engaging content - Express Writers

#ContentWritingChat Recap: The Best Strategies for Engaging Your Audience on Social Media with Meera Sapra

December 31, 2020May 19, 2017 by Rachel Moffett

Although social media continues to change, one thing that hasn’t is how important it is for online brands to be present there. If you’re not actively using social media and engaging with your audience on those platforms, you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to grow your business. Despite how popular it is, there are still many brands who just aren’t sure how to do social media the right way. In our latest #ContentWritingChat, we talked about engaging your audience on social media and learned some really great tips! #ContentWritingChat Recap: The Best Strategies for Engaging Your Audience on Social Media with Meera Sapra Join us for #ContentWritingChat on Tuesday, May 16th at 10 AM Central Time with @meerasapra from @zoho! pic.twitter.com/9XOcp5gkrD — Express Writers (@ExpWriters) May 11, 2017 Our guest host for this week’s chat was Meera Sapra. Meera is the Product Manager over at Zoho Social and she plays a large role in the brand’s social media presence. She shared a lot of helpful advice on engaging your audience during Tuesday’s chat, so let’s dive into the recap! Q1: What does engagement on social media look like for your brand? Which metrics do you typically measure? When it comes to success on social media, brands all have different goals they’re aiming to reach. To kick off the chat, we asked everyone to share what kind of engagement their brand looks for online and which metrics are most important to them. @writingchat A1. So many ways to track engagement. We just use one simple rule: Measure what matters #ContentWritingChat — Meera Sapra (@meerasapra) May 16, 2017 As Meera said, it’s so important to measure what matters. The metrics that are most important to you might not matter so much to other brands. You may even set different goals based on the campaigns you produce. This is why it’s key to set goals for your content and create and measure with them in mind. A1: The metrics vary based on the goal of the post. It might be likes, shares, or link clicks, etc. #contentwritingchat — Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) May 16, 2017 Again, metrics can vary based on the goal of your social media post. You might be aiming for likes, shares, link clicks, or something else. It all depends! A1. Engagement = clicks, conversions from our social presence! We measure for highest-performing posts using @buffer. #ContentWritingChat — Julia McCoy ? (@JuliaEMcCoy) May 16, 2017 As Julia said, clicks and conversions are two things we always measure here at Express Writers. We want to see that social media followers are taking action by heading over to our website and making conversions (whether that be email sign-ups or sales). Buffer has been a helpful tool when it comes to measure the success of our content. @ExpWriters A1: With @FractureSaga – we’ll be monitoring engagement and referral traffic. #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/IdX7eXXRps — Jeff Reno(e) ? (@Renoe) May 16, 2017 Jenn knows the goals for his brand and