Have you ever heard of a SOCO?
If you “Google” the acronym SOCO, what pops up at the top of the page will be articles about “scene of crime officers.”
If you refine your search to include the concept of communication, you will discover another definition…
What is a SOCO?
The definition of SOCO that relates to communication is Single Overriding Communication Objective. The references you will find online will probably direct you to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website and a toolkit for creating messages about water emergencies.
I became familiar with the term when I taught Nutrition Communication to Purdue Students and used several communication resources from the American Dietetic Association, now the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Creating a SOCO was emphasized in creating messages for the media.
The concept of creating a SOCO is useful not only for media interviews, but presentations, social media posts, and all other types of communication. Creating a SOCO and additional key message points was a required part of the communication assignments in my class.
Why do I need a SOCO for clear communication?
When we wrote the chapter on writing messages in Communicating Nutrition: The Authoritative Guide, we answered this question as follows:
“In addition to writing key message points, write a single overriding communication objective (SOCO). Think of it as the big key message. There will be just one SOCO for a communication endeavor but several key messages.
SOCOs make an effective closing statement for a presentation or written article. They are effective when introduced and repeated earlier as well but make it a point to end with the SOCO.
Effective key messages and SOCOs say what needs to be said. Well-written SOCOs are remembered.”
Read more about why you need a SOCO for clear communication in this post:
How do I write a SOCO?
Distill the ideas you plan to communicate into a single overriding communication objective starting with a longer paragraph or list of bullet points summarizing your key messages. Look for the central idea or theme that ties them all together.
Imagine an audience member telling someone about your presentation, article, post, or other type of communication. If they could use no more than 10 words to condense your message, what would you hope they said?
Craft the SOCO using words the audience understands and put them together in a way that is easily said and remembered. Can you make it shorter and still convey the big idea?
Be brief but be complete. An effective SOCO is generally one concise declarative statement, but it may consist of more than one sentence or independent clause if necessary. Make sure your SOCO provides a clear complete thought.
How is a SOCO used?
A SOCO is ideally used repeatedly to reinforce a message with an audience. It can become the title of your communication, the opening statement, the closing statement, and more. A SOCO can become the tagline or slogan for any type of communication initiative.
In Communicating Nutrition: The Authoritative Guide, the title of each chapter is the SOCO for that chapter. Most are no more than 7 words in length, such as “Create High-Impact Presentations” or “Write to Be Read, Understood, and Remembered.”
The longest title is 17 words long: “Blogging and Web-Based Writing Establishes the Nutrition Communicator as an Expert Resource to a Wide Audience.” All 42 titles clearly convey the big idea covered in each chapter. A reader sharing what a chapter contained could easily summarize it with the title.
Another use for SOCOs is an idea shared in the chapter on audience management. It suggests in a presentation using the SOCO as a spoken signal to gain the attention of an audience engaged in group activities to redirect them to the main speaker. The SOCO is split into two parts with the speaker saying the first part and the audience completing the SOCO by reciting the second part.
A SOCO can be used in many ways, but only if created.
What are you trying to communicate? Write a SOCO. SOCOs help communicators achieve clarity.
“Clarity affords focus.” ~ Thomas Leonard
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