Why Content Marketing is like 21st Century Dating
At HelloMeets, we recently organised an event on Content Marketing where we had Rapti Gupta, Content Marketer at Instamojo as the speaker. Instamojo is India’s largest on-demand payments & e-commerce platform. They have 250,000+ Sellers, 500,000+ Product Links and a Monthly Reach of 2,000,000+.
We’re dealing with Micro Attention Spans!!!
Rapti threw light upon the fact that today’s audience has a very short attention span & we need content that clicks instantly.
According to a study by Microsoft in 2015, the average attention span of an online user is about 8 seconds.
Fastforward to 2017, we could probably be dealing with human attention spans of about less than 6 seconds!
It is crucial for content marketers to grab the users attention within the first few seconds.
Karmasutra for Content Marketers
In the age of Speed Dating a person spends about a minute or so on Tinder while reviewing someone’s profile — Just see the picture and read the bio to decide if you would like to meet that person !!
Content marketing has become like that too. A content marketer needs to create content keeping this in mind.
The process of Dating viz a viz Content Marketing:
- FINDING THE RIGHT DATE — Niche Customers/User Personas
- STALKER MODE — Find where your users hang out and post your content there
- ASKING THE DATE OUT — Offer to help via content, be consistent and relevant
- PREPARING FOR THE DATE — Have content calendar + strategy
- TALK ABOUT YOUR DATE — Show off your customers, talk to them and about them on your platform to get in more users.
- DINNER & DRINKS — Offer free services in forms of eBooks, freebies and discounts
- WILL YOU GET LUCKY ?— If your content’s great, you’ll convert a lead into a customer
- CALL/TEXT AFTER THE DATE — Don’t forget to follow up!
But how do you create Content that Captures Attention Spans ??
Listicles — the Ultimate Clickbait
They are a great way to capture the user’s attention. Listicles have a higher click rate. Numbers make difficult concepts easier for people to comprehend.
A user is more likely to open an article titled “ 6 things you should know about GST” rather than one that says “ GST is a week away. How will it have an impact on you?”
Examples of companies that thrive on listicles:
Examples of a few listicles:
- 15 Everyday Things We Should Be Doing But Aren’t- Scoopwhoop
- 29 Tweets That’ll Make You Laugh Harder Than They Should- Buzzfeed
GIFs
GIFs are short and fun, which makes them memorable & very attractive to any brand trying to meet the audience’s content needs. They are more appealing than images and are cost effective when compared to videos.
The impulse of sharing a GIF is instant, which is precious at a time when grabbing attention is harder than ever.
For example: Coca Cola uses GIFs for promoting its #TasteTheFeeling Campaign
You may find this interesting: 12 reasons for brands to use GIFs in content marketing By Tereza Litsa ,Content Marketing Manager, Hubbub Fundraising
Boomerangs
Boomerangs are short looping videos that are a little more than a GIF. Several brands use boomerangs but fashion brands have nailed the trend. Check out Flyrobe’s Instagram handle.
MEMEs
When Instamojo introduced a new feature, they used MEMEs to showcase it on social media.
Not only were they able to grab the users’ attention, but were also able to explain the new feature in a way that the users would remember.
Social Media Craze
A good way to cash in on a social media trend is to create your content around it. When PokemonGo released, the world went crazy! Look how the World Wildlife Federation decided to use it to their advantage.
They ran their social media campaign to spread awareness about a serious idea like saving animals. Instead of using pictures of Pokemon, they used animated images of Pandas and Tigers as they are both endangered species.
So what clicks on Social Media?
Make your audience feel things!
Evoking an emotion in the user’s mind is a great way to make your content shareable. For example: When you see something on the web that makes you chuckle, chances of you sharing it with your friends are higher.
Interactive Content
Interactive Content is an ultra-magnetic way to engage your users. While many focus on delivering a fun distraction, businesses often take them seriously aiming to use the format for different purposes.
At its core, interactive content is a way to have a conversation with your audience.
The reason it works is because humans simply can’t resist testing themselves, compete, compare, share their opinion, and have fun. At the same time, there’s a give and take that allows the user to be surprised/delighted — an emotion that’s indispensable to brand value. It makes the users overlook other distractions on the internet and pay attention to your brand.
Some ways of creating Interactive Content:
Calculators — They are answer options plugged into a back-end set of calculations that give a unique result for the user. For example: Penguin Books use the calculator: Which Penguin Classic Are You? Many book lovers would get intrigued by such an idea and take the quiz and chances are they would share the results on their social media thereby increasing engagement.
You can take the quiz here: Which Penguin Classic Are You?
Polls/ Contests
They are a great way to gauge the sentiments of the audience on the most newsworthy topics/issues taking place at the moment along with engaging them.
In fact, you can also use them to gather feedback for your brand.
For example: Inshorts leveraged it’s massive user base in creating truly interesting content by conducting a series of polls in 2016. Each of these polls received participation of lakhs of users and received extensive coverage in the press.
Trivia or Quiz
The “pub quiz” style, trivia includes questions with right and wrong answers with a scored output.
We come across many such quizzes on Facebook everyday. They are very engaging and shareable.
For example: Buzzfeed has some great Harry Potter quizzes that keep the fans engaged. Sharing the results creates further engagement.
Infographics
Infographics make serious data fun. Visualizing complex data breaks it down for your audience. Like they say — a picture is worth a thousand words. For example: Instamojo showed off their Annual Report metrics in an infographic.
Copycat Marketing 101
Creative blocks are real. They happen to everyone at some point. And that’s absolutely okay! When you’re struggling with ideas, look to fellow marketers for inspiration.
For example: Rapti saw a really nice interactive graphic on Facebook by DocsApp & used the concept for Instamojo.
In it the user sees the first picture and upon clicking it the whole image opens up with a surprise message.
Here’s how Rapti used it for Instamojo —
Another good example:
With the recent GST policy changes in the Indian market, Instamojo thought of making the transition smoother for their customers by sharing short 2 minute videos. Here’s how they promoted it on their social media:
They used taglines of famous & easily recallable brands ( Maggi & Act II Popcorn) and gave their own twist to it.
Content Marketing is not rocket science. It’s like talking — holding a conversation with someone you are really interested in. You don’t want to be too desperate. But you also want to show you are interested. Be spontaneous, be cheesy and keep it simple!
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Insights shared by Rapti Gupta, Content Marketer, Instamojo
Originally published on HelloMeets
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