How to produce scroll-stopping content

The term ‘infobesity’, or being ‘obese’ with information, was first coined several years ago as social media apps began to flood our brains with an endless stream of content.

Our brains are adapting – or perhaps have already adapted – to this content-heavy environment by learning to filter out what we intuitively deem as unappealing or irrelevant.

From a marketer’s point of view, you have to do a lot more these days to capture the curiosity and attention of your audience. And while branded content might be at a natural advantage – due to it sitting in a publisher environment that the reader trusts – you’re still up against it to stop the scroll.

So, how do you go about creating scroll-stopping content that serves to drive home your brand messages and values?

Be clever with your headlines

Writing a catchy headline that draws readers into reading your branded content – but without resorting to clickbait – is a bit of an art and a science. OK, that might be overstating it a little, but it is true that your content lives and dies by those first few words. Here’s some suggestions of where to start:

• Clearly articulate what you’ll be covering – make it easy for people to filter what’s relevant to them and what isn’t.
• Stand out from the rest – the best headline writing straddles the line between clarity and uniqueness. Make the reader intrigued.
• Mix digits with text – the eye is naturally drawn to the juxtaposition of digits resting beside text. Odd numbers perform better – for example, ‘5 easy ways to…’
• Write a selection of headlines for a/b testing – you then have options to test and learn what resonates with your audience.

If you’re looking for inspiration, browse the web for half an hour and take note of the headlines that you’re drawn to.

Prove your value from the off

Your headline won’t count for a jot if you then fail to keep the reader’s attention. On average, eight out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only two out of 10 will read the rest.

The best way to approach any piece of content is to keep in mind that the reader is looking for reasons to stop reading and click away. It might sound somewhat negative, but people are not minded to stick with something if they don’t feel like it’s worth their time.

Value is the key here. With branded content, there can be a temptation to go early with embedding CTAs and name-dropping your brand or product for fear of readers not making it to the end. But the fact of the matter is those things don’t provide value to the reader.`

So, instead of leading with your brand or product, start with the pain points it pertains to solve. In doing so, you’re saying to your audience “we get you”.

As you introduce your solution to the pain points, try to keep it as balanced and neutral as possible. Some of the best-performing branded content campaigns we’ve run have been written with a light-touch on the brand – readers don’t want to be sold to; they want to make their own minds up.

Speculate to accumulate

We’re always open to learning and trying new things – in fact, we’ve done a lot of the experimentation work so you don’t have to.

What we’ve discovered is just how effective moving images can be in generating click-throughs to your brand site from within a static piece of branded content.

We’ve been testing animated blocks, GIF and video CTAs within articles. A consumer technology campaign where we included product GIFs next to CTA buttons in the article achieved a CTA rate x3 better than the other static variants.

Learn from the past

If you’re stuck where to start in paid media, take a look at your best-performing organic content and see what can be repurposed for the editorial environment. It’s a shortcut to success and can save time and money.

When we work with new clients, one of the first things we’ll ask for is access to this kind of data. We want to get to the bottom of what has worked well in the past, and define why. Then we get set about making it even better, by giving it added relevancy for the publisher environment it will reside in. Contact us today to see how we create and distribute inspiring, on-brand content that performs.