How to Compete for the Attention of Scrollers
As a content creator, you’ve probably been to dozens of marketing meetings where someone starts the meeting by pulling out a whiteboard and saying, “Let’s think about our competition for a minute.” Typically, you would be told to look at brands doing something similar or to consider influencers talking about similar topics within your niche.
However, according to Entrepreneur contributor Anna Bredava, we often forget to consider the entire network fighting for our prospect’s attention. There are two types of internet users: those with an urgent problem to solve and those who are there to relax.
Type 1: Here to Solve a Problem
For the first type of internet user, they visit online platforms to find immediate solutions to urgent problems. For instance, a parent might search for “how to tell if your child has cavities” or “natural ways to relieve toothache.” In essence, if you’re online to resolve a problem, you’re most likely ready to take out your credit card to pay for a service or product offering a solution.
Type 2: Here to Relax
The second type of internet user is there to scroll through social media, get distracted, and take a five-minute break that would lead them down the rabbit hole of researching anything they find interesting. Such users present a valuable marketing opportunity, but content creators must understand their motives and cater to their needs.
Can You Grab the Attention of a Scroller?
While it’s hard to measure, the second group of online users potentially makes up the majority of online users. Most projects take longer to complete due to procrastination. With this in mind, content creators need to understand who they’re dealing with – these users want accessible content that provides a dopamine rush and keeps them entertained.
Therefore, when creating content for scrollers, brands should simplify the message, use attention-worthy headlines, and use bold visuals to capture their attention. Most importantly, the content should be easy to consume, provide a dopamine hit, and keep them engaged.
Types of Click Bait Content That Work as Scroll Stoppers
Here are a few types of stories that can work for content creators when seeking to grab the attention of scrollers:
1. Stories.
2. Other people’s stories.
3. Stories of people who are similar to the scroller in some way.
4. Fun facts.
5. Scandals and gossip.
6. Things that are “close to home” facts and stories about my state, city, and neighborhood.
For instance, as a business owner within the healthcare industry, you could create compelling content that shares heart-warming stories about patients who had a life-changing experience in your clinic.
Ultimately, the goal of content marketing is to build brand awareness, generate leads and conversions, and increase revenue. Therefore, it’s important to understand that catering to both Type 1 and Type 2 internet users is crucial in achieving these goals.
Summary
In conclusion, understanding the two types of internet users is quite important when seeking to compete for their attention. While Type 1 internet users come online to solve urgent problems, Type 2 internet users are there to relax, scroll, and learn something new while being entertained. To capture the attention of both types of internet users, content creators should cater to their needs and provide content that’s easy to consume, provides a dopamine rush, and keeps them engaged.
Additional Piece:
Enhancing Your Content Marketing Strategy
The power of content marketing lies in its ability to attract and retain customers by delivering high-quality content that provides value without trying to sell anything. In today’s digitally driven world, one of the biggest marketing challenges most businesses face is the abundance of competing platforms and brands.
In light of this, brands that want to rise above the competition must create compelling content that stands out and engages their target audience. A few proven tactics to enhance your content marketing strategy are:
1. Conducting in-depth audience research to understand your target audience’s motivations, goals, and needs.
2. Creating a solid content marketing plan that aligns with your business objectives, including the type of content, format, and distribution channels.
3. Focusing on creating high-quality, relevant content that provides value to your target audience.
4. Utilizing storytelling techniques to create emotional connections with your audience.
5. Incorporating visual content, such as graphics, charts, and videos, to convey complex information easily.
6. Leveraging data and analytics to gauge the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts and refine your strategy accordingly.
Conclusion
In summary, investing in a solid content marketing strategy is essential for brands looking to attract and retain customers. By understanding the two types of internet users and using proven tactics to create compelling content, businesses can rise above the competition and establish a strong brand presence in their niche.
