¿Do You Have An Audience?
Yesterday, I dared to publish one more of my little experiments in the blockchain. It was just a short form content 'article' which, not by brief, you could say it's not also very juicy. Yeah, it's more than anything pretty visual and not much to READ indeed. It was created this way on purpose.
Because in my posts, it's not enough that you just READ them from top to bottom. You will have to run the extra mile. You will have to go way beyond your comfort zone. You also will have to CLICK if you really wanna LEARN something new and useful at all. That's the way most of my posts are.
And last but not least. I wrote that short-form post yesterday, just after I have read an interesting "100-words Dating Profile Challenge" article by a friend here. That I also shared on my own blog to try increase the CTA.
And I thought to write this long-ass post today, maybe as a response to the follow-up sequel of that "100-words Challenge" by the same author. And maybe inspired by other enthralling post of other good friend of mine.
All this unusual endeavor, just to keep making you think & reflect! };)
Understanding What Makes Your Audience "Tick"
“Quality content resonates with its audience. If it doesn’t do that, it may be smart or beautiful or funny, but it ain’t quality”
Is it relevant? Is it educational? Is it entertaining and useful? ¿Does it add value?
But beware vanity metrics! Mere traffic, followers or engagement in the form of likes, upvotes and shares is nice but not good enough. You know?
Quality content should be honest, clear, and serves no hidden agendas. The audience is smart and will see right through content that pretends to be one thing but is actually a veiled attempt at generating transactions.
What our audience really cares about is what they care about, not what we care about. We have to get out of our own way and help our audience by giving them exactly what they want.
We should consider five parameters and aim to get at least three of them to fit. And these five parameters must be, uhm, erm, I dunno, maybe:
Is the content:
- Original?
- Relevant to the platform and its audience?
- Timely in terms of current issues, topics, or events?
- Optimized not just for the platform and audience itself but a call to action too?
- Is it Snackable?
"Quality content should inform, entertain and change a way of thinking. It should connect with the brain, connect with the heart and connect with the desires of your audience"
When presenting valuable content, you'll generally want to give facts and allow your readers to form their own opinions by themselves.
Taking a glance at an article's comments almost always will give you an idea of its audience.
If there are insightful, thought-provoking comments being made, then you know the content is relevant and interesting to its audience. Commenting on someone’s content is the ultimate form of engagement.
Oh! but never forget that 'engagement' isn’t just about getting people to consume our content. It should also be about what they do next as a result.
Yeah! we've already said great content is:
- Findable.
- Shareable.
- Usable.
- Readable.
- Memorable.
- Quotable.
- Actionable.
- Reportable.
- Upvotable.
Aristotle, the original master of persuasion, taught how to create the most compelling and powerful arguments in his time. And even though Aristotle lived centuries ago, his foundation in persuasion tactics remains and still are the gold standard today. So, in my opinion, the same principles that apply to writing an assertive 'quality' piece of content nowadays, all this also should apply to writing compelling blog posts on the blockchain.
I.D.E.A.
Industry-leading - Data-driven - Educational - Amusing
