How to create content that is memorable for your audience even after it’s been viewed

Do you remember that blog post that stayed in your mind for days after reading it? What about the social media post that made you press the share button without second thoughts? You might have even shared them with your network. 

Creating content that resonates with your audience is no easy task. However, it will take your content marketing game to a different level. When your audience relates to your content, they will share it with their friends, thus spreading the word about your business.

This blog post will show you how to create engaging content. You will get some cool and actionable tips that will make you say, “wow, this is super easy!”

What makes content relatable?

Your content is relatable when there is harmony between your audience and your goals. That means your readers will agree with whatever you say.

Does that mean you have to talk about positive things to strike harmony? Nope. You can also share something difficult to hear. But your content should connect with it on an emotional level.

Sharing personal stories about your brand is an excellent way to make your content relatable. Such content easily makes an emotional connection.

You can also share stuff your readers will find useful. That will create harmony between your goals and your audience’s needs. 

Thus, the goal is to create content that is informative, entertaining, or strikes an emotional chord. Let’s see how to go about it.

Ways to create content that resonates long-term

Creating engaging content is not enough. Here are seven excellent ways to create a long-term impact with your content:

1. Get to know your audience

Isn’t that obvious? Yes, but a lot of businesses fail to understand their audience fully. When you have a better understanding of your readers and potential customers, creating engaging content is a cakewalk.

So, how will you know your audience? Do some market research. Surveys are an effective way to know about your readers.

Remember that knowing your audience isn’t limited to their age, gender, location, and profession. You have to move beyond demographics and into their minds. For instance, what are the pain points and desires of your target audience? Knowing this information will help you create valuable content that stays in their minds for a long time. 

Creating generic content will take you nowhere. So, make your content specific to your target audience. Write as if you are talking to a single person.

But, how do you create content that speaks to a single person? That’s where buyer personas come to your rescue. A buyer persona is a profile of who your ideal customers are. For instance, your business might target middle-aged female entrepreneurs. In that case, your buyer persona would include every minute detail about your target customer.

You can assign a name to your buyer persona. For instance, let’s call her Jill. So, you would specially tailor all your content to Jill’s interests and pain points.

Some businesses have more than one buyer persona. So, they should create specific content for each set of potential customers.

You can know your customers better if you make your customer service accessible. Internet phone systems are an excellent way to stay connected with your customers, as are live chat services and robust email customer service systems. 

The better you know your customers, the easier it will get for you to create engagement. So, don’t leave any stone unturned in your research.

2. Add human touches

Sounding robotic is the worst thing for your content marketing efforts. Remember, your readers are flesh and blood humans. Try to connect with them on an emotional level.

Try these three tips to add a human touch to your content:

1. Tell stories. Telling engaging stories can evoke a host of emotions in your reader and establish a deep connection with them. 

                                              Source: Nutcracker

2. Be empathetic. Show your reader that you understand and care for them. Talk about their pain points and try to solve them. That will earn your audience’s trust, and they will keep coming back for your content.
3. Cut the jargon. Don’t litter your post with technical terms. That will scare your readers away. Great content is simple and easy to read and understand.

If you don’t get time to churn out fresh content every time, use content curation to keep your audience engaged.

3. Embrace memorable video content

85% of Americans view online videos every month. Videos are no doubt the most engaging form of content. So, including them in your marketing strategy can do wonders.

Source: Social Media Week

Videos help to convey a message more clearly than text. Your audience gets an audio-visual experience that helps them understand a topic better. Plus, they retain the information for a long time. 

You often tend to forget the minute details of your favorite novel. But, you remember everything about your favorite movies or TV shows. That tells how effective video content can be.

Here are some videos to include in your content marketing strategy:

• Brand videos. These videos allow you to introduce yourself to your customers. Share your story, talk about your core values, and show how your product or service will help potential users. You can also introduce your team members. Your audience will love to see the faces behind the brand.

• Testimonials.  Ask your satisfied customers to leave video feedback. That will encourage more people to purchase from you. After all, we tend to believe other people, especially when the company is not paying for an endorsement.
• Videos featuring influencers. Some brands pay people with a huge online following to promote their products and services. That’s called influencer marketing. Check out our blog post “Influencer Marketing or Content Marketing” to know when influencers are effective in content marketing.
• Educational videos. Short tutorial videos related to your product or service can be quite engaging. Try to make the videos as helpful as possible. That will build trust in your audience.
• Animated videos. Animation adds a unique touch to your videos, making them more engaging. It lets you tell a story in a fun and interesting manner. They aren’t just for kids; adults will love animated videos too if you make them relevant.

Remember: it doesn’t matter whether you make video or textual content. If you don’t create a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, your content won’t reach your target audience.

