How to Ensure Your Content Survives Short Attention Spans

Our attention span has fallen to a mere 8 seconds, shorter than that of a goldfish. With mobile devices and using multiple screens during our day, our attention is easily taken from one item to another. So, how do you make sure your content keeps their attention until the very end?

The first item to consider is the relevancy of your content. When you come up with an idea, before you go into planning mode ask yourself if it’s timely or relevant. For example the “Holiday 2016” season has come and gone, so to talk about it at this point wouldn’t be timely. Either you’re late, or it looks like you forgot to change 2016 to 2017. In which case, you’re early and have an error in your content. This also plays into if your post is considered compound or decaying. Compound posts have more “lasting power,” meaning they will have relevancy regardless of the post date, whereas decaying posts are just as they sound–they lose their value and relevancy after a while.

The second item for consideration is how well you know your audience. Generally speaking, if your audience looks to you for advice on home repairs, the chances of them looking to you for makeup advice would be slim. Irrelevant content then increases the chances of your reader abandoning your website, forgetting about you and moving on to someone with content they need. With this in mind, businesses need to realize that bad writing or content causes inefficiency, business loss, and productivity loss. What does that mean for you and your business? The potential loss of leads and renewed or new business, all due to bad or irrelevant content.

The third item for consideration is using the method of mixed content. Mixed content helps draw, and keep, a reader’s attention. Mixed content simply means a mix of text and visual content. Long form articles or blog posts can work well when mixed with video or graphics. They work well especially when keeping your readers in mind. If you primarily see traffic during business hours, your readers are at work. They only have a few minutes to read and retain information before it’s time for them to get back to their work. If you’re able to make your point with a short video or graphics, that’s great. Adding text content will only increase the chances of them remembering what they looked at. This increases the chance of bringing them back to you.

Validating your idea before putting extra work into it is also key. Have you written about the topic recently? How does it relate to your audience? An idea that you should also consider is asking your audience what they want to read. Posing the question with possible suggestions on your social media channels will give your customers the opportunity to voice their opinion and lets you know what they want. Not only does this give you the opportunity to validate a few ideas, but it also gives your customers and readers the feeling that their opinion matters. It’s a win-win for everyone, really.

Taking on all of this yourself can be daunting and intimidating; we’re here to help you and your business! Let our team take something off your plate so you don’t become consumed by it all. To hear how we can make this happen for you, contact us today!