Have you heard? Boring content is out and interesting content is in. Think about it, would you willingly read something dry, uninteresting and pointless? Moving on! Try these four ways to create better content that will bring your readers back and wanting more:
The Value of Value
What’s in it for your reader? Why should they even bother to read your article? Your content must have a reason and a specific purpose for your reader. If it doesn’t have any value to the reader – they won’t return to your site or get anything out of your content. People don’t want to dig through your content to figure out the purpose. It should be easy to understand from the get-go. If you are having a hard time deciding what the value to your readers is, they will too!
EXAMPLE: David Siteman Garland has been pumping out loads of helpful content on his blog – RiseToTheTop.com – for a while now. He does an amazing job of telling people exactly what value he’s giving them. One specific example of this is his blog page. As you can see, David is really specific with the titles of his posts. He tells readers exactly what they’re going to be learning.
Explore Media –
Images are content too. Well, not in the written sense. Use images, photos and videos to help get your point across and develop a better understanding of what you are trying to say. Links to other articles help show credibility. Any type of media can help your audience learn and makes it more fun and interesting. Plus, who doesn’t love a gif!
Example: The Portland Oregon Trailblazers use media well, specifically through Instagram. Whether it be pictures from a game to up close behind the scenes of the players, interviews and fan photos, it highlights the best of the team.
Relating Is Underrated
Since you should have a good understanding of who your content is for, you should know a little about them so you can make your content fit for their needs. Try to figure out what makes your audience exactly – your audience! This could be similarities between you and your audience. Once you know that, creating content that is interesting and tailored to them should be the easy part and they will be more interested in what you are writing about. EXAMPLE: Beard Brothers does a fantastic job of relating to their customers. Their Facebook page is littered with meme’s, videos and highly sharable content (some of which they shared from other brands) that will have bearded fellas shouting “AMEN!”
Give Them Something to Remember
Adding real life stories, a little bit of humor and other emotional appeals is like asking for engagement with your readers! It’s hard to resist commenting on content that engages you and makes you laugh or when you’ve completely gone through the same scenario. Engaging and fun content is also “sharable” content.
EXAMPLE: This example is from an Apple ad and shows a strong emotional appeal. It makes you feel the emotion between the grandmother and granddaughter and is effective because it is a memorable video. This video works well because it tugs at the heart strings to those in the same situation around the holidays and they are likely to remember this ad.
