Effective Content Begins With Empathy
It’s easier than ever to create your own content and publish it for the world to see — this blog, for example, or the tweet you made at lunch, or the brochure your organization recently designed. But too often, we significantly overestimate our audience’s interest in what we have to say — thinking “it’s important to me, so of course they’ll be interested!” [Note: the potential irony of this statement is not lost on this author].
Audiences protect themselves from unwanted content
Increasingly, audiences rely on computer algorithms (think Netflix) and social networks (think Twitter) to ensure they’re only exposed to content that aligns with their individual interests. Everything else gets tuned out. A study by Flaxman, Goel & Rao, 2016 revealed curated news feeds can create echo chambers that amplify a person’s exposure to content that already aligns with their world view. These self-fulfilling news feeds, at best, can be hard to break into, and at worst, dangerous — as we saw with the power of the anti-vaxxer movement. [The Wall Street Journal developed an excellent interactive infographic that reveals how disparate these echo chambers can be on political matters].
So the question becomes how do you get your message through your audience’s content filters, and assuming you succeed in doing that, how do you hold your audience’s attention?
Rethink who is at the center of your content
As a communicator, you should always have a goal — a place you want to bring your audience to, such as a new level of awareness or understanding. But to get them there, you must first understand your audience’s needs and motivations, and how and when they process information. Design thinkers call this adopting an empathetic mindset.
Understanding your audience’s needs and motivations
What keeps your audience up at night? What questions are they most likely to Google or search for on your site? If you were to give them $100, what would they spend it on? What do they currently think of you or your subject matter (if anything)? What kind of stories are they most likely to share with their friends? Which of your communications have they shown most interest in? What do they want to know more about or better understand? What biases or preconceptions do they hold? What do they need to do, see, or hear in order to be convinced or moved?
Any one of these questions can help you understand how your audience perceives your subject matter and which appeals and arguments are most likely to resonate with them. You might even learn where your audience wants you to take them.
Understanding when and where to reach your audience
As for what communications vehicle(s) to use, you need to know how your audience learns, where and how they seek out information, and what the optimal times to connect with them are.
For example, what is their first language and literacy level? Do they have access to a smart phone or the internet? Do they regularly gather at a specific location (Pokémon Go hot spot or sporting event) or tune in at a predictable time (checking Twitter at lunch)? Do they make frequent visits to their doctor? Do they follow a health opinion leader on social media? Do they read the op/ed column in their local paper?
Many of these answers are available through market research, and come with a hefty price tag. But for the rest of us, there are still many tools at our disposal, including: interviews, surveys, real world observations, web analytics, word-of-mouth reports from frontline staff, and even learning from the successes and failures of others (as well as yourself).
So before you begin to disseminate your message, think first about your audience — where do you want to take them (or even better, where do they want to go), and how can you help them get there?
Help us shape our content!
Having said all of that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the comments section below. We want to cater this site to the interests of people like you. Please let us know what you like, what you don’t like, and what you want to learn more about as it relates to Knowledge Translation so we can improve your experience next time your visit. Also, feel free to Tweet us @KnowledgeNudge.
About the Author
Patrick Faucher is the Creative & Strategic Services Lead at CHI. A communications strategist with over 10 years experience, he specializes in creating content engineered to build awareness, understanding, engagement, and adoption through an approach rooted in design thinking (rapid prototyping) and behavioural insights (nudging).
