Creating a spark with your online content
I love anything that has a visual element to it when posting content on social media but have you noticed in recent times that there has been a trend towards posting image based content for the sake of posting content. Now whilst there is no argument that images are an incredible way to draw your audience in and kick off engagement; an image without relevance and resonance is not going to cut it.
As a creative, the power of images is very relevant to me. Images can be used to convey a message, such as:
- Highlight a cause
- Place focus on a problem (or solution)
- Educate and inform people
- Inspire good will
- Motivate your audience to take action
- Allow your community to get to know you more.
However, without the right words to correspond with the images you provide to your community, the net effect is your message has been lost. Getting your words right can mean the difference between moving from a “hey you” moment to a “I’d like to get to know you” experience.
In order to put a spark in your content, make sure along with those great images that you are posting that you have the right headline. If you’ve nailed your headline then you’ve given relevance to the image you are using and your audience will begin to understand what you are trying to convey to them. Whilst it would be great to spend all the time in the world coming up with that perfect headline or statement to marry up with your image, there are some tried and true basics that can help put a spark in getting your started:
HEADLINE TO GET STARTED
- How to…
- How to nail your content like a boss!
- Here’s how…
- Here’s how you can build a social media content funnel!
- Learn how to…
- Learn how to do great video in 10 minutes!
- Ask a question
- Are you a social media wallflower? Here’s how to get started.
- The lists
- The ultimate list to social media image sizes.
- Numbers
- 10 Things you should do when writing your next blog!
- Attention …………… (Target market)!
- Attention all financial advisers here’s a guide to engaging on social media!
- Quick and easy ways to…
- Quick and easy ways to creating an online community.
If you’ve now managed to refine your headline from the tips above, the next spark is really giving your audience something to digest. This can be a quick call to action allowing the headline and image to do the work or you may choose to paraphrase the lead in to a more robust blog post if you are trying to create a deeper engagement. The key to either of these is your power words! Getting the words and language right is critical when choosing who it is you are conversing with. My recommendation is that you create a list of power words and phrases that will resonate with your client avatars. These will be unique to you and your audience so take the time to create your list and use it as a reference regularly. Here are some power words that have a proven track record to help to create emotional engagement.
POWER WORDS
Now the final step…
READ YOUR CONTENT BEFORE YOU PUBLISH!
Review your work and if you don’t trust yourself then find yourself someone that can act as an editor for you. There are great services and apps out there that can help you but a great one to start with is “grammarly”.
Take off your rose coloured glasses on the content you are publishing. Be sure you are not amplifying the insignificant but you are in fact amplifying the messages you want to leave people with, to build lasting relationships. Don’t get caught in the whirlpool of trying to create perfection in your content, it’s our imperfections that make us unique and attract our audience to us.
Create the spark and launch yourself…I can’t wait to see what you publish next!
If you can’t go it alone reach out and I can take you through how we can help.
