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Aug 11, 2014

Getting People to Care About Your Content

In today’s Internet world, there’s an abundance of content out there trying to lure in people to visit their websites and buy their products. Each day, there are roughly two million blog posts, 294 billion emails, and that’s before you take into account social media and other digital interactions. As a result, 80% of readers only read the headline of an article and either skim or skip over the rest.

So, your job as a business owner and marketer for your brand is to get people to not only notice your articles, social media, blog, or website, but to fully engage them to read your content… and actually care about it. Your content marketing strategy and implementation is vital for the success of your online presence, and ultimately the success of your company.  Muhammed Saleem, writer for MarketingLand.com shares how to get people to care about what you have to say.

What Influences Engagement?

Not all Internet users behave the same way — a user’s intent when scrolling through a list of content impacts how he/she behaves toward the options. Furthermore, Saleem says how you receive the content and how it is presented to you (beyond the headline) also impacts engagement levels.

  • New vs. Return Visitor: Anyone who has visited your website previously already has an opinion about your site, content and even individual authors. Saleem says the user’s perception of the quality of content can increase or decrease the odds of clicking on a link. For example, readers who subscribe to your content through feeds or newsletters don’t need selling headlines because they’re already bought-in.
  • Social Proof: Content received through your networks on social media such as Facebook or Twitter have already been filtered for quality and relevancy. Oftentimes, Saleem says people sharing content don’t even use headlines and opt for commentary instead.

Getting People to Care

In order to get people to read past the headlines and actually read and understand your content, Saleem recommends to ask yourself a series of questions before even writing content.

1. Why do I care about what I’ve written, and why should others care? Is it personally or professionally relevant to others as it is to me?

2. With what I have written, does it accomplish anything for me or for my readers? Does it help people personally or professionally achieve their goals?

Saleem says that people are surprisingly adept at determining what will create value for them and therefore is important enough to care about it. Content that is unique, exclusive, comprehensive and relevant to the reader will not be skimmed over.

Some Tips for Better Content

1. Google AdWords is a great tool to utilize when creating content. Google AdWords has specific editorial guidelines that will help you to outline your content and even prohibit you from over use of excessive capitalization!

2. People like to read content that is organized. Lists are a great way to help the reader through your content without feeling lost or confused. Lists are also reductive by nature and leave readers with nothing more than a fleeting sense of being informed. However, don’t depend too much on bullet points or numbers. Saleem says a better approach is to write a comprehensive piece of content and use unordered and ordered lists within it as relevant.

It takes many drafts and time to create a comprehensive content that people will actually care about. Take these suggestions into consideration when writing content for your business.

At Five Technology, we can assist your business with its Internet marketing, especially content implementation needs in order to get people to read and care for your content. Let’s chat to get started!

Read the full article by Muhammed Saleem.

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