Frightful content – how to scare away your audience

Companies are finally jumping on the content marketing bandwagon, but this deluge of content has settled into a swamp of …

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Development Team

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Companies are finally jumping on the content marketing bandwagon, but this deluge of content has settled into a swamp of poorly written articles, yawnworthy videos, and infographic burial grounds. Here are four examples of content guaranteed to scare away your audience and ensure that they never return to your website.

THE BLOGGING DEAD

Is your blog a necropolis of poorly recycled content? A graveyard where bad articles are buried only to join the ranks of the undead?

With content playing an increasingly important role, it can be tempting to publish anything and everything just to fill up the white space. Your website might have ‘new’ content every day, but if it seems tired and lifeless, your readers won’t bother visiting again.

Don’t fall victim to the blogging dead. Learn how to upcycle content and breathe life into your blog.

POACHERGEIST

Sometimes your competitors come up with great ideas, and you’ll understandably want to create your own version of it. However, before jumping straight in, take a moment to truly consider the quality of the idea and who it’s really targeted towards.

If you’re creating an infographic purely because your competition published one, you need to take a step back and consider your company’s goals. If you’re looking to target prospective clients, tailor your infographic to what they’d like to learn.  If your infographic doesn’t appeal to your target audience, there’s no point in designing one even in the spirit of competition.

If you do design your own, be original. Stealing intellectual property is very bad form.

INDUSTRY ZOMBIE

So you’ve created a beautiful infographic or a funny video, and you’re really pleased with yourself.

Congratulations, but who are they for?

Many companies confuse content they want to produce with content their audience cares about. Wanting to broadcast your company’s achievements is understandable, but only broadcasting company news is boring for everyone else.

Do your clients frequently come to you with the same questions? Write an FAQ style article addressing some of them. Are you looking to target a market abroad? Make sure you consider the cross-cultural implications.

Since the point of content marketing is to produce and distribute content for your audience, use your braaaiiinnnnssss and consider their needs.

NOT ANOTHER SCARY VIDEO

People love to see who’s at the helm of a company, but a 10 minute video of your CEO droning on in monotone about her projections for the coming year isn’t going to get watched, let alone shared. Other film faux-pas include shaky footage or amateur animation. A video like this will get passed over for dancing cats every time.

Unless you work in media, nobody expects your company to be able to produce an Oscar worthy video, but before you film, create a storyline and write a script. It should be staged somewhere with plenty of light, and the footage should be steady and properly edited. If it bears any resemblance to The Blair Witch Project, it’s better left in the woods.

You can’t trick your audience, but you can treat them to interesting, well produced and engaging content.

Need help with your content strategy? Come and say hello@minttwist.com and we’ll happily discuss it over some witch’s brew tea.

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