Every time you publish content, you are competing against millions of other pieces for your audience’s attention. Therefore, if your posts are mediocre, your visitors have no reason to keep reading. If you want users to keep returning to your site and, over time, to convert into customers, you need to release outstanding content.
The following characteristics are what sets engaging content apart from regular content:
1. The Content Is Unique
You have undoubtedly heard before that content needs to be unique and interesting. Unfortunately, many marketers do not think about what this actually means and sometimes believe that as long as they have written the content themselves — in other words, the post is not copied verbatim from another source — this is sufficient.
However, consider the fact that users share around 2,460,000 pieces of content every minute on Facebook alone. You are up against heavy competition, and if you want users to pay attention to your content, you need something completely original. Rehashed information from other posts is of no value to your audience.
There are many ways to be unique, provided you get creative. Here are a couple strategies to try:
- Use your keyword research to write on a subject no one has ever tackled before. You can narrow down your ideas by typing potential title options into Google.
- Work with your personal knowledge of your business sector, basing posts around information or ideas that only your company has.
2. The Content Features Statistics That Back Up Your Points
Although your content must be original, this does not mean you should simply write from scratch without having any data to back up your claims. Statistics, especially from reputable sources, are a great way to show that you are trustworthy, which is a requirement for building a lasting relationship with your prospects.
In addition, data makes content more interesting; for instance, showing the extent to which a fact is true could be a chance to amaze readers with unexpected statistics. Plus, data can often increase the chance that prospects will take action after they have finished reading your post.
3. The Content Involves Your Readers
People love to know that they are part of something, not just a passive reader. There are a couple ways to involve your readers in your content:
- Incorporate tweets within your content.
- Respond to comments on your posts to keep the conversation flowing. If you receive very good questions, you can even base your next post around the answer.
Both of the above make it more likely that users will return to your site to read your future posts — either to look for their tweets or check if you have answered their questions.
Creating engaging content does not need to be difficult. Although it does require a certain degree of creativity, you can easily determine what your audience wants through your keyword research and interactions on your blog and social media accounts. With this information, you can captivate users and form lasting relationships that will lead to higher sales from your company.
