Packaging Content To Go From Sterile to Viral

Filed under: Blogging, Social Media

Packaging is very important when creating content for social media. Your materials are battling to grab the attention of a reader who is bombarded by lots of messages. Why do some stories take flight while others fail?

Hook- It’s key to find something to draw your audience in. A great title helps with this. Pick a title that does one of these:

• Provides a solution: Ex. Fix Your Bad Credit or Keep That Weight off For Good
• Shocks the reader: Ex. Aliens Found in New Jersey or 98% of All Men Prone to Heart Failure
• Offers value: Ex. Get a Free iPod or Become a Social Media Superstar
• Intrigues the reader: Ex. How Much Does the Average American Pay in Taxes? or Sir Walter Chevrolet Has a Secret
• Quote from your blog/article: Ex. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Franklin Roosevelt or “It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.” Muhammad Ali

Audience- Now that you’ve reeled your reader in you want to retain them. This means considering their wants and needs. Their needs will be pressing matters they have to attend to and their wants will be attractive distractions that they choose to indulge.

• Wants: What does your audience want? A busy business executive may want more time with their family. A chef may want a larger kitchen. Think about how your story might satisfy one of these wants for your audience. Tailor your content to their wants and they’ll keep reading.
• Needs: Everyone needs to have a place to live, food to eat and a job. Can your article assist your reader in fulfilling one of these needs? Finding out the needs of your audience can be accomplished by just asking them via a poll or requesting that they comment in your blog.

The “Shiny” Effect- People like things that come in attractive packages. Make your blog entry easy on the eyes.

• Avoid long blocks of text. Break your text up using bullet points, short paragraphs and lists. (Test this by sending it to a friend without warning. Twenty minutes later contact them and ask them if they read it all. If they didn’t ask why.)
• Use a funny picture, relevant video or an interesting graph. Some people are visual learners and will appreciate this.
• People love features similar to what appear in magazines online. These include Top Five Lists, Do’s and Don’ts, Daily Fun Fact, Quote of The Week and many more. Check out www.people.com for great examples of this. 

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