Four rules for more engaging content

My last post was about social listening and testing potential positive and negative engagement with your content. But how do you create engaging content in the first place? Start by following these four rules:

 

Write content for your audience, not yourself. What interests you and your colleagues might not be what customers outside your industry’s circle want to hear about. Never assume. Do your research.

 

Talk about your product or service in a way your customers will actually connect with. Don’t just talk about what your product does, but how it can improve your customers’ lives. Don’t just talk about innovation and efficiency, but about how much more time and energy they will have left to do the things they really love. In other words, make your audience feel less like consumers and more like potentially better human beings for buying what you are selling.

 

Package your content attractively. Be clever with your headlines, but not so clever that you lose your audience. Headlines should be short, clear, to the point, and, if possible, always include an image. Content with images receives around four times as many click-throughs, and images can easily be found or created for free at websites such as Creative Commons or Canva.