“How to Write Engaging Content About “Boring” Subject Matter” plus 2 more

How to Write Engaging Content About “Boring” Subject Matter
10 Tips and Strategies for a Better Facebook Marketing Campaign
Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?

How to Write Engaging Content About “Boring” Subject Matter

Posted: 23 May 2016 06:00 AM PDT

This is a guest contribution from Anna Johansson.

Unfortunately, if you're an industry expert in construction, finance, software development, or other similar "dry" field, you've already been handed the short end of the content stick. Your industry is important, and the subject matter is interesting to you and other industry gurus, but it just isn't that exciting to the average web user.

Of course, this only matters if you're trying to write content that's accessible to the average reader. However, if your goal is to give your audience an "in," it's time to kick up the engagement factor. Consider the following tips for rousing interest in your topic.

1. Give It Your Best Writing

When boring topics come across your desk, especially as a freelancer, it can be tempting to do a half-hearted job because you feel only lukewarm about the subject. After all, if it's that boring, why waste your time on it? Resist this impulse. Poor writers create poor content, but a great writer can turn even the most boring topic into a compelling one.

How do good writers do it? The best content writers know how to create an unexpected angle on even the most mundane topic. They know what's out there, so they aren't repeating the same dull line. Instead, they push limits or create surprising connections. Great writers resist the expected.

Take for example, a post about installing drywall. While a weak writer will hand you a step-by-step explanation of the process and a list of necessary materials, a great content writer can turn this type of topic into an adventure. They provide readers with the needed information, but they'll also show off incredible room transformations or offer anecdotes about what we used before drywall was invented. The difference is night and day.

2. Be Helpful

This is one of the primary rules of content creation. Useful content isn't boring to the people who need it, according to the experts at HubSpot. Taxes, for example, are pretty objectively boring – but when tax season rolls around, everyone's looking for information on how to properly document deductions and contributions to their retirement funds. The same applies to people looking for tips on how to negotiate a lower medical bill or unclog their kitchen sink.

Whatever your industry, it's likely you can offer help to someone who needs it. You don't have to make your boring topic more interesting. If the blog post you write is genuinely helpful and provides an actionable answer to the person who searched for it, you've already got an audience – and they're reading with rapt attention.

3. Dumb It Down

"Boring" is a pretty broad category, and the term is often used to describe content that the average layperson doesn't understand. Maybe your industry is extremely complex, but you're trying to market your products or services to people who don't understand all the intricacies or have access to the jargon you do. Your blog is a great opportunity for you to get on their level by offering introductory insights or tidbits about the field.

If you're stuck on how to explain a complicated topic, the bloggers at web marketing firm AudienceBloom advise using a metaphor to break it down into more understandable information. People don't respond emotionally to facts and figures; they want to see how they personally relate to the information.

Find a normal occurrence to compare to your idea. One popular analogy is that "blogging is like jogging" – it takes some time to gain momentum, and it's hard to get started, but it eventually becomes second nature.

4. Dig Deeper

If you're not interested in dumbing down your content to engage a broader reader base, the alternative is to go deep. And not just in the sense that you're appealing to those with years of experience – no, this is your chance to become an expert on a highly specific topic. If you can become the smartest person around on a niche topic, you'll attract a devoted, though often small, following.

As noted before, sometimes boring is code for a lack of reader understanding, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes boring means that you're skimming the surface too lightly and it's time to go deeper. Every topic has its devotees who find even the smallest detail of a topic interesting and creating expert content is the best way to draw them to your site.

Expert content will bring the people who are thrilled by the intricacies of home plumbing fixtures or self-employment taxes to your page. There may not be a lot of them, but they love to encounter someone who knows more than they do.

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5. The Secret's in the Story

The most important thing you should take away is this: People relate to stories. Facts about your industry may be informative, but without a story to back up the information, your readers aren't going to care. And if you can offer a first person tale inflected with a little humor, all the better. Readers love to see the expert taken down a notch or otherwise humanized.

