Content Writers as Newscasters

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“Your social security log-in may change,” Elaine Silverstein warns in Kiplinger Personal Finance, explaining that the change is to both simplify sign-in and make the process more secure. For social security recipients, the headline is a grabber.

According to Social Bee, a “hook” is designed to entice readers to keep reading, and might consist of:

  • a credible statistic
  • an inspiring quote
  • an open-ended question
  • a bold statement
  • a figure of speech
  • an emotional connection

At Say It For You, one way content marketers can engage readers is by keeping them up to date with news that has the potential to directly affect them. Like newspapers, business blog content writing can balance feature stories with news. When it comes to content marketing for a business or practice, readers need to know about:

  • new products and services they can now obtain through you
  • any new partners or employees you wan tot introduce
  • your recent or upcoming activities in your community
  • any changes in company (or practice) policy, procedure, or rules that might affect customers, clients, and patients.

It’s very important, I explain to newbie content writers, to present this “news” in a way that appears to be “all about them” – is this going to demand action on their part?  Will their convenience be enhanced or diminished?

 If, in fact, the new information is likely to be perceived as ‘bad news”, offer alternatives that can help readers meet their goals.  End with a goodwill statement focused on the future, Jennifer Kahnweiler, Ph,d. says.

Showing that you are keeping abreast of the latest thinking and developments in your field is the key to earning “expert power”, showing readers that you are in a good position to spot both threats and opportunities. What’s more, as content writers, we must position our practitioner and business owner clients as leaders – not only are they “up on” on the latest developments in their fields, they themselves are helping bring about positive change and growth.

For readers, content marketers serve as newscasters

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Would You Go to See “Away We Go” on Broadway?

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Can you guess the original titles of these musicals? Alex Wood asks in Theater Mania, revealing some of the names originally considered for plays that went on to become Broadway hits.  “Oklahoma”, for example, was going to be named either “Away We Go!” or “Many a New Day”. “Mame” was supposed to be called “The Great Confession”, while “West Side Story” was going to hit the theatres as “America”. Recent blockbuster “Hamilton” was conceived as “The Founding Fathers”.

“Whether you are writing a creative piece or drafting a professional document, the words you choose have a significant impact on how your message is received,” Elite Editing stresses, advising content writers to “keep titles short and sweet to maximize readability”. In fact, the authors add, studies have shown that shorter titles receive more clicks and shares on social media.  While it’s important to engage your audience with creative and clever titles, remember that brevity is key.

Focus on one main benefit or point when crafting your title, the authors emphasize. A headline too gimmicky or vague might miss the message, so the trick is to strike a balance between engaging and informative.  For SEO-conscious headlines, use relevant, high-traffic words related to the subject, they add.

In our content marketing at Say It For You, we know that keywords and phrases help search engines make the match with what your business or practice has to offer. But, once you’ve been “found”, you have to “get read”, so the engagement value becomes an important factor. Still, no clever title can substitute for well-written, relevant content that provides valuable information to readers.

Would you have gone to see “Away We Go!” or “The Great Confession” on Broadway? We’ll never know.  What all content creators do know is how very important it is to engage readers “at first sight”. 

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Made-Ya-Read Trivia in Content Marketing

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I know I’m not alone in enjoying trivia. In fact, through my work in content marketing, I’ve developed the theory that readers’ curiosity is triggered when they’re presented with “idea bytes”. In fact, when it comes to blog content, I like to say, trivia is hardly a trivial matter. There are at least four ways trivia can be used to keep content fresh:

  •  defining basic terminology
  • sparking curiosity about the subject
  • putting modern-day practices and beliefs into perspective
  • explaining why the business owner or practitioner chooses to operate in a certain way

Of course, blog content needs to be about much more than trivia tidbits. The tidbit is simply the jumping-off point for the message. Almost two years ago, in the 2023 Almanac for Farmers & City Folk, I’d come across an article, spending the next couple of blog posts suggesting ways in which different types of business or professional practices might use the trivia I found in that article.  The piece happened to be about (of all things!) antlers on deer.

  • The fact that every spring male deer grow themselves a new set of antlers might be used by a company selling fire extinguishers, water filters or dried herbs, each of which should be replaced at least once a year.
  • The fact that Chinese medicine has used antlers for thousands of years to support bone health could inspire a blog for an orthopedic medical practice – or a vitamin supplement manufacturer.
  • The fact that deer use their antlers to compete with each other for mates and territory might be mentioned in a martial arts studio’s blog.
  • Since antlers fill an ecological role (once shed, they become an important source of calcium and other minerals to a variety of small animals) those facts might be used by any company to show ways in which they are environmentally aware.

