industry experts tell us how to create engaging digital content.
After listening to Georgia Frances King (Editor, Kinfolk Magazine), Nick Shelton (Publisher and Director, Broadsheet) and Melissa Gaudron (Deputy Editor, marie claire) at the Creating Cut Through Content shindig at the MCA during Vivid last year, I’ve summarised their insider secrets on how to write quality digital content. Some bits will seem obvious, but usually the simple stuff is the most important and every now and then we need a little reminder.
The Internet cannot stop stacking on the kilos. Day after day, the poor beast is force fed a relentless buffet of dabbing videos, vegan blogs and Clarendon-filtered selfies, most of which we’ll never see. But believe me, the ever-gaining virtual chub is there. Even though we only see a smidge of what’s out there, that smidge is still a hell of a lot of content. We’re bombarded with drone like inaccuracy with shit everyday and if anything, it really increases the “meh” factor when reading. So much so, “reading” can often start and finish with the headline of an article.
You want your content to pull the reader in super hard like a Brazillian pash at carnival. Let's look at how you do that.
YOU
Think about numero uno and what you’re trying to do out there in the ether. You don’t always have to follow the trend, i.e. what is established as "cool". Think about what you think is cool and give readers what they DON’T know they want. Georgia made the standout point that our opinions are unique, so use them. You also have to know your purpose and objectives, otherwise you’re just adding to the noise for the sake of it. Are you standing for politics, surfing, clean living? This needs to be decided before you float away into, "we're cover a little bit of everything" territory.
And as a general and maybe obvious rule, continually ask yourself – would I enjoy reading this?
YOUR AUDIENCE
The wise ones banged on about knowing your demographic and writing for them. You can’t write for everyone, so build a personalised conversation with the readers your targeting.
Assuming you do know who your audience is, how do you grab those flippant bastards? Probably don’t call them bastards, unless your writing for Fuck You Monthly, then by all means, rip them to shreds. The three speakers reiterated the point of utility. The content must have value to the reader. Value is king.
Again, ask yourself - what would I get from reading this? As well as - what would the reader get from reading this?
YOUR CONTENT
When it comes to the content you’re putting out there, the main message was about “help, not hype”. Don’t hype stuff up for the sake of it - over promising and under delivering is annoying and salesy and if your content can’t live up to the headline, guess what? That’s click bait. They posed the idea that your content needs to be educational, not entertaining, which brings us back to making sure there’s utility in each piece.
Strive to make content that's engaging and credible. You want to evoke emotion, inspire action and start a dialogue, with content that doesn’t talk down to readers and delivers useful and accurate information.
From a design perspective, the consensus was to use strong, high quality imagery, that catches the eye and is relevant to the topic. To keep everyone on the same page design-wise, set guidelines. And when it comes to language, for god’s sake SPEAK HUMAN! A human touch is needed, otherwise it’s hard to relate to... so don’t blab on like a robot, k m8?
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