he intends to monitor engagement from his audience as well as referral traffic she receives from social media. A1: Comments / Replies are the highest form of complement for engagement. Apart from that, we always like to those RTs! #ContentWritingChat — Digital Natives Cast (@DgtlNativesCast) May 16, 2017 Comments and replies are always great to measure on social media because it’s nice to see that your content gets your audience talking. Use it as an opportunity to engage with them in return and start building a relationship. A1: We measure quantitative (engagement rate, video views, lead gen) and qualitative (what are they saying?) #contentwritingchat pic.twitter.com/wXnLzN8Fwg — Sara Tetzloff (@que_sara) May 16, 2017 For Sara, she has a few different metrics she likes to keep an eye on. They include engagement rate, video views, lead generation, and she monitors what people are saying. Q2: To reach your audience, you have to be present on social media. How do you choose the platforms that are right for you? With so many social media platforms out there, it can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. It can even leave you wondering which platforms you should really be investing your time in. Here’s some advice to help you choose the ones that are worthwhile for your brand: @ExpWriters A2. Instead of spreading yourself too thin, focus your efforts on the networks that matter the most. #ContentWritingChat — Meera Sapra (@meerasapra) May 16, 2017 Meera is spot-on with her answer for this question. As she said, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Focus on the social media platforms that matter the most for your brand. That’s going to be different from what other brands are doing, so determine what’s best for you. A2: To know the demo of your audience is incredibly important. That then determines the platforms you should be using. #ContentWritingChat — Roslyn Wertheimer ? (@RE_Wertheimer) May 16, 2017 As Roslyn said, you need to know the demographics of your target audience. This will guide you in the right direction because you can figure out which platforms they’re using the most. A2 Ans is very simple, be there, where your TA is hanging out. Build a community there, be a part of their conversation. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/EZWR48AzYn — Varun Kumar ? (@DigitalVK) May 16, 2017 Varun agrees that you need to be where your target audience is hanging out online. Once you figure that out, you can begin building a community there and be part of their conversation. That’s key to engaging your audience on social media. A2: Do your homework! You need to learn where your audience hangs out + is active/engaged. Go there 🙂#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/0tWIJ6uZ3h — ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) May 16, 2017 Even Sarah agrees! It’s all about being where your audience is spending their time. A2: Where is your audience asking questions? That is where you need to be so you can answer their questions. #contentwritingchat — Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) May 16, 2017 This is another great way to look at it. Determine where your audience … Read more

