Unique visitors. Page views. Time-On Site. Bounce rates. There is a growing number of metrics that publishers and brands utilize to determine the success of their campaigns. While those numbers are crucial to success, they are only available if readers and customers actually make the decision to click-through on a headline to engage with the content they have discovered.
A Simple Trick For Better Headline Engagement
Immediately engage with your customer by creating a sense of personal buy-in. Certain trigger words can change the entire tone of the article on a personal level.
Example Of A Standard Headline: This Digital Marketer Unlocked A Simple Secret To Increasing Engagement By 300%
An Improved Headline: A Digital Marketer Unlocked A Simple Secret To Increasing Engagement By 300%
A single word change can make all the difference when attempting to earn buy-in from readers. The word “This” places the emphasis on a single instance of one “digital marketer.”
However, changing the word to “A” gives the sense that a similar incident could benefit anyone who is a digital marketer.
Audience Referencing And Why It Works
When you reference your audience in a headline they immediately feel like you are talking directly to them. In our original example “This” referred to a single person. When we changed “This” to “A” we targeted all digital marketers.
There are certainly more forceful examples of audience referencing. Trigger words such as “Your” and terms such as “You won’t believe” target a broad audience by speaking directly to their own sense of self.
The Headline For This Article
Our Headline: This Simple Trick Will Get Your Customers To Engage With Your Content
Sorry to get a little bit meta on you, but our title was built on the principle of audience referencing. In fact, we used it twice.
“Your Customers” refers directly to your need to attract readers, email signups, buyers, etc.
“Your Content” references your desire to build content that will engage.
Audience referencing comes in a lot of forms. If you target athletes who are attempting to improve their game, you might talk about how “professional golfers can teach you a lot about eliminating your slice.” The term “golfers” in itself, references anyone who plays golf.
Renowned copywriter Mel Martin was famous for his audience referencing, he would write headlines such as: “For golfers who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their game — and can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong”
He didn’t use a direct “You,” “Your” or another similar statement, but blanketed his headlines with terms that would target a very specific demographic, in this case, golfers.
One of the main reasons articles are shared is because readers want to provide thought leadership that adds value for their followers. If your articles have titles that add value and they provide audience referencing, your likelihood of success is vastly improved.
