Image: Jargon words—specialized tools for distinct tasks, but unfamiliar to most people.
Last time we started a series of several posts built around the general idea of “best practices” for content writing. This grew out of a review of material that listed some of the most common “mistakes” in content writing: we’ve chosen to take an opposite approach and build up the positives.
Our point in that first post was that no content is likely to be successful if it hasn’t been written to properly target the correct audience. That’s a basic requirement for success—a necessary but not sufficient condition.
In this installment, we look at one of the other important details: the appropriate use of language (and the use of appropriate language).
Specifically, we’re talking about jargon.
What is jargon? Most people don’t have a clean and clear definition. If you ask a dozen people, don’t be surprised to get nearly as many definitions—and a few probably won’t have any definition at all. Our experience suggests that about half of people think jargon is another term for nonsense words or gibberish. Less than half will be closer to the mark: jargon is actually the collection of specialized words used by a particular profession or group.
Far from being nonsense or gibberish, jargon is an important element of the communication within a particular group. Jargon not only allows those speakers with a shared specialty to communicate more efficiently by abbreviating ideas, it also lets them quickly identify each other: those who use and understand the jargon are part of the “in” group, whether that group is air traffic controllers or baristas or golfers. A group of elementary school teachers might talk of rubrics and IEPs in the same casual way that hockey fans discuss icing and hat tricks—and members of each group might be mutually in the dark about what the others are referring to (unless the groups share members: teachers who are also hockey fans).
Any profession will develop its own jargon. Doctors have it (and within the medical profession, different specialties have their own). Lawyers have it. Truck drivers have it—and astronauts. Janitors and hedge fund managers; basketball players and museum curators.
Most people don’t even recognize that they are using jargon. Nor do they recognize that they understand numerous varieties of jargon. Each of us understands a wide range of jargon from our past experiences: sports played, subjects studied in school, jobs worked, hobbies focused on. A hospital lab technician who is also a distance runner, keeps a vegetable garden, and has an interest in the history of lighter-than-air flight will know quite a mix of jargon from those areas—but any individual will understand their own unusual, and possibly unique, mix.
Jargon isn’t slang, by the way, although the terms are often confused and used interchangeably. Jargon words are usually specific to a group, have precise meanings, and change slowly. Jargon is often a sign of technical knowledge or experience, while slang often reveals social knowledge.
Slang, while often associated with (or originating in) a social group, tends to be more broadly used across groups. It’s also more variable and changes more quickly—and slang users will deliberately alter a term or stop using it if it becomes too well-known, something that is very unusual for jargon.
There are overlaps in how slang and jargon are used, such as allowing those in a group to recognize those not in it, but they are often used in very different ways. Slang, as a rule, has no place in most forms of writing; jargon, while frowned upon for general audiences, can enhance writing when used carefully and chosen correctly for the audience.
Where does this leave us when it comes to using jargon in content writing?
Writers, and especially online content writers, need to be aware of jargon. But there is no simple answer to the question of use. A general rule when writing to a broad audience—the general public, for instance—is to avoid jargon. To an outsider, the jargon used within a profession can be confusing or distracting.
Yet if the audience is more specialized, jargon has a place. It can be extremely useful at relaying elaborate ideas in only a few words.
What is the best approach? We return to the question of audience: Who are you writing for? A business needs to know the answer to that question before deciding to allow—or purge—jargon in its content.
This isn’t as difficult a question to answer as you might initially think. Imagine, for instance, that a site focuses on something specific: it’s the web presence for a company that provides industrial water purification systems. This is not a product or service that an average person on the internet will be looking for. The use of industry- and application-specific jargon, therefore, will make perfect sense in the content on this site. In fact, the use of jargon might enhance the value of content on this site because it can showcase the firm’s specific knowledge.
On the opposite side, picture a site used by a law firm specializing in hiring discrimination cases. While the firm’s attorneys will themselves have a deep knowledge of the field—and the jargon used within it—clients seeking their services will not. Those potential clients will want to see content that shows the firm understands the issue; perhaps it can also move toward establishing an emotional connection. But the use of practice specialty-specific jargon in this instance is likely to work against the firm’s goal.
Waltham WordWorks can help you understand the amount of jargon—including “none at all”—that will most successfully appeal to your target audience. We’ll work with you not only to gain a deep understanding of your business specialty, but also to develop your site content for maximum effect. We can even develop different versions of the same content for different audiences. Take the first step today by telling us what you need—and we’ll tell you what we can do to get started.
Future posts will continue to discuss the “mistakes” and “best practices” to keep in mind for your site content. Click the “follow” button just below the search box to receive notifications of those future posts—we don’t collect or share your information, it’s for this purpose only.
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