you have described. Select a variety of start-ups for readers to compare and understand.
8. Quote currency in USD. Remember you are reaching to a global audience, so convert everything into USD to make things easier for people to relate to it.
9. Images with permission. Ensure all images you have taken have received permission from its owners, otherwise, you might violate copyright laws. If you need to, take your own photos where possible.
10. Ethics and disclaimers. Should you highlight any start-ups that you are part of, whether as the entrepreneur, the investor, a team member, mentor or in any way that you benefit commercially, it is always proper to declare your relationships.
11. Do share about you who are and your background with 2-3 lines at the end of the article. You can hyperlink any related websites you might have that can explain why the article was generated. It helps readers to know you better and it adds credibility to your article posting.
12. Vet your publication at least 5 times. Check for grammar mistakes. Cut down on unnecessary words. Highlight sentences which do not seem correct in red and rephrase them after reading the whole paragraph in perspective. Re-arrange the paragraphs to ensure they have a flow. Change adjectives that would be more appropriate which reflects the tone of the article. After you have done so, check again 5 times.

When to publish?