Three Foolproof Strategies to Creating Engaging Content

December 31, 2020September 6, 2016 by Adam Oakley

Let’s talk about creating engaging content. Have you ever torn a page out of a book in sheer, desperate anger? I definitely haven’t. I don’t think I know anyone who has. As a writer, if I saw someone tear a page out of a book I published, it would feel like they were tearing a page out of my soul. What a silver lining it’d be to know my writing could compel someone to interact with my book by ripping apart the page and sharing their anger. My writing mattered to them. My content was enough for them to act on it. That, despite the undesirable reaction, would make all the difference. Having words powerful enough to engage the reader is a goal every content writer works toward. Crossroads of Memory Lane and Opportunity Drive Back in the day, before dial-up and “You’ve Got Mail!”, a world existed without the Internet. Farther beyond, a realm without television or movies existed for the majority of recorded human history. Books were very valuable. Compiling information onto paper for leisure, education, and communication was the cornerstone for sharing our thoughts across the distant lands we couldn’t travel to ourselves. Now, we live in a world where people can search galactic amounts of information, share their opinions with millions of people, and express their disapproval at the click of a button. More importantly, we live in a world where more content is created than is consumed. This pivotal moment in history is crucial. It’s the fundamental underpinning all strategic content writing. With more and more people creating content, the industry is becoming overstuffed and armies of content writers are springing up everyday. Grabbing a large slice of your own readership may appear to be a fool’s paradise. Or is it? When my closet is overstuffed, it’s an opportunity to throw out what I don’t need. It’s an intriguing moment, because it forces me to sit down and actually think about what I want to see in my closet every time I open it. I have to be aware of my daily priorities. And that’s what counts, isn’t it? We live in a world with billions of readers, but it’s what matters most that we’ll want in our lives everyday. Sorry, Not Sorry: It’s Not About You Anymore I was never impressed with TIME magazine’s May 2013 cover. The “ME ME ME Generation” concept is a theory that could be applied to every generation at some point. Still, there is a level of entitlement to young adults today. We are keenly aware of the options offered to us. We get to choose our celebrities and news sources, a freedom not readily available to those born before the ’80s. We don’t have to settle for a handful of cable networks and newspapers to spoon feed us the information we seek. Industry Standards Are Steadily Rising Everywhere Having so many options available, consumers are much more selective. Standards are being raised across all industries, and the dependence on monopolized profits is a tune business owners don’t get to sing very often. A higher standard doesn’t necessarily mean working harder; being smart about your approach and listening to other experts in the field is a tried and true way of propelling your own career. In fact, listening to anyone other than yourself is a fantastic idea if you want to improve. Playful sarcasm aside, this shift in the business world has been a positive one, and what’s becoming more important is our responsibility to quality. It’s our duty to improve our skills every day and learn from others; there are no shortcuts in the world of content. The Ethos of the Internet Community This shift is apparent in the world of marketing. No one gets to walk in, dressed as Don Draper, and tell you an advertisement is going to work because they say so. Today, internet marketers are expected to use statistics and structured plans of action to sell you on an idea. A prevalent theme across successful social media marketers is the rule that you should interact with your followers ten times for every post you make. People want to be acknowledged, and everyone values this connection with other people. These interactions are reciprocal in nature. Engaging with your follower is often met with an engagement in return. It’s cringeworthy to some, sure, but people often place depthless value in the number of likes a post receives or the number of followers who read their tweets. And aren’t most of us guilty of feeling the same? When you speak out, isn’t it great to be heard? This isn’t specific to the millennial generation, but it’s particular to the new world of social media networking. Now, more than ever, understanding one another is increasingly advantageous. Everyone Online is a Content Creator People may not view themselves as writers or content creators, but they love to write Facebook posts. In 2012 alone, Facebook users were publishing over 293,000 status updates every 60 seconds. That’s a lot of writing. Human beings love to share. They’ll share what’s important to them. If it makes them laugh, they may share it with you. If it solves a problem they’re researching, they may share that as well. And if it means a lot to them, they’ll definitely share it with the world. Sharing is caring, so what do people care about most? That lies at the heart of the single, most effective strategy for creating highly engaging content. Repeat After Me: Create Content That Matters I’m not asking to abandon what matters to you. I personally have a blog with content that is of the utmost importance to me, but I’ll be the first to tell you it has less traffic than a back road in the rural parts of North Dakota. However, when you want to build a loyal readership and maximize your traffic, knowing what matters to your demographic should be at the core of your content strategy. And … Read more

