The past year, major publishers have run the full gamut from listicles with clickbait headlines to well-researched, in-depth storytelling. Each format worked for different audiences and contexts, and as publishers repeatedly tested new types of content, they found several winning combinations.
By taking a look at the strategy behind why some of the most popular content styles of 2014 performed so well, brands can learn to leverage and utilize these formats for their own content.
The local snapshot
Whether taking the form of a list, interactive map, or article, content that focused in on a certain segment of the population, or compares and contrasts diverse segments, made up some of the most widely shared and discussed content.
Example
The New York Times created a map that represented America's palate by showing the most searched for Thanksgiving recipe in every state: Thanksgiving Recipes Googled in Every State.
Why it works
The more closely content is personally tied to the reader, the more they are invested in it, so content that is focused on a particular area or demographic has a high appeal to the people in that group. People feel one of two ways about this type of content: either they find it to be a spot-on representation of their community, or they starkly disagree with how they were perceived. In both cases, the opinion is strong and people want to share with others about either the content's accuracy or their reasons why the author didn't get it right. Moreover, content that pits different places or groups against each other further increases a person's desire to defend their loyalty to their group, as well as strikes up curiosity and conversations when people are genuinely surprised to find out how different they are from others.
How to spin it
Dig into your sales data and see if you can find any interesting trends as far as different groups of people favoring different products or services. You can also use social engagement tools and social listening to find interesting patterns in online behavior. Depending on the type of insights you discover, you can decide if a map or another type of graphic makes the most sense to present your findings.
Objections
Investing a great deal of resources into producing a piece of content aimed at only one group can seem to be less of an opportunity than something all encompassing, however sometimes when you try to cover your whole audience at once, you end up reaching no one on a deep enough level. Try out both hyperlocal content and content that compares different local segments to see which performs best.
The success formula
Whether giving tips from specific celebrities or business leaders, or rounding up the commonalities between "every great leader" or "all accomplished entrepreneurs," content that claimed to give the secret steps to success was quite popular. Just a step up from a listicle, these articles paired first-person accounts and statistics with helpful tips.
Example
Forbes turned research about how people deal with stress into tips on how to avoid it: How Successful People Squash Stress.
Why it works
People want to be successful and turn to informational and self-help content in order to better themselves. Pairing tips with people's real stories or data largely increases the credibility of the advice, giving the readers more reason to believe that the content can help them achieve their own success.
How to spin it
Make the success formula specific to your niche. Go beyond interviewing thought leaders about their backgrounds and general advice. Q&As with bright individuals don't always produce high traffic and social shares because while the person answering questions is successful, the questions and answers don't produce any concrete takeaways from which others can learn. Compile actual schedules and to-do lists that show how effective workers spend their time, describe what tools a professional in your space uses to accomplish certain tasks, or explain the story behind the numbers that show a group or company's growth. Peel away any generic and clichéd recommendations to reveal the details that make up a repeatable method other people in the field can use.
Objections
Sometimes the "steps" in posts like these are overly simplistic and not completely fleshed out. For instance, "start by setting goals," on its own has very little value and it's something that people have heard before. Giving more specific examples about the types of goals to set, tips and tricks of how to set obtainable goals or keep track of goals, or a behind-the-scenes look at a successful individual or brand's goals with the details of how they were achieved can turn advice into useful content.
The nonfiction story
While micro content may have excelled in 2014, there were also many notable long-form pieces of strong journalism. Publishers sought to put names and faces to cold facts about poverty, crime, and other important issues that are sometimes glazed over as mere statistics. The combination of detailed accounts and telling photography or data visualizations alongside careful research brought previously hidden subjects to light.
Example
Newsweek told the story of what really happens in one of the most dangerous cities of America in Murder Town USA (aka Wilmington, Delaware).
Why it works
Powerful storytelling will always be compelling. Humanizing facts makes people take interest because it allows them to relate and moves them to feel a certain way.
How to spin it
Start by asking questions about data patterns and doing research to see if you can determine the source of unique trends. This doesn't have to involve extensive reporting; one interview with a person who has a unique point of view can be all you need to tell a remarkable story.
