At a time when practices of web content creation go through successive phases of differentiation, depending on the trends that arise, the tactics of scandalous and “catchy” titles, commonly known as “clickbait” has never been abandoned. Although the general vibe is that the public is now tired of this tactic, the truth is that human psychology is prone to manipulation and all the author wants of an article is to activate the reader’s curiosity so that they click on the link, increasing the impressions.
There is a whole school of thought behind the creation of clickbait titles in articles, advertisements, videos and all kinds of content on the internet, and one can distinguish some common methods and practices:
Regardless of these basic practices, someone can distinguish between different kinds of authors, depending on their end goal: on the one hand we have the author who is not interested in the logical consistency between the title and the content. In this case, the former has absolutely nothing to do with the latter. On the other hand, we have the author who wants to attract the attention of the public in an intelligent way, and he sincerely wants to lead readers to quality content that is worthwhile and – most importantly – values their time.
The opportunistic and frivolous tactic of luring the readers to distract them and gain a quick click is not so smart after all. On the contrary, it may provoke a negative message and anger, and in some cases it can lead people to such a point that they want to report the user on the content platform, something that may have unpleasant consequences, such as restrictions or even termination of our account on a particular social media platform.
The mentality that permeates our communication team can be ascertained by the way we adopt such frivolous opportunistic practices. After all, a customer who wants to protect the prestige of his brand, probably would not want to link it to such practices, because more importantly he prefers the return on his investment, to the communication services we offer, to the creation of trust between their brand and the public, the proliferation of loyal followers in the channels of our corporate social media, people who will buy our customer’s products and services.
The bitter truth is that, at a time when search and ranking algorithms force us to modify our SEO tactics, we don’t have the luxury of not employing witty and catchy titles at the beginning of each communication. Hence, the issue lies in what way we will incorporate these practices in a positive and “ethical” light, so that:
One final tip is to know the nature of our audience and to adjust the tone, variety and frequency of our communications accordingly, for our new content pieces, in order to maximize the impact on our target group. We need to learn and develop our judgement, where and when a more intimate approach is appropriate, e.g. on a blog, a social media post or a newsletter, or whether we should be more formal and precise when addressing professionals and business partners, and we want to promote prestigious content, such as a research, a scientific paper or a case study.
Do you wonder how you can develop a communication plan with imaginative and intelligent features, but not to the extent that your audience will become tired? We will be glad to discuss it with you, and formulate a strategy that will leverage the proper practices, to increase your visibility and augment your customer base!