Digital content

Did you know that more than 4.4 million blogs are published every day? With digital content facing such stiff competition, do you ever feel completely overloaded with information when you look at your phone or inbox? Chances are, your audience does, too.

To help you cut through the noise, here are our seven best tips to keep your audiences gripped.

According to a 2018 Ofcom study, Brits check their smartphone every 12 minutes, and one in five people are online for more than 40 hours a week. That’s a lot of time for your audience to spend sifting through every story out there. So, if it feels like your digital content is getting lost in cyberspace, here are our seven top ways to make your mark.

1) Make your digital content more relatable

Writer and business guru Dale Carnegie once said: “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” It follows that if you want to capture your audience’s attention, you need to make sure your content is something they can connect with. So put real people in the centre of your story, and make it local, topical and emotional, or you’ll forever be losing out to the latest cat video or celeb gossip.

2) Pick the right digital platform

Digital platforms provide communicators with an enormous advantage – they give you the opportunity to reach a diverse, remote audience in seconds. But with so many on the market, which one do you target? Well – let your audience tell you. It’s likely they have a preference for a particular platform and are already using it. Join them where they’re already live.

3) Make your content purposeful

Your digital content is competing against thousands of other pieces of information for your audience’s attention. So before you click the ‘post’ button, ask yourself what you want to achieve with your update. Put yourself in their shoes and ask ‘What’s in it for me?’ If you’re not sure, hold fire until it’s clear in your mind.

4) Be consistent with your content

If you want your audience to trust your digital comms channel, make it a reliable, useful tool. Think about your audience’s experience – streamline your messages and make them easily accessible, ideally from one central place. Keep giving people the information they need on time and consistently, and they’ll keep coming back for more.

5) Embrace feedback

Digital content platforms make it easier than ever to collect feedback from your audience. Where possible, encourage them to interact with your content. Comments and likes will help you to find out whether your message is hitting the mark. And don’t be afraid to be direct and say: ‘Please make sure to comment below, it’s really valuable to us’. You’ll be surprised how much insight you’ll gain.

6) Keep your digital content snappy

In the past few years, mobiles have overtaken all other devices combined for internet browsing. As such, more than half of your audience will be viewing your content from a device with a small screen. If you want your message to make an impact, make it as simple as possible and get to the point fast. Nobody wants to scroll endlessly to find the information that they need. Snappy subheads work, as does numbering your lists.

For an easy model that will help busy readers build an appetite for your content, follow Leslie O’Flahavan’s ‘Bite, Snack, Meal’ approach:

  • Use your headline to give people a ‘bite’ of info. This is the essential skeleton of your message. Readers should find it useful and be left hungry for more
  • Link your ‘bite’ to the ‘snack’. This is a short summary of your content, giving your audience a full overview of your message. This is perfect for anyone who’s on-the-go
  • Link your ‘snack’ to the ‘meal’: the full article. If they have the time, your audience can read all the juicy details here. Delicious!

7) And finally…

Where appropriate, have as much fun as possible. There’s a reason why so many people love memes and parody videos as part of their daily digital content consumption. Don’t be afraid to play around and find out what your audience likes to engage with – and then be fearless in giving it a go.

What do you think?

This is our list, but what are your top ways to make digital content stand out online? Comment below to share your wisdom.