Share what you know with millions of people
Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content
How do you define compelling content?
At our recent event celebrating the publication of the book "Content Rules", we posed several questions for discussion. One we asked was how to define content that is compelling. Tons of brands and people are publishing content. Most is junk. What do you consider compelling content?
Best Answer
- Recommended by:
- Doug Kessler,
- Steve Early
Compelling content is that content that initiates or improves engagement with your audience (prospects, buyers, customers, partners etc.) If your audience is not responding and engaging with you in response to your content it will be hard to make the case that it is compelling.
Carlos Hidalgo
The Annuitas Group
@cahidalgo
- Recommended by:
- Doug Kessler
I think Carlos is spot on. In the early stages your ability to measure how "compelling" your content is can be difficult. You may be educating, building trust, promoting brand recognition or expertise and striving to paint a picture of why you are different. At this stage you may not be able to measure the impact of what you are putting out there.
But as the client starts to respond and engage, it gets a little easier and you may be able to tie whether or not they take an action to determine whether or not your content is compelling. Did they go to the landing page? Did they click on an offer? Did they ask for a white paper? Always be thinking of what the content is supposed to do and then try to determine if it is actually doing it.
Compulsion is in the eye of the beholder.
What makes ME want to start reading something?
-- A title that intrigues and feels relevant to something I'm dealing with right now.
– A look that says, "This is going to be interesting."
And once I've started, what makes me continue?
– A confident, human tone of voice
– Intelligent analysis
– A great story, well told
– Served up in a way that's easy to consume
That's what compels me.
A story that keeps moving and doesn't bog down, and characters who jump off the page they appear so realistic.
A tile that caches my immediate attention and jumps it up to anticipation of what may be hidden in the actual story. A plot that keeps me interested and intrigued because it keeps moving, so the characters are brought to life and I feel like I am like I am interacting with actual people not paper puppets conjured up in the writers mind.
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
Related Activity
Compelling content is like porn. Only the reader can make that determination. However, we can make a few educated guesses as to what that kind of content can rise to that level.
Website analytics is a great place to start for that. What search terms found you website, and where did the visitors go when they got there? How and in what order did they consume information? What other digital assets can you make available for them in those areas that have the highest traffic?
Blog and newsletter subscriptions usually demonstrate someone looking to create a relationship in prep of doing business down the line, but not always. Offers for more information should be used at this point, but have a clear option along their process where they can contact directly or request a service representative contact them immediately.
White papers, case studies, testimonials, educational, review will be most searched during the research process. Renewing the chance to connect here is good. However, the offer must be enticing, like, “see a custom demo”or attend an intro class, or whatever your product's equivalence of test driving a car is.
Search terms like pricing and model numbers are going to be for those likely near the end of the sales cycle. So, content needs to address those information areas, and the goals for the calls to actions should aim to put that prospect belly to belle with a sales person.
Compelling content educate the buyer about what the smart practice is at this stage of the sales cycle. It gives the reader an informational advantage and allows her to move knowledgeably, and with minimal risk, to the next sales phase.