You wouldn’t believe what happened to me writing this
Oh I know you clicked on it. Actually nothing happened just wanted to see the result of this marvelous clickbait. Which is the exact topic of this post.
The importance of the headline became more important than ever, and its importance was best outlined by the father of advertising, David Ogilvy, who said that five times more people read the headlines than the text itself.
“When you wrote a good headline, 80 cents of your dollar has already been spent”, said Ogilvy.
The title aims to attract the user and make him choose the title as the most interesting in the sea of information
Has it ever happened to you that you have clicked on an interesting, amazing, sensational and exclusive title on the portals? But when you saw the content, you were surprised because it had nothing to do with what was announced, it was an advertisement for a product, or you were surprised to read a few sentences thinking about who was interested in it at all and why was such information published at all.
What is clickbait?
Clickbait actually has its origins in old media, not the web, and specifically in the don’t-touch-that-dial antics of television and radio. Because you won’t believe what happens next… after the break. It’s a pretty rough consumer experience to demand your audience sit through an ad, online or off.
Nowadays, clickbait headlines are increasingly present in online media, which are structured to attract readers to click or open an article on a portal. Clickbait headlines are guided by a shallow but effective psychology of drawing attention based on human curiosity, as readers are reportedly offered some exclusive, unusual content that was announced in a sensational headline. The word clickbait itself is a compound of English click + bait. Usually these types of titles are: You will not believe what happened !!!; You have to see this; Shocking — look! etc.
What’s the purpose?
The purpose of clickbait headlines is to attract as many people as possible so that each portal has as many unique visitors as possible. Increasing the number of visitors contributes to a better ranking of the portal, which ultimately affects the higher cost of advertising space and the number of advertisers who wish to place their ads on such a portal. The calculation is actually very simple — more clicks (visitors) = more money. Advertising is the only source of online media revenue.
The marketing strategy of the clickbait headline produces short-term results, but in the long run it leads to the downfall and “bad reputation” of portals that use such cheap psychological tricks. Also, it is a fact that the senses of the modern man have become so overwhelmed by the amount of information and the title of the shallow, sensationalist type that we need not be surprised if in the near future, sensation becomes what is not sensation.
Clickbait in 2020.
Most clickbait headlines are happening right in the media world. The struggle for the reader has become tight and the need to stand out in the wrong way has arisen, unfortunately. However, given the times we live in, more and more educated users are no longer reading clickbait but have turned to headlines that are informative and that really give them information’s relevant to them.
Changes are therefore needed. In 2020, clickbait titles should slowly go down in history. Because the reading policy is changing, the user is interested in the content, interested in the photos and the video, not the title as it is. Of course the title will continue to be readable, but it should strive to be relevant and informative. Because the reality is that the reader tailors the content, not you. You publish everything you do for the reason that you know it will be read as taught by old experience, and you do not publish it because it is interesting to you.
Turn negative to positive
Don’t forget that clickbait titles also have negative consequences. The bounce rate or percentage of visitors leaving such portals is very high, and time spent on pages is measured in seconds. This is a consequence of feeling betrayed that visitors have that get caught in such titles, since the content they offer is irrelevant and of poor quality.
As times change, so do the metrics we track. Previously, clicks were important to us, however, with the change in consumers, we began tracking the time of user retention on the web. Unfortunately, retention of users is not achieved with clickbait title, but by smarter and more streamlined tools.
Right now will we stop reading certain articles if they are clickbait? Probably not, because as much as we think it is bad and does not affect people well — we will click on them.
In order to change the way media work, we need to start with ourselves. We should force ourselves not to read such headlines and this way affect the readership.