Objections
In-depth stories are only worth the reader's time investment if the author has something interesting to share, so this format is not easy to produce consistently in every subject. It can be a risk to take the time needed to produce something on such a grand scale only for it to not to gain traction. A big piece of content like this should not be attempted unless the idea is vetted among people in your circle of influence and there is a large enough promotional strategy around it to help it take off.
The crowdsourced list
The latest trend with publishers like BuzzFeed and Huffington Post is listicle posts that round up the funniest/saddest/most absurd stories from different threads on Reddit or other forums. Editors read through a thread and select what they deem to be the 10+ best posts under that topic, and publish the list either as is or including new images and light commentary. BuzzFeed has also taken this a step further and created posts that are simply open-ended questions people can answer for the chance to be featured in a follow-up post that includes the top answers.
Example
BuzzFeed turned the Ask Reddit question "What is the most George Constanza-esque reason you broke up with someone?" into this post: The 32 Most Ridiculous Reasons Real Couples Have Broken Up.
Why it works
Like any listicle, this content is bite-sized, organized, and easy to digest. It also saves people time from reading through mediocre stories if they were to read through the entire forum thread themselves, or helps them discover this type of content in the first place if they aren't a regular Redditor or forum user. If the editor accurately picks the most interesting posts to include, the content is quite informative and/or entertaining, making it highly shareable.
How to spin it
Create your own version of the crowdsourced listicle by collecting user generated questions, testimonials, or relevant experiential stories. These tidbits can be used for a blog post or combined with visuals to make an interesting SlideShare. Whether openly asking questions on social media to increase engagement and start conversations, or sending out a survey, there are plenty of ways to get shareable information from your audience.
Objections
While creating a list of other people's responses might appear lazy, having an eye for what people will enjoy reading and taking the time to sift through endless threads and posts is still work. No, not every brand should be emulating the BuzzFeed and Huffington Post "quick content" listicle style, however disregarding it as low quality can also be a mistake. A look at any of BuzzFeed's sponsored content case studies shows that the publisher can create tremendous brand lift, especially in the millennial segment. Quality should be viewed in the eyes of the reader, and so when listicles like these are getting many thousands of views and social shares, they should be seen as inherently valuable to at least a certain group of people.
Content before format
While format is important in each of the above cases, none of these pieces would have succeeded had they not been backed with substance. Each example includes elements that make up strong content:
- Use existing resources. While each of these pieces of content was unique, they all pulled from existing content or data sources. Being creative with what's already available is a huge resource saver as well as a great way to include content and data to which people already have a connection.
- Get specific. All content is better when it's backed up with examples and stories from real people and places. Details are what bring stories to life and make them memorable.
- Appeal to emotions. Whether you want to make someone laugh, stroke their ego, or raise concern, every piece of content should be tied to a goal of making the reader feel something. People have little motivation to engage with content that hasn't altered their mood or opinion.
As you begin to slate content for 2015, keep an open mind for trying out new formats and experimenting with these styles that have proved effective. With the right combination of short and long-form content, you can reach all parts of your audience while balancing your resources.
Great post Amanda. From now I'll clear the leftover time on the microwave, I promise! :-)
Thanks.
Thanks Rubén! I found the microwave story to be the most absurd ha :)
Good article, but I would add something: successful marketing is not always a successful business. Very carefully. When the market is hostile, any idea can work against you how good you look.
Useless to take your campaign to millions of people, whether those people end up laughing at your product.
No point having a thousand daily visits on your website, if your website has a terrible copy and is not intended to sell.
Useless to invest in SEO and SEM if you don't get connected to your niche and convince you that you can help.
It is no use wanting to be groundbreaking, if no substance under high-sounding proposals.
They will not save a social network where someone inexperienced publishes first thing that comes to mind.
You will not triumph with an average blog abandoned, or where heap contents without greater internal coherence that roughly a series of keywords related ... or repeated.
And even those who do take you great and are excellent professionals, if you have a defined strategy funnel whose end is always SELL YOUR PRODUCT, you will down.
I like the success formula content. This is what people are looking for online. If you can be the resource that they find useful, you'll gain trust which could eventually turn into a lead or sale.
Great point about trust. It really does go a long way when people are in the decision making process.
Thanks for the Post!
I really like that you mentioned digging in to discover your target audience within sales data, that makes a world of sense in deciding what content you should create (beginning with the end in mind). Creating applicable content that speaks to the reader is much easier when you know who you are trying to reach!
