An average phone user picks up their device over 1500 times in a week! While these devices allow us to multitask simultaneously, they also adversely affect our attention span. It is difficult not to check out the latest notifications, updates, texts, or constantly refresh our social media feeds.
Amidst all this, brands find it harder to market their goods to audiences who do not stay longer than 10-20 seconds on a website! Thus, you will need some help with capturing their attention to ensure that they notice you.
In this post, we will discuss the many tips, tricks, and strategies to generate curiosity amongst your audience, even if they have a decreasing attention span. Read on to know more:
1. Generate Quality Content
Your marketing strategy could include anything from guest posts to how to videos. When your marketing depends on content creation, there is nothing more important than ensuring quality and reliability.
Conduct surveys and social media polls to understand the kind of content that speaks to your clients. Once the content format has been decided, hire top talent to churn out high-quality content for the said type. Finally, before publishing it across various channels, run the numbers and facts by an industry expert to ensure that there are no goof-ups.
2. Keep it Simple
There is nothing tougher than keeping things simple. In order to deliver the maximum impact, you need to convey your message in a structured form. The ideas must follow a logical flow, and there should be thought clarity in presenting this information.
Divide your content into bite-sized portions to keep your viewers and readers hooked and wanting for more. Plus, it allows you to harness the peak of their attention to your advantage. Finally, wrap everything up with a fitting conclusion that recapitulates the key points so that it continues to echo in the audience’s mind.
3. Stimulate Their Senses
It is undebatable that the end goal of reaching out to your audiences is to make a home in their mind. But how do you do that? The answer is simple – through their senses and emotions.
Your content must titillate the tastes of your audiences. Most importantly, amongst all the senses, it needs to have a visual appeal. It is a proven fact that visual content is more effective in gaining traction.
Make use of videos, infographics, and images to grab their eye and their attention. There is a better chance that viewers and readers will not only understand this content better but also retain it for longer durations. Most importantly, your time-starved audiences will appreciate having a shorter route to gain the same takeaway.
4. Explore Different Content Formats
As mentioned previously, visual content can have a lasting impact on the viewer. However, people’s content preferences may change depending on their interest and time. As a result, they would appreciate having the option to choose their preferred medium.
To begin with, you can cover the same topic in different formats. For instance, a simple video editor can help you create an explainer video about a customer pain point and how your product is the perfect solution for it. The same can then be spiced up and converted into a long-form blog post to assert your domain expertise. Finally, the key highlights of the post/video can be captured in an interesting infographic.
Now depending on the reader/viewer’s interest, preference, and availability, they have the freedom to choose the format that appeals to them the most!
5. Mix and Match Content
Now that you have the same information in different content formats, you can quilt them together to produce engaging content. As a result, you get to mix and match the various content formats to keep things fresh.
Punctuate your text with GIFs, memes, or podcasts, and include infographics in your videos or slideshows. Keep things creative and continue to experiment with the various permutations and combinations that are available. Once you start exploring these options, you will realize that every content form serves a particular function, and the right recipe could highlight and enhance your message.
6. Eliminate Distractions
Sometimes, we are the cause of the distraction that results in the audience losing interest in your content.
Does that sound unbelievable?
How many times have you abandoned a video mid-way because of the annoying ads? When was the last time you managed to read an entire piece without an annoying pop-up blocking the text?
The success of any content depends on the user experience that it offers. Hence, if your layout, interface, or strategy muddies up the user experience, you are the one contributing to their decreased attention span.
Therefore, make it a habit to step into your reader or viewer’s shoes and test your content for any distractions before it goes live.
7. Format Content for Scanners
Unfortunately, there will always be a small segment of people who will continue to breeze through your content. So why not make them count? Make it easier for the short-attention readers/viewers to skim through your content.
Offer time stamps to make your videos navigable. If necessary, pair a video with a slideshow that extracts all the vital information. For blogs and written content, make use of formatting to aid the readers strategically. Break down the wall of text into small sections, headings, and bullet points. At the same time, make the keywords bold to emphasize their importance.
Most importantly, include a TL;DR or a summary section where you mention the key takeaways of your content to make it easier for your audiences.
In Conclusion
It is no surprise that in this digital world, our attention span is wearing thin day-by-day. As a result, brands are expected to modify their approach while appealing to their audiences. They are adapting to this change by stepping into the shoes of their clients.
Organizations are attempting to accommodate busy or distracted individuals by making it easier for them to consume their content. Hence, it comes to light that short attention spans may seem like a challenge at first glance, but they are also an opportunity.