Where, other than a Farmer’s Almanac, do you find trivia? Everywhere, actually – magazines, newspapers, TV, social media sites – you name it. One of my favorite sources is MentalFloss.com. Here are just a few of their recent gems and possible content uses for each:

  • Before he became president, Abraham Lincoln was a wrestling champion. (Personal trainer? Gym? Physical therapist?)
  • Frederick Bauer invented the Pringles can. When he passed away in 2008, his ashes were buried in one. (Snack food company? Funeral home?)
  • The 100 folds in a chef’s toque are said to represent 100 ways to cook an egg. (Grocery store? Cooking school? Home meal delivery service?)
  • The mobile phone throwing world championships are held in Finland. (Phone vendor? Travel company?)

No, you can’t make ’em buy. But in online marketing, it all starts with “made-ya-look” content.

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Another and Yet Another Almanac Tidbit

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Tuesday’s Say It For You blog post centered around one information tidbit from Harris’ Farmer’s Almanac, explaining what the “sugar plums” famously mentioned in “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”. Today I’ll cite some other tidbits from the Almanac that I and fellow content marketers can put to good use in our content…

Tidbits about the history of popular products:

(Possible content writing purpose: educating readers about the history of the product the client manufactures or sells)

  1.  The origin of Rubik’s Cube
    The Rubik’s Cube, never intended as a toy, was a 3-D model used by a Hungarian professor more than fifty years ago to explain spatial relationships to design students.
  1. The origin of Post-It Notes
    A chemist at 3M Company found the slips of paper he used to mark his place in the church hymnal book would not stay put. Wondering if an adhesive previously created by a colleague (a product which had been considered useless because it was not very sticky or strong) might work on paper…  

Tidbits about company or product names:

(Possible content writing purpose: educating readers about the history of the company and choice of company name) 

  1. The sport of volleyball
    As educational director of the YMCA in Holyoke, Mass, William Morgan noticed that not al the men had the vigor and stamina needed to play basketball. He invented s sport he called “mintonette”, asking A.G. Spaulding & Bros. to develop a ball for the new sport. The game proved a hit, but one delegate was troubled by the name and suggested “volleyball”.
  2. From one code to another
    When Drexel Institute of Technology graduates Joseph Woodland and Bernard Sliver discovered a way to stock and track inventory, they filed a patent describing  “article classification through the medium of identifying patterns”. Since Woodland knew Morse Code, the new technology was named the barcode.

Tasty “almanac tidbits” help content readers who visit the website feel an “I’m-in-the-know” connection with the providers of products and services.

 

 

 

 

 

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Content Creation By –and For — Humans

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AI algorithms can produce thousands of words quickly without needing a human to do research or writing. What’s more, “most AI-generated content will be grammatically correct,” itseeze.com authors concede. AI tools are certainly cost-effective in terms of time-saving, but “there are also risks that you need to be aware of.” As a blog post content creator for so many years, I was interested in  itseeze.com’s list of specific disadvantages of using AI for blogging:

  • Inaccuracies (the more AI content generated in the public space, the more likely it is that inaccuracies will increase, as the algorithm searches its own content).
  • Plagiarism (by “stitching and combining” content, as well as “parroting’ existing content), AI tools can easily fall into plagiaris.
  • Devaluing of content (AI is capable of mimicking humans, but lacks personalization and the ability to generate new ideas).
  • Lacking in personalization (because AI relies on already existing content, it is not identifying the user’s intent and “common sense behavior”).

Wow! Talk about food for thought for us content marketers…Revisiting our own Say It For You mission statement, we note our devotion to creating content based on understanding  each client’s unique ways of doing business. Our policy of one-client-per-market is designed to avoid conflicts of interest, so that we can give our best work to each business or practice owner, based on coming to understand and then helping express their personal values and priorities.  What’s more, as per our Say It For You client agreement, all rights to the content we’ve created are assigned to the client.

As to the potential devaluing of content through using AI, in surveys, it was discovered that the main reasons people share online content is that they enjoy bringing value to others, but also as a way to define themselves to others, coschedule.com explains. In practical terms, that means adding value (not devaluing), helping business owners and practitioners express their own new and original ideas, and their “take’ on current happenings in the community they share with their target readers.

“Human writers play a crucial role in content creation. They bring creativity, emotions, and empathy that are difficult to replicate by machines. They also have the ability to understand nuances of language, context, and cultural subtexts that are often lost in machine-generated content,” aicontentfy.com  opines. “AI does not have emotions.”

At Say It For You, content creation will continue to be generated by human writers, meant for our very human readers!

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