Thank you, Amanda Gallucci, I making notes for myself :) and will definitely employ it in my approach. By the way, I am so glad you said that we should all put content before the format. With so many fancy visual formats out there, content writers often forget the initial purpose of creating it, that is to make something useful and informative for readers. While visual is great and does catch attention, content should come first, always.. if you want people to really connect with your articles.
Glad this helped, Svetlana. It's such a shame when people put effort into creating beautifully designed infographics and data visualizations that don't tell a story or explain anything particularly useful. The visual content that gets shared the most always has more to it than the creative.
Great post! More new information about content that i don't knew. Really these new formats of content are good. I will try to use it in the future. The impactly content is a bomb!
I agree!
Thanks for providing ideas to create useful and interesting content. Content is playing the main role in digital marketing. Personally i always try to create unique and interesting content in slideshare, vimeo, dailymotion and feedback is quite satisfying. I basically give priority to visual content now a day.
I use sites like wonderhowto to syndicate that content and i get more visitor than the main posting site. Your post is a guidelines for those Back dated SEO who still going with traditional blgo post (between 250 -500 words) and articles (500-800 words). This may change their life if they read the post and follow the tips.
I love what you said about content before format. Part of my job is content creation, and I can't count the number of times I get asked to make an infographic for a topic that should be covered in a blog post or vice versa. Finding the right format to deliver your content can be key to its success.
I thought this was a great line: "The more closely content is personally tied to the reader, the more they are invested in it…"
Nice post!! Its a perfect guide for the content formation.
Brillant post Amanda. Each idea evoked deserves attention to weigh the pros and cons.
Thanks @amanda!
Great article.
Wonderful article! Great advice for all of us to keep content engaging. I can absolutely agree that if readers do not feel emotionally engaged with the information or invested in the topic they are unlikely to keep reading or act on the information. This can be a struggle in some industries, which is exactly why we offer content writing services [link removed] to our clients. Your article is great motivation to keep looking for ways to appeal to communities and individuals and offers strong, specific strategies for doing so.
Fantastic article, Amanda! Crowdsourcing is such a great way to gather insightful information. It's advantageous in three ways because you can: 1) Connect with industry experts by asking if you can quote them in an article 2) Reach out to your digital marketing peers to further bond with them and display their expertise 3) Shine a spotlight on clients by asking them to share best practices and experiences.
One of my favorite ways to create content is by establishing a live blog while at conferences. I did this at a recent Social Fresh West conference (here's the example: https://www.organikseo.com/blog/live-conference-blog-socialfresh-west-2014/) and have found this tactic is beneficial because you're sharing knowledge with people who can't attend. The key is to make the content read like an article. We also only recap the sessions that lend themselves to readable content. It's nice for both our team and attendees to have something to review at the day's end. Then, of course, it's much easier to create a recap article of the best tips from the live blog.
Thanks again! I added this post to my team's 'think tank' Google+ group to help inspire our 2015 content strategy!
Many useful information for me. tks
Great post. Thanks!
I was suspicious at first of the listicle created from reddit threads because that kind of seems like cheating. But, I guess since the writer is choosing the best ones and putting them together, that is curating the content and that is something helpful for me and probably many others who don't want to wade through all the not-so-interesting stuff!
Thanks, Qasim! Completely agree it's not the most original approach, but it's a hack way of helping people discover already great content. Plus, like I mentioned, there are a ton of applications you can use this for beyond Reddit. Curating any kind of user generated content can be beneficial for users and publishers alike.
The crowd outsourced list is the best one :) I find the 'tendency to get viral' for humorous post higher than most of the strategies. Buzzfeed's secret sauce to drive outrageous amount of traffic and popularity is based on it, if you have observed URL of their posts you know how they are amazingly gathering CTR on their posts.
I love the URL testing BuzzFeed is doing. All those little details really do add up to improve CTR.
Great article! I agree with your insights about "Contents Before Format" [link removed] and found other information that I didn't know till now. I am always open-minded when it comes to changes and this definitely is one of them. Thanks!
Thanks for the content ideas! These are applicable for many niches.
ohh...this is helpfull me, thank's a lot amanda, you're beautiful and smart girl. i like you're post