It’s often hard to keep coming up from fresh, new content every few days or every week, let alone content that actually engages your audience and boosts your traffic. So how do the truly successful blogs, pages and websites do it? With a world of ever-growing and expanding content out there on the internet, how does one compete and continue to compete on a regular basis? We’ve come up with six key types of content that has been proven to boost traffic and audience engagement on any platform.

As the popular Robbie Williams song pleads, (let me) entertain you! With the ever-increasing use of social media and viral content in this digital age, consumers are looking to be entertained. They’re looking for that next viral video or post that they can share with their friends. They’re on the hunt for something that can make them laugh or even just distract them from the harsh realities of life for a few minutes. That’s where you come in. Content that entertains an audience, ultimately makes an audience feel positive emotions. Those positive emotions are then associated with your company or brand or organisation, therefore leading the audience to no longer see the company as another faceless corporate advertiser but as someone more like them, with a sense of humour and an identity. This increases the trust within your relationship with your consumers or audience, leading to higher engagement both now and in the future.

The benefits that story-telling has on engagement is well documented, but it also matters how you tell that story. A good story structure follows this simple three step process.

1. Set-up – where the scene is set and background information given.
2. The confrontation – the protagonist comes up against an issue or adversary which they must conquer.
3. Resolution – the final, climactic scene plays out with the protagonist being the victor and finding a new sense of who they are.

So why does this all matter? It matters because if you frame your content posts around telling success stories of your current consumers experiences; of all their highs and lows and what problems they faced and how they solved them, you’ll achieve a resonance with your audience. They will relate to the story, they will place themselves in place of that person’s role within the story and connect with the message and therefore your brand on a much deeper level. The key to telling a successful case study or success story is to keep the content believable. If the story rings true to the reader, they’ll be more inclined to believe it and in the process of how they got there. Remember to include not just straight-forward success stories but those that hit bumps and hurdles along the way; those that almost or did fail for a time. The more relatable and real the story is, the more the consumer is likely to relate to the content.

Conversion content, or otherwise known as a lead magnet, is a type of content that is created with the purpose of converted the reader to take some kind of action, such as taking a free online course, purchasing a product or signing up for a mailing list. The most important aspect of writing conversion content however is exactly that, ensuring that it is written well. It’s not enough to simply mention a product or have a button for consumers to sign up to a mailing list. The content within the post needs to be persuasive and well worded in order to be considered true conversion content. Some of the best tips for writing successful conversion content include:

• Power words – use words that will evoke an emotion in your readers. Use words that paint a vivid picture of what you’re trying to convey.
• Grab their attention early – attention-spans in a digital world do not last long. Studies have shown that the average person’s attention span is just eight seconds. That’s eight seconds you have to grab the readers attention and hold on to it. A great way to do this is to include the most important information at the very start, leading down to general background information later on. This style of writing can be seen in a lot of major media publishing sites such as the Daily Mail.
• Use visual aids – visual aids can speak louder than any words could in many cases. Utilise the use of images, videos and infographics to capitalise on grabbing a consumer’s attention.
• Limit commitment – consumers are less likely to sign up for something, purchase a product or donate to a worthy cause if there is a long-term commitment involved. Giving your consumers the option to tailor their commitment length or by demonstrating the ease of using your opt-out services, you’re more likely to increase conversion engagement. For example, some non-profit organisations give donors the option to give a one-time donation or a monthly rolling donation. Similarly, Netflix states clearly on their home page that consumers can “Cancel anytime”. The use of free trials is also a very popular way to increase consumer engagement when it comes to conversation content.

The final type of content type that we recommend for boosting traffic and increasing engagement is using educational and inspirational content. While the entertaining content route allows the consumer to see an organisation as more than just a faceless company and form a relationship with that company’s brand, educational and inspirational content appeals to the consumers rational and creative mindset. Educational content has, arguably, the most benefit to the user and is therefore more likely to be saved or shared on the consumers social media pages. Educational content could include how to videos, infographics, recipes or simply facts written down in text or on an image. Inspirational content can often cross-over with success stories or case studies type content, as most inspirational content that is successful and shared involves the sharing of a success story of a celebrity or individual through which the consumer relates.

At Don’t Panic, we don’t just talk the talk – we’re busy walking the walk too. To see our work, click here, or if you’re after an attention-grabbing campaign of your own, click here.