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You’ve probably been to a dozen marketing meetings that started with someone pulling out a whiteboard and saying, “Let’s think about our competition for a minute.” I bet there were some type A personalities (maybe you?) who did their homework and downloaded a full list of brands doing something similar or influencers talking about similar topics. I’m convinced cat videos should be considered serious competition, but you guys forgot to consider that.
We remember to look at who we’re up against in our niche and forget about the rest: the entire network fighting for our prospect’s attention.
There are two types of people online.
There are two types of people online: those with an urgent problem to solve, and those who walk away hoping to forget about their urgent problems.
1. Type “Here to solve the problem”.
Urgent problems require immediate solutions: your child has a cavity, your taxes are due tomorrow, and your car has broken down. If you’re online to resolve a problem, you might want to do some research before taking action. You can search for “how to tell if your child has cavities” or “natural ways to relieve toothache.”
Usually, you are ready to take out a credit card to pay for the service/product you would offer a solution. After doing some research, you’ll likely find an ad, contact the seller, and if all goes well, make a purchase or schedule an appointment.
2. Type “Here to relax.”
The second type of people online are here to scroll, get distracted, and take that five minute break that would eventually lead them down the rabbit hole researching anything from marine biology to that. cockroach at the Met Gala.
As a content creator, you should be able to cater to both types. Your useful content is aimed at the first type of people: educate them, tell them about things they haven’t considered yet, and help them make an informed decision. But should all your content be useful?
Related: You have 8 seconds to capture the attention of a customer. This is what you should do.
Should you only create useful content?
While hard to measure, I’d say the second group makes up the majority of online users. Just think of any projects you’ve had to finish recently and consider the time you’ve wasted procrastinating vs. the time it took to complete the job. Then add up all the times you took a five-minute break and reached for your phone to pass the time.
Scrollers are a great audience to market to, but you need to understand them and their motives. They are relaxed and don’t want to do anything that requires too much effort (they are probably moving away from something that requires effort).
They want that dopamine rush, so they’re walking away if they don’t get it. They are open to new curious information, but it must be entertaining.
So once you’ve considered all of that, you’ll understand that with this audience, you’re really dealing with cat videos and Tik Toks with this audience.
Related: How to produce content that doubles the conversion rate of your sales funnel
Can you grab the attention of a scroller?
You’ve probably been to a dozen marketing meetings where someone said your content needs to “deliver value.” For a scroller, the value is easy to consume, provides that dopamine rushand keeps them entertained.
Let’s take a look at the “scroller customer journey” to understand them better.
- A scroller notices something interesting/curious/a scroll cap.
- Curiosity drives them to keep reading.
- If the content continues to fuel curiosity, the scroller sticks around and gets their dopamine hit.
- they can also learn about your product while getting a dopamine hit.
- If the product is cheap, the scroller could buy it right away (for example, install an app that costs a couple of dollars). If it’s expensive, the scroller takes a mental note and moves on.
Related: Curiosity didn’t kill the cat! How curious leaders keep their business agile.
There are a few types of stories that can work as scroll stoppers. Consider the types of them that might work for your product or service.
- Stories. Other people’s stories. Stories of people who are similar to the scroller in some way.
- Fun facts. About things scrollers care about, but generally about things everyone cares about, like home, happiness, and food.
- scandals and gossip. Yes, that is human nature.
Things that are “close to home” facts and stories about my state, city, and neighborhood. The closer he is to us, the more committed we feel.
This article would obviously lose a test against cat videos, so if you’ve made it this far and are about to search for your favorite platform, try looking at the types of scroll plugs you react to and see if they fit one of the four previous scenarios.
The next time you’re in one of those marketing meetings, think beyond the competitors in your niche and use one of these four scenarios to compete for the attention of displacers. While in leisure mode, they are quite open to making notes of future products they will buy or even taking action in the moment, like asking for something cheap or engaging differently: following you on social media, subscribing to your freebie. or bookmark the page to read more.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/why-cat-videos-are-your-number-one-marketing-competitor/452241
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