How to use people’s short attention span to your advantage?
What’s the last time you have read the book? Can’t remember right?
Me neither.
Between 2003 and 2016, the amount of time that the average American devoted to reading for personal interest on a daily basis dropped from 0.36 hours to 0.29 hours. In fact, if you have read this text to this point, congratulations. Your attention span is more than 8 seconds, which is the average nowadays.
Attention span is the amount of concentrated time the person can spend on the task without becoming distracted. And in the last 20 years human attention span has dropped from 12 to just 8 seconds. This syndrome is known as short attention span.
For a storyteller that’s a big problem in particular, because people do not have enough time to read your story. And even if they want to read your content, it appears too comprehensive, they want bother reading it at all. It seems like it doesn’t make any sense to make a good content around the brand anymore.
But what if you can change that and use it to your advantage?
Here are a few tips you can use as a storyteller to fix that problem:
- Your website speed really matters.
Nobody wants to spend a few extra seconds of their precious time on slow web page. Also, research has established that a single second delay in how long your site takes to load will cost you 7 percent in conversions and that 40 percent of people will simply exit your website if it takes longer than three seconds to load.
2. People don’t read your content, they scan it.
So, it has to be clear and simple. For example, you should highlight important keywords, use bullets and subheadings and focus on one idea per paragraph.
3. “Repetitio est mater studiorum”
This golden rule of studying translates to the marketing as well. In fact, people need to see your offer at least 7 times before they really pay attention. But don’t be boring with repetition; Spread your offer across different channels, using different formats Like images and videos. Also, you should consider smart retargeting as well. This brings me to the next point.
4. Know the best practices of the platform you’re using.
Each digital advertising platform has its own set of rules — not just the formal ones, but the implied ones. Know the terrain of the digital landscape and make sure that you can articulate your message in different ways depending on the platform.
5. Personalize your content
There’s one relatively easy way to make your content way more useful and interesting to your audienceIn an age when consumers see thousands of ads per day, personalization is an effective way to make your content stand out. It’s also worth noting that personalization can cross the line into creeping out the consumer, so be wary of personalization that targets potentially sensitive information. Keep a sense of empathy for the consumer in mind and ask yourself, “Would I be okay with someone sending me a targeted ad or email about this?”
6. Use humor
Most people browsing the Internet are in zombie mode, seeking for dopamine shots. This is a key point and use that to your advantage. So next time you are writing a story add some humor to it. People are like good jokes. If you can lighten up their mood with some witty joke, it will do wonders for your brand.
7. Reverse pyramid principle
It is the technique used by journalist in newspapers and the magazines. The most important information like who, what, when, how, are written in the beginning and the least important information are in the end. You give readers the control to find out more if they want to, rather than keeping them in suspense until the end (which, unlike visual stimuli, will result in them leaving instead of reading until the end).
8. Good story
This one seems obvious - people are hooked up to the good stories which brings me to conclusion that no matter how low attention span is as long as your story is compelling the readers will want more.