7 of the Hottest Headlines & How to Create Your Own

December 31, 2020May 7, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Bombarded with tons of low-quality, unremarkable stories that are constantly flooding the Internet, readers have become quite selective to their time and energy when it comes to reading blogs or content online. Whether you’re ready for it or not, they use your own headline as their first selection criterion. Just like a book is still being judged by its cover, each content piece that you produce gets evaluated by your readers in a few seconds based on its headline. 7 Headline Formulas That Will Convince Your Readers to Take Action Simply because their originality and unique, totally recognizable style should be their most valuable trademarks, writers can seldom afford the luxury of relying on existing patterns to make their content piece seem more interesting in the eyes of their readers. However, when your goal is to create magnetic headlines, you can always turn to a few foolproof formulas showing you the direction that you should follow to make more people take a glance at your article. Here are the 7 golden headline formulas that you should have in mind as soon as you decide to put pen to paper. “The Secret” to [Something]. You simply cannot go wrong with a magic keyword followed by a promise. People can’t always keep a secret, but they would definitely like to hear one every half an hour. Secrets give them the power to stand out from the crowd and prove their superiority in their circle based on a very simple principle: “knowledge is power.” When that secret actually supports one of their most ambitious goals, things get even better. Let’s consider this example: “The Secret to Losing 10 Pounds in 2 Weeks the Healthy Way.” How could you ignore this headline, when all you want to do is stop eating donuts and achieve a gorgeous beach body without getting on the treadmill? “X Ways” to [Achieve Something]. The “X ways to do something” proves once again that readers love specialists and their expert insight. They want to take the easy way out and avoid unnecessary stress or expenses by following the advice of someone who has already dealt with this challenge and knows what he’s talking about. This is why a title such as “5 Ways to Revamp Your Career Rapidly and Stress-Free” will always deliver excellent results. “Little Known” Strategies/Ideas/Methods That Will [Support a Goal]. For the same reason why we love secrets, we are also very interested in “little-known” things. Yes, we want to get the latest scoop before anyone else. We also appreciate informative content pieces allowing us to show off our knowledge in front of our friends, from time to time. “I bet you didn’t know that male ostriches roar just like lions!” Following this simple idea, it becomes obvious why headlines such as “Little-known methods to develop a profitable home-based business” can guarantee your success as a writer. Here’s the Simplest/Most Rapid/Cheapest Way to [Solve Your Problem]. It’s no secret that most of the individuals who are surfing the Internet to find the best solutions to their daily problems and challenges are looking to save time and money. These two values always end up influencing their decisions. In this context, a concise title reading “Here’s the Easiest Method to Get Hired after Your First Interview” will most convince job seekers to read the entire body copy with greater attention; after all, it holds the key to getting a nice job rapidly and hassle-free. What more could you ask for? Grow/Build/Succeed in/Have Something Desirable. Sometimes, we need an extra push to get things done. Headlines such as “Build Your Own Website and Start Selling like a Pro” or “Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden in 5 Easy Steps” act like a powerful stimulus, reminding people of their ambitions; plus they also put the reward right under their nose. In other words, it’s like telling your readers that if they want to strike gold, they’d better start digging. “X Mistakes” That Could Bury/Destroy/Compromise [Something That Means a Lot to You]. When something means the world to you, you focus your entire attention on the good and the bad that your object of desire is exposed to. This is precisely why you would also read an article highlighting risk factors, such as your own actions, which could threaten your career, relationship, health and every other aspect that you care about. Let’s face it: a title reading “10 mistakes that could instantly terminate your relationship” is automatically associated with an article that you may want to read entirely, whether you’re single and still looking for your soulmate or happily married for more than a decade. A Reinterpretation of the Classic “How to” Headline. Truth be told, “how to” headlines can be quite boring. The good news is that you can amplify their power of seduction by introducing the reward, as explained above, or through associations with individuals or groups of people who have already reached a certain target. For example, headlines like “How to Take Care of Your Skin like a Dermatologist” or “How to train like a Navy SEAL” may stimulate the curiosity of your segment of public and get them to spend some (quality) time on your page. How to Create the Ideal Headline in 5 Easy Steps When it comes to writing killer headlines, putting theory into practice doesn’t have to be a challenge. Here are the 5 key steps that you should take to come up with the perfect title for your next content piece. Identify the Needs, Demands, Problems, and Expectations of Your Audience. Get to know your audience before anything else. In this phase, proper keyword research, a good social media strategy and tools designed to help you come up with interesting blog topics, such as Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator, can simplify your mission. Brainstorm with Your Team. Your coworkers may just have what it takes to inspire your next masterpiece. By putting themselves in your readers’ shoes and relying on their empathy, they could offer … Read more

