There is no point in creating content if it isn’t going to convert into sales or awareness or your business. You want people to change their behaviour and do something different.
It’s really hard to get people to change their behaviour. But you can do it and you can do it effectively and subtlety in every piece of content you produce.
Everyone knows that you need a call to action, keywords and links but there are also some other ways you can ensure that your content has the best chance of increasing conversion.
I’m going to talk through each of them here. But before I start I want to remind you to start with the end in mind.
I say this a lot but before your create content then have an objective in mind. Once you have a clear sense of what you want to do in your content then it is much easier to reach that goal.
Once you have decided what you want people to do after consuming your content – buy something, follow you, like your post, click your link etc – then you can use some of the below to help you reach that goal.
1. Create loss aversion
What do I mean by loss aversion? It’s when someone gives you something then takes it away.
The example of this I always use is Disney Plus. Disney gave me a free subscription for six months. During this time my children LOVED having Disney Plus. It allowed me to get on with work during lockdown as they would happily sit and watch hours of The Lion Guard or Elena of Avalor.
It also had a lot of great content for adults as well and meant my husband watched Pretty Woman for the first time.
So after six months when they casually informed me over email I now had to pay for it I didn’t mind at all. Loss aversion is more powerful than just giving stuff away. Loss aversion is you giving them something then asking them to give that thing up.
You can create loss aversion yourself by giving people a free trial or a half price trial. Get them used to getting something and then take it away.
You can also create a sense that someone is going to lose something in the language you use. ‘If you don’t do this right now you will miss out on it!’
2. Create a sense of conformity
People like to conform. They like to think they are different but the reality is that most people like to do what everyone else does. This is totally natural and how we are built to behave. So if people see other people doing something they are more likely to do it.
Once you get to a certain number of likes and follows on social media you find it easier to get more. You reach the tipping point and it suddenly becomes much easier for other people to follow you.
People are especially likely to copy people they like and relate to so think about that with your customer testimonials. Who will your audience relate to and who will they want to copy?
3. Commit and Visualise
If you want people to do something you need to get them to commit to doing it in public. And then you need to help them visualise themselves doing it.
Visualising something is much easier if someone paints you a picture.
So use your content to paint a picture of what someone’s life will look like with your product or service. Help them visualise what that will look like when they buy it or join your group.
4. Confidence
You will be more persuasive if your content is confident and friendly.
Be happy and positive when you are creating your content, even if it’s not visual. You can tell if people are smiling even if you are just on the phone with them. You can all tell that I am smiling while writing this, righty?
Research shows that positive ,confident people have more influence over less confident and negative people EVEN IF THEY ARE WRONG.
5. Repeat
You will feel repetitive but you have to say the same thing over and over before people really hear you and understand what you are saying.
It’s hard because you feel like you are saying the same things over and over but your audience will be double screening, getting distracted and not paying as much attention to you as they should do.
So don’t be afraid of saying the same things over and over. Just like I am right now! Same things over and over and over and over…
If you can manage to think about using some of these techniques when you are creating content for your website, your social channels or ANYTHING you will find that you reach your goal more easily.
You will be writing more persuasively and getting people to change their behaviour.
Happy content creation!
If you want a copy of my book 100 PR and Content Ideas for your Business click here.
For my FREE guide 10 Steps to Writing your PR Strategy click.
And don’t forget to join my Facebook group by clicking here.