How to create scroll-stopping content

Core content pieces are key to a good marketing strategy. 

One core content piece, whether that's an article, blog, podcast, YouTube video, or something else, can be used to create SO MUCH more content and really help your marketing strategy feel cohesive!

But it needs to be good.

So how can you make sure it grabs your reader's attention, keeps them reading, and prompts them to interact? 

Well, let’s break it down!

Here are my 10 top tips for making your core content piece pop!

Tip 1:  Establish the goal, the topic, and the relevance 

Before you start creating your core content piece, you need to establish your goal. 

What do you want this content to achieve? Do you want to educate, sell, showcase examples of your work, better connect with your audience, and build up your relationships? 

All of these are great examples of goals!

Once you’ve picked one, you want to establish the topic you’re going to write about and the relevance of the topic to your audience. 

For example, the goal of this blog was to educate my audience. The topic is how you write those scroll-stopping content pieces and the relevance is, that this is something I’ve had conversations with my audience about before and I offer marketing services! 

Establishing these three things helps you to plan out what you’re creating and stay on track!

Tip 2: All about that hook

The hook is arguably one of the most important parts of your content piece because it’s what will entice your audience to consume your content!

It needs to stand out and give your audience a reason to stop and find out more. 

My advice is to write the content first, then write the hook. 

Then leave it for a few days, let it sink in, and come back to it and see how you can spice it up! 

Can you make it more interesting or exciting?

Would it catch your attention? If not, it’s time to rewrite!

Tip 3: Keep it relatable 

A great way to make sure your content really speaks to whoever is consuming it is to make it relatable by attaching emotion to the piece. 

This gives your audience something to connect to.

I would recommend attaching an emotion to your content before you create it, so when you do, you have it in the back of your mind!

It’s like another mini goal- do you want your readers to feel excited, frustrated, determined, or something else as they consume your content?  

Another way to make your core content piece relatable is to use storytelling. Share things you’ve experienced (if they relate to the topic) and stories from this. You never know who has been through the same thing! 

These stories can be smaller, funny, or serious ones! 

Tip 4: Always educate 

Even if your overall goal isn’t to educate, it’s always good to slip a quick win into your content when you can. 

If you can give them some tangible advice that they can implement, whether that's a trade secret, a piece of advice you heard that helped you, your biggest tip for doing something, or even a piece of software you love, if they use it and it works, they’ll want to come back for more! 

This can help you build relationships with your audience as well as trust.

Tip 5: It’s time to get engaged

When you’re creating your content piece, always remember to keep an eye out for when you could prompt further engagement from the reader! 

Invite them to continue the conversation with you, follow you on other platforms, book a call, or share their thoughts on socials! Anything that keeps them engaging with you after they’ve finished reading the content is good! 

Bonus points if you can subtly tie in your offers.

Tip 6: Remember that people have short attention spans

When you create your content, you need to be aware that at the moment people's content consumption times aren’t that long and generally speaking, people have pretty short attention spans. 

So bring all the goods when you create, but try to get the message across quickly and concisely. 

One thing you really want to avoid is teasing them with a purpose and then not giving them what they're after.

Don’t do that thing I see a lot on Pinterest when you click on a recipe and have to read through the person's whole life story before you get to the actual recipe! It's tedious, disappointing, and will turn people off your content!

Tip 7:  Have a strong creative 

Always pair your core content piece with a strong creative! 

Anything you can do to catch someone's attention is a bonus and good imagery is a really good way to do this! Pair that with the killer hook we talked about earlier and you’re on to a winner!

This may seem like a lot to consider but you’ll find a lot of these happen naturally and you’ll also end up doing several at once. 

For example, you could make your piece more relatable by sharing a story that helped you learn something. This makes it educational, attaches emotion, makes it relatable, and includes storytelling! 

The beauty of strong core content pieces

So why is a good core content piece so important?

Like I said at the start, a good core content piece can help you create a more cohesive marketing strategy and you can use them to make your content go further through repurposing. 

However, if you do choose this route, remember that although repurposing is easier than reinventing the wheel, you might still have to pump up the tire occasionally. 

What I mean by this is that you can’t just copy and paste! 

You have to adapt the content depending on where you’re going to share it.

For example, you might have written an amazing blog, but you can't just read it word for word on your podcast. Similarly, you cant just copy and paste a paragraph from your blog and use it as a social caption. You’ll need to rewrite bits and format it so it works on the platform you’re sharing it on! 

P.s, if that sounds like too much effort or you don’t have enough time, I get it! That’s why I’ve created my Repurposing service where all you have to do is provide the core content piece and I’ll handle the rest!

If you want to find out more, just click here.