As for the story, remember the old fiction pyramid from grade school? It's time to dust it off, bring it back to life – and apply it to your blog. Here's a breakdown.

Introduction. Headlines are important. The title of your blog entry should pique the reader's interest. Then, where the beginning of a novel introduces the characters and setting, the first few lines of your blog post will reveal a problem or conflict – bonus points if you reveal that you're mired in this particular problem yourself. The reader should be curious about how you intend to solve or address the issue.
Rising action. It's time to flesh out the information you want your readers to know. Now that they have some context, provide the supporting facts, quotes, links, and charts. Don't overdo it, though. You're trying to build a case, not bore them to tears.
Climax. Here's where you propose your solution. You've laid out a case for them, and this is the pinnacle of your argument – the idea you've been getting at. Depending on your topic, this could look a few different ways. For example, explain that they should take your advice because the alternative will have negative consequences – long term plumbing problems, tax penalties, or lost income are all compelling consequences of boring issues and these will spur readers to action.
Falling action. For the most part, this is a short section both in storytelling and in blogging. Close out your argument and wrap up any loose ends. This is a good spot to mention any difficulties you encountered when acting on the solution.
Resolution. Finally, present the solution to the problem. Your reader should arrive with a sense of both relief and interest. A call-to-action is a great wrap-up. If it's an onsite blog, provide a link for where they can find more information. If you're blogging for an external publisher, a good call-to-action is a request for comments. You're opening up the discussion, allowing them to provide input and experience – as well as to ask questions or, in some cases, to contest what you're saying. That's okay, too. Discussion – even in conflict – is true engagement.

6. Go Multimedia

It's now well documented that users are more likely to stay on a page that includes pictures or video content – or the now popular infographic. Why? For many people, visual content is easier to understand than written material, especially on technical or abstract concepts. If you can show instead of tell, go with it. People would far rather watch someone explain how to unclog a toilet while also watching clips of the process than simply read a step-by-step description.

As for content that's less visual in nature, don't be afraid to get personal. You may not have a great video or diagram to explain how trading stock options works, but pair a "How To" article with a video where you talk about why you started trading options and you've got a much more compelling piece of content.

If all else fails, try a slideshow. Slideshows are less interesting than a video or even great, instructive pictures. But what slideshows offer is physical engagement. When readers have to click from slide to slide, they become participants in your post. User propelled slideshows are also a great way to walk readers through a task by suggesting that they complete each phase before they click to the next slide.

7. Enter The Quizbowl

Nobody wants to start reading a boring blog post, only to find out that they'll be quizzed, but that doesn't mean quizzes have no place in the content industry. Rather, quizzes are a great way to draw reader attention back to your content.

Create engaging, topic-related quizzes for your content by digging up interesting or obscure trivia. In a post about day trading, for example, you might offer semi-related quiz questions such as "what year was the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression?" or "who was the first female broker?" Just be sure to stick to the trivia and leave content quizzes to company trainings or other mandatory learning exercises. You don't want your content to become a chore.

8. Keep It Brief

Finally, when writing boring content, make sure to keep it brief. Readers are likely to lose interest, even when they need the information at hand. Instead of droning on for pages, cut your language to the necessities. If you can, break the topic down into its component parts and present them as separate posts. This allows readers to take a break and absorb the first segment, and can actually prevent readers from drifting away without finishing the full post.

Final Thoughts: Your Blog, Your Industry

You can try a number of other strategies to spice up content that would otherwise be boring, but across the board, the answer is the same. It comes down to publishing good writing – which means understandable, engaging, and useful writing produced by skilled content professionals. No matter what your topic, there's ample opportunity to make this happen. Just remember that no topic is a throwaway. Treat even the most boring content like its important and engaging and you'll get the best results.

Anna Johannson is a freelance writer specializing in entrepreneurship, technology, and social media trends. Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The post How to Write Engaging Content About "Boring" Subject Matter appeared first on ProBlogger.

