How to write content that drives customer engagement

Writing is a way of transmitting ideas, reflections, impressions and experience - Richard McMillian

Are you new to content marketing?

Want to create content that drives engagement

This post offers you simple and easy to understand content writing guidelines that will help you with your progress to becoming a master content marketer.

What makes a good content marketer?

A good content marketer is a person who is able to use written word, video or images to create content that attracts and keeps a reader attention while also convincing the reader on why he/she need your products or services.

In the world of online marketing (even outbound marketing), creating a very good content for marketing purposes wins the game and to become a master of the art of content marketing, one must have acquired the art of writing- which is not easy by the way.

How to write content that drives customer engagement

Heavy-duty Headlines: 

You first need a headline that is catchy, attractive and as a magnet easily draws your audience attention. Your content headline is the first thing that gets your audience attention and it is what decides whether they are going to click on it or not.

Your headline is that cover that judges your content. At this point,  you will be wondering how do I get my headline right? The answer to this question is your headline should contain a mixture of the desire of your audience and the benefit of your content to them. Take this as an example;

'10 ways to make money online'

The above headline easily draws any reader attention particularly the unemployed. First of all, it preyed into the audience desire- that is the thought of making money - while at the same time telling the audience that there are 10 ways to make money online; a secret to be revealed in the content that follows the headline.

Superb Introduction:

As I said earlier, your headline is that cover that judges your content, but having a good headline is only the start of the game in content creation. While your headline draws the attention, your introduction pushes your audience into reading the entire content.

The intro of your content should be a calculated communication that transits your audience into the next phase of your work - the body of the content.

Your introduction should contain the motive of giving the audience an idea of what your article offers. In other words, pinpoint your message in the introductory section and use it as a guide throughout your article while avoiding contradictions and confusing tangents.

A Superb Body: 

The body of your article is where the information dispersal really happens and in writing the body of a content one must be very careful not to bore your audience with a jam-packed body of words that scares the audience at first sight.

Your body should be well arranged and articulated to bring about easy learning and understanding to your audience. While writing your body take note of these points below;

Use Subheads to highlight your key lessons. These not only ease the comprehension but also improves the reader learning ability and memory.

Format your content for easy reading. Make use of bullet points and block notes to highlight important points. Also, reshape condense content into a short paragraph so your work doesn't look banal.

Paragraphs should transition smoothly from one to the next. Your paragraph from one concept should glide smoothly to the next by choosing the first and last words carefully beginning with the most important information.

Do not let your sentences run too long. Shorter sentences are better. When you long-wind your sentence, you create boredom and trust me your reader will not care to follow.

Use Hyperlinks (internal and outbound links)

Internal linking helps keeps your audience abreast of information and also helps in SERP

Linking your content to relevant articles that support your claim and provides more information, increases your authority and trust among your readers.

Thus it will be wise to link your contents to either previous article that you have written or someone else, podcast, videos and images that support your idea.

Avoid Tautology: 

Tautology is as an unnecessary repetition either in word or sense. Go straight to the point, avoid unnecessary repetition of words or sense which can ignite boredom.

Take for example she is reading a book and as she read the book or she has written a book of love and now she is writing another book on love.

Note the continuous reappearance of the words book, read and read, love, write and write, - repetition like this tells the reader that you lack vocabulary.

For the first example, you can rephrase it to something like this she is reading a book and as she turned the pages.

To avoid tautology, one must possess a book of synonyms - that is different words with the same meaning. Such a book will assist the writer in finding a word to substitute for another word.

Cross Check Spellings: 

Not everyone can boast of being a master in the art of spelling and thus one must be careful when writing.

Do not use words that you are not sure of and check the spelling of words when you are in doubt. To do this you need a dictionary at your side. The dictionary, however, is not just to check the meaning of words alone but also to cross check if the word in use carries the appropriate shade of meaning.

Thus the dictionary also helps us verify if the word in use is indeed justified in the sentence.

Use Precise Punctuation: 

To create a favourable impression on your audience your write-up must be correctly punctuated. Using the right punctuation at the right interval promotes clarity in your work and ease the reader's ability to grab your ideas.

Proof-read your work: 

This is the part where every writer tends to make the gravest mistakes. Confident that he has written a very sound article, the writer immediately publishes the article without giving a second thought to check if there are any errors.

Proofreading your work is the most important part of content creation. It gives you the opportunity to pick out certain errors such as missing, misleading and repeated words, typo errors and formatting mistakes that can do a lot of damage to your fine write-up.

By proof reading, you are given the opportunity to correct these errors.