Do you want to write engaging content? Here’s how to stimulate online growth for your business and get noticed.

What is Engaging Content?

Creating and distributing content that is relevant and valuable to your target audience is a fail-safe way to engage with them.

To write engaging content, you need to start by thinking about your customer and how your content’s message relates to your target audience. This will help to ensure that your content gets noticed.

Producing content that truly engages your audience must be impactful in a meaningful way. Therefore, to qualify, it must trigger a measurable response in people and leave a good impression of you or your company.

Always monitor the response to your content. It is not enough to simply write engaging content – you need to understand your audience’s needs and determine any key components that prove successful.

Read More: How to Get Your Content Noticed Online

Write Engaging Content

Understanding your audience’s likes and preferences can inform the topics to write about.

Begin by answering your customer’s questions. Once you’ve found some queries that you think will resonate with your audience, use them as the basis for blog posts or articles.

Discover what is trending in your industry to ensure that the information you publish is new and in-demand. Having established credibility, your potential customer will be inspired to find out more about you.

Compare Competitor Content

Competitors can help you to source content ideas. Research their websites and social media channels and take notice of anything they have that you don’t. This is also an opportunity to fill in any content gaps on your website.

Use any unanswered questions that your competitor’s customers are asking and address them on your own blog.

Are there topics that nobody is talking about in your industry? When you dare to write engaging content about what your competitors won’t, you become a thought leader in your industry.

Making Content Readable

Content on the web must be as clear as possible for visitors or they simply won’t read on. Therefore focus on making content user-friendly and ‘skimmable’ for readers who want to quickly scan and find information.

By way of example, we have set out some important points using bullet points further down the post (keep reading to find out!). These empower readers to consume copy faster and with greater understanding. When you use bullet points, you break up your content and present most the vital ideas in an easy-to-read format.

Using Visual Content

Images can add emotion to your content, making it more powerful and memorable. As such, visual content should play a role in your content marketing efforts and is integral to setting yourself apart in the digital era.

Whilst text-based content is always going to be a vital part of marketing, visual elements (such as photographs, videos, diagrams and charts) can be used to break up text and illustrate points.

Original photographs work best for adding authenticity and a personal-touch to your content, however a thoughtfully chosen (and adequately licensed) stock image is another option.

Using Video Content

Creating video content is a good idea when a story will benefit from visuals and sound. Through video, you can offer a unique, entertaining and immersive experience that helps viewers form a memorable association with your company.

There are numerous types of videos that can enhance your company – how-to videos, animated explainer videos, demonstrations, a short piece to camera or customer testimonials.

Keep your videos consistent with the overall style and ethos of your company.

They are an excellent platform for educating viewers on any issues that are important to your business and positioning yourself as a trustworthy source of vital information.

Read More: Why All Brands Need To Think About Social Video

Write Engaging Content: The Checklist

Content marketing is the creation and sharing of online material to stimulate interest in products and services. Web pages, blogs, videos and social media posts are all created and distributed to attract and retain audiences.

Therefore the best content marketing strategies are valuable, relevant and consistent, and ultimately, they drive profitable customer action. Follow our key steps to write engaging content today:

1. Create well-written, accurate and interesting content. Prioritise quality over quantity at all times.
2. Do research so that readers can learn from you. This will allow you to become a thought leader.
3. Use a catchy headline to encourage your target audience to read more and follow SEO best practice.
4. Format your posts to make them eye-catching. Some examples include using bold headers and sub headers, short paragraphs, bulleted lists and visuals to break-up text.
5. Write something original instead of quoting, paraphrasing or pulling from other sources. You are less likely to hold the reader’s attention by reusing content that they have already seen.

By following these tips on creating engaging content, you are putting yourself in the best position to attract new customers and help your business grow. If you need support to develop your marketing strategy or would like further advice about how to produce and deliver engaging content, then please get in touch.