10 Tips for a Better Facebook Marketing Campaign

With that in mind, we are going to look at ten handy tricks and strategies that will improve your Facebook marketing campaign instantly.

1. Promote a benefit, not a product

Even though your site is monetized and you are trying to sell something to your visitors, your main message must be to promote a benefit to the reader and not your product. The sales of products, services, or content will come naturally from the relationship that you build with your audience. You must let your target audience know how your product/content can help them. What problem are you solving?

Below are some examples of well-done ads and why they work.

Present and Solve a Problem

The ad above presents what the problem is very clearly. The problem? Most people are inundated with emails, so it is hard for your business email to stand out from the crowd.

The solution? They know how to help you and have a simple, 7-step formula to get you there. See how the ad offers something to the target audience that they might want?

Inside Information

The ad above talks about an in-depth report. The target audience is going to be business owners who want to promote on Instagram.

The person reading this ad knows they are going to get a report that will help them learn how to promote on Instagram better. More than likely, an email is collected in exchange for the report.

The benefit to the site visitor is a free report with information that will help his business grow. The benefit to the advertiser is converting visitors who want to download the report into email list subscribers.

I Had This Problem and Solved It

The ad above uses an interesting approach that befriends the reader. The ad simply tells the story of how Amy Porterfield's first few webinars didn't go so well, but she got better and she can help you, too.

This type of conversational tactic can work particularly well because it is so personal.

Offer a Reward

The ad above offers rewards for reviews. Basically, the "help" is via free things and all the person has to do is a simple series of reviews for businesses they've already frequented.

People love contests and rewards, so this is an excellent tactic to draw them to your site.

Make Money

Who doesn't love to make money? The Shopify ad above simply talks about the possibility of becoming a millionaire.

They then explain the description that they are an ecommerce platform. Simple, to the point, and with beautiful graphics, this ad works.

State it Simply

The ad above just states what benefit is offered. It is to the point. You can tell that the advertiser knows their course is worthwhile and that this should be enticement enough to click on their sign up link.

2. Keep it short and direct

Speaking about writing to the point, keep your posts short, direct, and on topic. According to buffersocial, posts that are 250 characters or less gets you about 60% more engagement. And, that is not just on twitter, which obviously has to be 144 characters or less, but also on Facebook.

Buzzsumo found the same results in a recent study. "Short form text posts of 50 characters get the most interaction." Short Facebook posts simply get more engagement, which makes sense because most Facebook users are highly distracted. Big blocks of text are not appealing enough to capture the reader's interest.

Likely, this is because the Internet is such a visual media, particularly today. In fact Wishpond found that photo posts get around 120% more engagement than posts without a photo. Posts with a photo album get about 180% more engagement.

3. Try "Thank You" ad

Acquiring new customer is expensive. Hence – it's important to keep existing customers happy and turn them into repeat customers if possible.

Your goal should be to build brand loyalty and increase satisfaction among your existing customers. For example, Maxwell Finn at Startup Drugz on Facebook created a video thanking new customers for their business. The video is aimed at first-time customers. Finn states that the video had the effect of turning these new customers into repeat customers.

4. Start your Facebook post with a question

The easiest to write an effective Facebook post is by starting with a question. Kissmetrics found that question posts get 100% more comments. However, they did get fewer likes and shares, so be aware of whether you want to engage on Facebook with comments or you prefer to have your post shared and liked.

Here is a simple formula to use:

Formula: Want [X]? Try [this]/Read [that guide]/Use [this app].

In addition, some question words got more traction than others. The top words that got traction?

Should
Would
Which

Below is one example of a question post.

5. Get creative with photos

As mentioned before, one study found that overall photo posts on Facebook get 120% more engagement than the average post, and photo albums actually get 180% more engagement. You should definitely make use of your photos and albums, but make sure they are beautiful, professional quality photos. They should not be blurry and should be framed properly.

One idea: You can turn photos album into a graphic article. For example this is what I did recently – I created an album filled with images from a presentation slides – a brief elaboration and relevant links were added into each photo's description.

