What would you do to get people to not just finish reading an article or watching a video, but have them click on the next one? A catchy title may bring readers to your website, but it’s the content that is there that will determine if they stay or bounce away. Here are 8 tips to give your content more personality and keep your readers engaged.
Ask a Rhetorical Question
See what I did there? I opened the article and this explanation with the first tip. Asking questions helps to get your audience thinking, which helps them engage with your content. The kind of question you ask matters. Use questions without simple answers to keep them engaged. In blogs and social media, rhetorical questions can be a good place for keywords and hashtags when they might otherwise feel planted to extraneous.
Elicit Emotions & Be Creative with Imagery
You want your audience to feel something from your content. Emotions will keep them engaged and make them more likely to share. Emotional trigger words and anecdotes are an easy choice to keep your reader’s interest in articles. Choose expressive imagery that highlights your topic. In videos, look into the camera to simulate eye contact and express emotions with gestures.
When you use or make photos, use fun expressions, poses, and objects. Use an image editor to zoom in on a key feature in a picture. Bring figures out of the center, and don’t be afraid to let items in a picture disappear beyond the edge.
Tell a Good Story
A friend of mine starts her weekly meetings by asking people to share one good thing and one bad thing that happened to them. The exercise engages everyone emotionally and draws their attention to something interesting. Use this tool to accent your content as well. Tell a story to help introduce or illuminate your topic.
Remember, stories aren’t just told with words. The saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Use images that are active and engaging, not static and posed. Images that look like a slice of life will draw your audience into your social media posts and enhance your blog.
Use a Little Humor
Humor is about more than jokes and laughs. Any time you can get your audience to crack a smile with a witty aside or a visual pun, you’ve injected humor into your content. Ask a question in an amusing way. Humor will add personality to your content and help you elicit emotions.
Include a Fascinating Fact or Quote
“In quoting others, we cite ourselves.” — Julio Cortazar
A fast fact or quote is a great way to introduce a topic, highlight information and generate interest in your topic. You can also use facts to demonstrate why someone might need what you’re writing about. A quote meanwhile will add ethos to your content. Use these in articles, as part of your video, or as visual memes.
Use Formatting to Your Advantage
Formatting will turn your article into artwork. Vary sentence length. Keep paragraphs short. Utilizing bullet lists and headings to add visual variation. Do not forget the importance of font. An easy, readable font will keep your reader’s eyes relaxed and encourage them to keep reading. Add images that relate to your topic and wrap your text around them to bring the elements together.
Show that You Enjoy the Topic
Anything can be interesting; you just have to find what makes it interesting. If you find yourself droning on, look to the other tips here to help you switch things up. Add a related anecdote. Use humor to liven the mood. Find trivia about your topic. Add in a related meme.
The Takeaway – Be Yourself
Don’t think of these tips as steps to check off. Instead, think of them as ways to help you apply yourself to what you create. How do you show humor? How do you express ideas? Your most successful content comes from authenticity – be yourself, let yourself have fun, and express how that feels to others. Allow Media Components to assist you in all of your digital marketing needs. Contact Us Today for more information!
