Many times, when writing a blog post featuring an interesting product on The Smart PDA, I catch myself writing advertising copy:

Product is great because it does stuff. Now users can now do some more stuff!

I always shudder when I realize this, because it’s a sign that my formal personality makes connecting with my readers harder than it should be.

Certain phrases like “Now, you can yadda yadda” or “Introducing product, the first thing that does this” may have caught attention a few years ago, but they’re everywhere nowadays. The fact is that most of us tune out advertisements because they follow a certain formula.

It doesn’t help that my formality loves such conventionalism, because instead of sharing my own personal opinions, I end up coming off as a PR agent for the product. This probably has something to do with a blogger’s inclination to paraphrase their source’s copy. Which are sometimes corporate websites or press releases.

Bottom line, if any writer wants to connect with their reader, they have to take a more casual tone and be more down-to-earth. In this day and age, when word-of-mouth is the buzzword among marketers and shared experiences are taken more seriously than the company line, being formal will get you nowhere. More so in a medium that places a premium on casual conversations.

Which isn’t a bad thing, in my opinion. Casual communication is more direct, leaving less ambiguities and confusion. And it doesn’t have to come at a cost to respect. In fact, some people consider it respectful when you tell it like it is. Let’s also not forget that casualness is what truly connects with readers. Especially if it comes from a trusted authority or popular source.

As for me, I’ll suppress my formal nature when I write any opinion on a product. Would you believe that an easy way to do this is to be slightly snarky, because it gives you a more critical perspective? Maybe snark isn’t dead after all.

But I know in online marketing and content creation, formality simply won’t work. Formality is dead. Long live casual conversation.