So far, the photo album (see below) has reached more than 140,000 people, had 8,000+ clicks and 950+ page likes. This isn't bad for a $120 boost and an extra 30 minutes of work in transferring slides into images.

6. Creative use of Multi-Products Ads

Multi-product ads are exactly what they sound like. They allow a single advertiser to showcase multiple products — multiple groups of creative images and links — within a single ad.

This is an effective advertising option since users seem to respond so well to albums of photos. Even if you don't offer a product on your blog, you can showcase content with a multi-product ad and point the reader to your very best posts.

For example, Jon Loomer placed an ad asking a question: "Have you missed one of my recent blog posts?" He then used a multi-product ad to showcase some of his best posts.

7. Test out your page CTA

Your Call to Action (CTA) can make or break your ad. If your CTA isn't working, then you may just be wasting money driving traffic to your site, even targeted traffic.

Try different Call-to-Actions on your Facebook Page and track analytics within your ad manager to see which ones are working best for the conversion you're trying to achieve. Detailed info is available by going to Facebook Page > Insights > Actions on Page > Page Call to Action Clicks (sectioned to by Age and Gender, by country, by City, and by Device)

8. Try "Abandoned Cart" ad

According to the Listrak Shopping Cart Abandonment Index, more than 70% of shoppers left their online shopping cart without buying anything. Barilliance found similar results in their study of cart abandonment statistics.

You can target those who have visited the landing page of a product (or added to the cart) but did not complete the purchase using Facebook Targeting.

This type of ad is highly targeted and not general in nature. So, you might offer free shipping to those who've previously abandoned a cart, or perhaps 10% off to complete the order.

Go to: Facebook Ad Manager > Power Editor > Create Custom Audience > People visiting specific web pages but not others

But wait, that's not all. You should also install an off-site pixel for your campaign and track how many people from your "Abandoned Cart" ads complete the buying process.

Use: Power Editor > Tools > Pixels > Create Conversion > Track Custom Conversion > Purchase

9. Try "Facebook Page Admin" targeting

Page admin targeting is an excellent tool if you wish to reach out to business owners and social media managers. So, it is a great B2B marketing tool that gives you an extremely targeted audience to advertise to. If you are offering an SMM guide or tools – this is a must try.

Facebook Ad Manager > Power Editor > Create Saved Audience > Detailed Targeting > Digital Activities > Facebook Page Admins

10. Try "Upcoming Birthday" targeting

It's a known fact that highly personalized ads are much more effective than general ones. It makes sense, doesn't it? In an ever increasing impersonal world, we want to feel like someone knows us and our interests.

One way to deliver highly personalized ads to people who have not visited your site is by using the "upcoming birthday" targeting option.

Facebook Ad Manager > Power Editor > Create Saved Audience > Detailed Targeting > Demographics > Life Events > Upcoming Birthday

By Facebook's own definition:

"If you run an ad over a period of many days, it’ll be shown to people whose birthday is within one week of the day when they see the ad. For example, people with a January 1 birthday may see the ad for a week leading up to January 1. People with a January 2 birthday will see the ad for a week leading up to that day."

Startup Drugz is one success story using this method. They use the birthday option to offer a 20% discount to people who had birthdays coming up in the next 7 days. They simply said a birdie told them that the person had a birthday and here was the gift. The strategy resulted in a 2,700% ROI.

Wrapping Up

These are just some of the ways you can use Facebook ads to drive new customers to your site and turn them into loyal fans for life. Facebook ads are a fairly cost effective way to advertise your brand. The ability to target a specific audience and track the results of the ad make it a highly desirable marketing platform.

Jerry Low is a geek dad who is passionate about SEO and digital marketing. His site Web Hosting Secret Revealed (WHSR) offers helpful hosting advice and tons of smart blogging strategies.

The post 10 Tips and Strategies for a Better Facebook Marketing Campaign appeared first on ProBlogger.