It's more or less a given in the world of content creation that in order to draw people in and have engagement on your content... you pretty much need to create engaging content.
Of course, that's a lovely piece of boilerplate advice people might be able to relate to, but it's a whole different thing to actually carry it through.
Let's be perfectly blunt here: 95% of all content online is pretty boring! Doesn't matter whether it's 45 views of someone's breakfast taco, or some "expert" droning on for a couple of thousand words about how "the McLennon Defibrillator indicates that Bitcoin will rise by 3.83% in the next 61 hours and 12 minutes."
It's pretty much like watching paint dry, for most people.
Marketing advice — I touched a bit on Seth Godin's "purple cows" yesterday — suggests that we need something truly exceptionally outstanding (in some way) in order for our stuff to go viral, or even be broadly seen.
Except... that isn't actually true.
I see the weirdest shit go viral, and there's absolutely no rhyme or reason to why it catches someone's imagination. Most of the time, the underlying reasons amount to that one thing business schools across the world HATE to look at: LUCK.
What does this have to do with "engaging content?"
The vast majority of us end up creating a steady flow of mediocrity because it's unlikely that we actually have enough interesting experiences in our world to offer up a non-stop stream of scintillating prose.
Much of the time, getting people to actually stop for long enough to engage with you is incredibly difficult.
Of course, most people need to have even the most obvious spelled out for them. As in, INVITE people to engage with your content, don't just assume they will. Even better, ask direct questions about what you just shared!
It's an interesting thing, that. Pretty much everyone has an opinion about things, but they don't necessarily share it.
Of course, when you invite feedback and opinions and answers to questions, you also have to be ready to get your share of hate mail. I was being interviewed for a podcast and TV show earlier today, and the interviewer and I had a good laugh at the reality that when you start getting "hate mail" it means you have become somebody!
But why ask questions? And what stories to tell?
In truth, most of us actually like human stories better than purely informational or instructional ones... even though we often treat content creation exactly opposite!
We sit down at our screens and hammer out articles about things "we hope might be popular," rather than telling authentic life stories that actually interest people. What's more, personal stories tend to be "evergreen," while news stories are not.
Think about it! What would YOU rather read about? The 47,000th review of the latest iPhone, or someone's experiences traveling in a foreign country?
Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the remainder of your week!
Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
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Created at 2024-02-22 01:12 PST
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