Brief & To the Point
CBS News discovered that the average page-view time on the web is only 33 SECONDS. If you are not brief and to the point, you lose your audience. Can you read a 500-word page in 33 seconds? Probably not. Most people don't read everything, instead they skim. They read headlines, first paragraphs,
- bullet points
and bold, italic & colored key words.
So read your bullet points and key words after writing a blog. Or ask a colleague to read it over and see if he/she understands the message from bullet points and bold text alone.
Utilize Relevant Images & Videos
A picture is worth a thousand words. Literally. For example, on the right is a website that FiG designed. On our portfolio page, we have both the screen shot of the website and a one paragraph description. Instead of wasting 500 words describing the awesome job we did on this project, it's better to let the picture speak for itself.
Videos-- relevant, meaningful, and creative videos effectively increase your audience time spent reading. We noticed that our "Ad of the month" articles usually keep people on the site longer. The one in our last E-Newsletter is a great examples, and it had a very low bounce rate.
Use Tables, Charts, and Graphs
We all know that tables, charts, and graphs make better presentations but tend to forget about them when writing blogs or articles. They can save you hundreds of words, and provide a clear visual communication for your readers. If you disagree, read this market research article on Denver's business social media usage and let me know whether you really read every number in it.
Did you find it useful?
Yes, the last tip was designed to generate user feedback. Interactive conversations are always better than monologues, not only on social media, but everywhere. However, don't ignore the comments once you hear them, and don't bother your audience with too many questions.
In order to make marketing efforts effective, marketers need to develop clear messaging to generate attention from their audience or deliver solutions to their problems. Unless people know what your brand is all about, it's very difficult for them to make a clear decision whether or not to purchase your product or service.