How 3 Mega-Successful Companies Use Engaging Content to Make Billions

December 31, 2020May 4, 2015 by Adam Oakley

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past decade, chances are you’re familiar with Silicon Valley’s wildly successful, technology-based startup businesses Uber, Buffer, and Airbnb. And if you have been living under a rock, welcome to a world where engaging content means billions of dollars in annual revenue for marketing savvy businesses—businesses that were a mere twinkle in their founder’s eyes just months before hitting the ever-elusive yet highly coveted billion dollar revenue mark. Yes, these three commercial venture high rollers—Uber, Buffer, and Airbnb—have a lot in common when it comes to content marketing. So what exactly do these companies have in common when it comes to content marketing? The answer to that question is quite simple—engaging content. These three multi-billion dollar businesses offer undeniable proof that engaging copy is more than just trendy buzzwords spewed forth during techy sales meetings with newbie CEOs who are barely out of diapers. Engaging content is a genuine, bonafide way for a company to gain exposure, build loyalty, and generate interest from millions of potential customers. Successful companies like Uber, Buffer, and Airbnb realize the power of engaging copywriting, and if you own or manage a business, it’s time you realized its power as well. Engaging Content: It’s More Than Just Words on a Webpage By now you’re probably thinking, “Ok, engaging content is a big deal. But what exactly is engaging content?” (Either that or you could be thinking about… “A cinnamon raisin bagel and a vanilla latte would be totally awesome right now.”) How 3 Companies Are Using Content To Kill It In Revenue But assuming you’re thinking the former, let’s take a moment to clarify the difference between content and engaging content. In other words, let’s take a moment to clarify the difference between run-of-the mill, off-target content and stellar content that engages a company’s target audience and facilitates exponential company growth. Immensely profitable companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Buffer only use content that is very engaging in their marketing campaigns, and the results are nothing short of awe-inspiring. Uber: Engaging Content Means Videos. The peer-to-peer driving company Uber uses videos as a primary source of content marketing. But we’re not talking about mundane videos of cars cruising around a city block picking up a guy in a suit who happens to need a ride to the airport. No, Uber is much too in-the-know when it comes to engaging video content to churn out something so dry and uninteresting. Instead, Uber focuses its video content on the unique and diversified people who drive for their company or who use their services as a way to get where they need to be. In one of Uber’s blogs titled, “Your Drivers. Our Partners. Their Stories.” you can watch a video that details the lives and experiences of some of Uber’s drivers. Upon watching the video, you immediately feel a sense of relatability and you gain a better understanding of how the company operates. And even though each driver mentions several times throughout the video that working for Uber is the best job they’ve ever had, it doesn’t come across as contrived or preachy. Instead, it’s done in a way that helps establish company trust and helps portray Uber as a company that listens to and cares about its employees.But the best and perhaps most engaging feature in Uber’s video is the people; the everyday citizens just like you, just like me, and just like the people who are most likely to use Uber’s services. Using real drivers instead of actors in their video helps Uber connect with their customers on a more personal level while still demonstrating the value of the service they have to offer. You get to see faces and names of real people associated with the company, and then you realize that it’s these same people who may be giving you and your toy poodle Mr. Bojangles your next ride to the dog park. You feel a sense of neighborliness, a sense of connection, and perhaps most importantly, a sense of being totally comfortable with using Uber’s service. The video’s sincere, relatable realism speaks to Uber customers, potential customers, and potential drivers alike, which is a huge factor in why the company is now worth an estimated $40 billion. Airbnb: Surprise! Print Media Isn’t Dead! And For Airbnb, It’s Actually Quite Engaging! Yes, you read that correctly. When it comes to engaging content, print media can be just as useful, worthwhile, and successful as a webpage or video. Who knew, right? Actually, Airbnb knew. The hospitality website, which connects travelers with home owners willing to rent a room in their house, recently launched their print media venture Pineapple, a magazine that caters to both Airbnb hosts and travelers. Airbnb chose the name “Pineapple” for their magazine because the fruit was a symbol of hospitality in colonial New England, and hospitality is what Airbnb is all about.But what’s so compelling about Airbnb’s first magazine addition is that it came with a simple yet poignant mission statement that tells the reader the main purpose and focus of the magazine: “to explore our fundamental values: sharing, community and belonging,” and to “inspire and motivate exploration, not just within the cities featured, but within any space a reader finds themselves.”Why is this message so important, and why does it fall under the category of engaging content? Because the primary purpose of Airbnb is to connect people who have a need for something with people who have something to offer. In other words, Airbnb’s basis for operations is human connection and bringing people closer together in the name of travel, adventure, and exploration. People who are most likely to use Airbnb’s services are those who value the importance of everything in Pineapple magazine’s mission statement—exploration, sharing, and a sense of community and belonging.You can follow Pineapple’s engaging mission statement throughout its glossy, picture-loaded pages (again, kudos to Airbnb for its use of engaging visual content) as you read articles like … Read more

