How to Create Relevant and Exciting Content in 2024

Online communication and relevance go together like salt and pepper. When they’re in balance, they can really improve your dish, but it’s crucial to get the ratio right. In this article, we’ll go over quick tips on creating more engaging and relevant content.

If you’re interested in booking a holiday in the sun, then you won’t want to be ‘bothered’ with offers for city trips. And vegetarians are seldom thrilled with special offers from the butcher. If you want to build customer loyalty, you’ll need to pursue relevance. Right?

In fact, things are not quite that simple. Clearly, relevance is a key aspect when it comes to creating online content. In general, the idea is to adjust your content to your reader’s profile or to other known indicators. Carpenters get tips on carpentry, and butchers get information and news about the meat industry. But relevance works even better if you ‘play around’ with it. You can do so by fishing around for topics that might be of interest to your target group alongside your main topic. It’s like adding a pinch of paprika to accent the other spices in a dish… the results can be surprising!

1. Understand your target group’s interests

Let’s say you’re creating a digital magazine. The linear flow of the magazine encourages readers to instinctively discover more and more new content. You can surprise your readers by having them ‘browse’ from topic to topic, where they’ll find special items and interesting angles. Without even noticing it, they’ll spend more time on your story, brand or message if you present them with content that is of interest to them, but that they were not necessarily looking for.

So make sure you know your target audience and how you can surprise them. Butchers will generally not be interested in carpentry tips, but they are often open to suggestions about wine pairings or tasty vegetable recipes. The same goes for consumers in general. Women who are interested in hair and skin care will often enjoy reading fashion tips or learning about an upcoming event.

2. Create a persona for your content

The combination of relevance and the element of surprise are all well and good, of course, but how does it work? Creating a persona is a practical way to find out how you can keep surprising your target audience with relevant content. A persona is a fictitious representative of your target audience and their interests.

3. Your target audience will come to life with a persona

You create a persona by brainstorming with a few individuals who know your audience well, or, even better, by using available data. Give your persona a name and assign him some characteristics. What are his or her favorite brands? Where does he like to go on holiday? What are his likes and dislikes? Write down all of your persona’s characteristics with as much detail as possible, and your target audience will come to life. Whenever your editorial staff suggest a new topic, you should then give some thought to how David, Genevieve or Peter might respond. If it doesn’t fit the persona, then you can reject the topic. This way, you can keep the topics that have real potential, but that your target audience is not necessarily looking for.

4. Create relevant & surprising content

You can use the topics you discover to create a smart editorial formula. This will be the basis for the content that your target audience will find both relevant and surprising. The statistics will rapidly tell you whether your readers really are only interested in a long, lazy holiday in the sun, or that they might also enjoy a city trip to a sunny destination. Take note of the exit rates from your pages. If a lot of users exit from a specific page, then you’ll know something is not quite right.

Creating relevant and exciting content is often a matter of testing, experimenting, and occasionally getting things wrong. You’ll notice soon enough whether a butcher who sometimes adds tasty recipes for meat substitutes to his content actually manages to surprise his vegetarian readers.

5. Choose the right format for your content

After you’ve learned everything there is to know about your target group, you know what content they like to consume and you’re willing to spend time and resources creating quality content on a weekly base, don’t put your content in a boring format.

Don’t just create written text content. Add visuals, videos, animations, infographics, etc. to the mix.

Want to create a Brochure? don’t use PDFs. PDFs are boring, non-responsive, and you don’t get the data you need to optimize your next piece of content.

FAQ

What are the key elements of exciting content?
Exciting content often includes engaging storytelling, a unique perspective, relevant and timely information, interactive elements, and a strong, captivating opening.

How can storytelling enhance content excitement?
Storytelling draws readers in by weaving facts and information into a narrative, making the content more relatable, memorable, and engaging.

What role does audience understanding play in creating exciting content?
Knowing your audience allows you to tailor content to their interests, challenges, and preferences, making it more exciting and relevant to them.

How can visual elements make content more exciting?
Incorporating visuals like images, videos, infographics, and animations can break up text, illustrate points, and add an engaging, dynamic layer to content. You can use AI Tools like an AI Text to Image Generator or even a Text to Video Generator to help you out.

What is the importance of a strong headline in exciting content?
A strong, compelling headline grabs attention, creates intrigue, and sets the tone, encouraging readers to engage with the rest of the content.

Can humor be effectively used in exciting content?
Yes, when appropriate, humor can make content more enjoyable and memorable, but it should be used sensitively and suitably for the audience and topic.

How do real-life examples and case studies contribute to content excitement?
Real-life examples and case studies add authenticity, provide practical insights, and help the audience relate the content to their own experiences.

What impact does content format have on its excitement level?
The format, whether it’s a listicle, how-to guide, Q&A, or interactive quiz, can greatly impact engagement and excitement by catering to different reader preferences.

How can asking questions within content create excitement?
Asking questions can stimulate curiosity, provoke thought, and encourage reader interaction, making the content more engaging and dynamic.

What are the benefits of keeping content concise and to the point?
Concise content respects the reader’s time, keeps their attention focused, and delivers value quickly, which can be more impactful and exciting than overly long or dense material.

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Author bio

Ritesh is a digital marketing manager with years of experience in driving growth. He’s currently the director of inbound marketing at Foleon. You can find more about him on his LinkedIn profile.