4. Use analytics to choose new topics

Your social media analytics shows you the kind of content your audience is interested in. Thus, it helps you in producing content that performs well.

Check out your top-performing posts and try to understand what made them work well. You can then recreate these posts in a different format or medium.

Look for common elements in your best posts. For instance, they might have an element of humor or a touch of storytelling. Or maybe their popularity has something to do with the content format.

Your analytics help you understand what’s working and what’s not. So, they are a perfect guide for your content marketing strategy.

So, how do you get your analytics for different social media platforms?

Facebook lets you view your top-performing posts from “Page Insights.” If you use Instagram, you need to have a business page to get the analytics.

LinkedIn also shows detailed analytics for your business page. You can check who is viewing your content and how you can convert them into a follower. Plus, you will also get an idea about your competitors.

Twitter lets you view the performance of every tweet. You can check the number of impressions and engagement on your tweets. That will help you understand what your audience likes.

5. Capitalize on current trends

Watch out for general trends on social media and apply them to your specific niche. Trends can bring you some crazy engagement.

What is the hot topic of discussion on social media? Can you create content centering around it for your industry? If yes, then go ahead and capitalize on it.

This article on the salaries of web developers is the perfect example of capitalizing on trends. Web development is a trending career option these days. So, this blog post reaches those wanting to know the average salary of a web developer. 

This article on creating an attractive portfolio capitalizes on the same trend, but it offers a different direction. It focuses on inspiring new web developers to build a portfolio that sells. 

Sometimes, a particular content format trends on social media. For example, videos and reels are trending these days. So, should you make more videos? Well, there is no harm in experimenting with a few. If your audience loves them, you can create more videos.

You should, however, be cautious while following trends. Ask yourself the following questions before proceeding.

• Does the content make any sense for my audience?
• Does the post add any value?
• Does the content resonate with my audience?
• Will my audience get irritated by the post?

Don’t stop yourself if you feel your audience will love the trend.

6. Use data, case studies, and examples

You might love or hate mathematics. But it can help make your point more convincing at times.

Let’s take two sentences:

1. “Social media marketing has a better ROI than traditional forms of marketing.”
2. “Social media marketing boosts your ROI by 67% compared to traditional forms of marketing.”

ROI is “Return on Investment.”

Which of those two sentences is more appealing? The second one is more convincing because the first sentence is vague and lacks authority. 

Data helps to prove your point. You can make a stronger claim if you have supporting data to back it up.

Apart from that, case studies and real-life examples also help build trust. When you share a case study of how your product or service helped your customers, your audience will be interested to know more. Who knows? They might even end up buying from you.

Remember that teacher you had who gave weird examples to simplify complex topics? That’s what your content should do. Relatable examples will help your readers understand difficult topics with ease. You can give them examples from their life to explain a new concept. The easier you make it for your audience, the more they will love your content.

Brand examples work quite well. When you give suggestions to your readers, show them an example of a brand that already does what you are suggesting. That will make your content more convincing. 

Or, if you fail to find a real-life example, you can always give a hypothetical one to explain things to your audience.

7. Develop a tone readers can relate to 

Your tone is one of the most crucial elements of marketing content. Make sure you keep the tone relevant to your target audience.

For example, if you talk to GenZ and millennials, don’t make your tone too formal and serious. Try to add a pinch of humor to make it interesting for them. After all, you don’t want them to run away from your content.

Source: Make a meme

You must know your buyer personas well to pick the right tone. Here are some factors that affect the tone of your content:

• Sentence structure. The structure of your sentences impacts how your written content reads. Are your sentences long or short and crisp? Did you use many complex sentences? All these factors will determine how smooth your content is for the audience.
• Word choice. The choice of words is crucial for your blog post. Use words that your audience is familiar with. Using fancy words won’t make any sense if the readers don’t get the meaning.
• Humor. A bit of harmless humor is always welcome. It breaks the monotony and makes your writing fun to read. If you can make your readers laugh while giving a solution to their problems, they will become fans of your content.
• Content formatting. Formatting is a key element we often tend to ignore. Writing great content is not enough because the formatting will determine how it reads.

Additionally, does your content have huge chunks of text? That will obstruct the flow, making it difficult for your readers. Shorter paragraphs and lots of white spaces will make it easier to read your content. So, make sure you don’t ignore the formatting while creating your content strategy.

Publishing blog posts regularly will help you understand the best tone for your target audience. Check out this guide to create a blog of your own.

Create engaging content to win your audiences’ hearts

The internet is flooded with content. You need to stand out in the crowd to grab your audience’s attention. Creating unique and engaging content will give you a loyal audience and generate leads for your business.

Now that you know the tricks to create great content, go ahead and ace the game.

The post How To Create Content That Resonates With Your Audience Long After They’ve Viewed It appeared first on Scoop.it Blog.