12 Ways to Write Awesome, Useful, Engaging Content

December 31, 2020January 9, 2015 by Adam Oakley

From the outside, content marketing might appear simple. Great writers sneeze and create compelling blog posts, right? It’s not that hard. The reality is, however, that even the best writers in this industry have to build their skills. It’s like becoming a world-class weightlifter: you don’t just go out and do it. You work at it, for years, and you eventually get good. One of the largest challenges for writers in the content marketing industry is learning to create engaging content readers want to interact with. It’s easy enough to write meaningless fluff, but compelling material? That’s another story. Luckily, this is a learned skill and, like all learned skills, it just requires practice. 12 Tips for Crafting Audience-Friendly Content So, you want to create useful content that converts clicks into customers? You’ll need to start planning for it. Here are the steps to take: 1. Start With Curation One of the very first steps to writing useful content is learning to curate it. The more you understand what your audience likes and dislikes, the better you’ll be able to create it for them. What’s more, discovering what is hot and trending in your industry plays a crucial role in helping you understand the needs of your audience, which will make you a better writer down the road. To get started curating content, invest in a streamlined curation tool like Scoop.it. Scoop.it eliminates the manual labor from the curation process and can save you hours of searching for the right content. Remember: curating content is all about finding the best content in your industry, but you can’t stop there. Give your writing muscles a flex by adding your unique commentary or perspective on the article before posting it for your readers. 2. Poll Your Readers The next step in discovering what your audience is looking for is going directly to the source. Writing engaging content starts with answering customer questions. Before you can answer those questions, though, you have to know what they are. This is where polling your readers or searching through question-and-answer sites can be invaluable. If you’ve never polled anyone before, start with social Q&A websites such as Quora. Quora is a popular social platform chock-full of user-generated questions on nearly every topic under the sun. Once you’ve found some questions you think would resonate with your readers, turn them into blog posts. If you want to poll your readers, turn to your social profiles. If you’ve been considering writing about a particular topic or idea, ask your readers what they think of it. Is there something they’d prefer to read about? Do they have any questions for you? Figuring these things out in advance is a great way to create truly custom content for your readers. 3. Use Industry Tools For More Topic Ideas Struggling to come up with catchy blog topics? Hubspot offers a free blog topic generator that is great for idea mining and can help you get out of a creative rut. All you need to do to use the tool is insert three nouns that relate to your industry, and the blog topic generator spits out a list of ideas. As with anything, a little common sense goes a long way with selecting your topics. Not every option will apply to your industry, but the topic generator does a great job of inspiring useful content ideas and can give you a lot to work with. 4. Read Competitor Content Believe it or not, your competitors are an excellent source for content ideas. If you’re having trouble coming up with topics that will be useful for your audience, comb through the comments of a competitor blog. When you do this, you’re looking for unanswered questions that your competitor’s customers are asking. Once you’ve found them, take these unanswered questions and run with them on your blog. Want to take your competitor research a bit further? Browse through a competitor website and take note of what you see. What do they have that you don’t? Do you notice anything missing? This is your opportunity to fill in content gaps on your website and, thus, provide more useful and relevant content for your audience. 5. Pay Attention to the News Another source for locating in-demand topic ideas is news sources. Depending on your industry, news topics can come from a variety of sources. A great starting point for general news is Google News, where nearly every industry has some form of news to report. Beyond Google News, look into popular industry online magazines and other relevant publications. Reddit also contains a fair amount of news-like material, but use your best judgment with this source, since not all content is fact-checked and verified before publication. 6. Use Your Headlines as a Hook When it comes to writing engaging content, it all starts with your headline. Even if your piece is well-written, it might never reach its full potential if the headline isn’t on point. So, how exactly do you write compelling headlines that encourage your customers to read your content? Think in numbers. According to Moz, 36% of customers prefer “number” headlines over other types of headlines. Take this blog post for example, with X Tips for Useful, Engaging Content. Use numbers to create helpful advice pieces, or to showcase lists in ‘Top X’ format. Solve a problem. Offering a solution to a problem in your headline will get customers clicking to find more information. Ask a question. A surefire way to write engaging and useful content is to answer questions. In fact, 11% of readers prefer these headlines to other types. Remember: 80% of readers will never get past your headline, so it pays to make it as useful as possible. To check your headline’s strength, use a tool like AMI’s headline analyzer, which judges your headline based on its intellectual, empathetic, and spiritual word saturation. 7. Go Long When it comes to writing engaging blog posts, longer is better. Studies have shown that long posts that have at least 1500 words earn a higher ROI than shorter posts. Long blog posts also keep your audience on … Read more