The Two Essential Elements of Irresistible Content

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Recently, over at our new Copyblogger Facebook page, I asked a question:

What’s your biggest challenge when creating compelling online content?

I didn’t treat it as a poll with various challenges. I wanted pure unfiltered responses.

And the number one answer was:

Keeping it original and interesting.

So let’s talk about that today.

Meaning + Fascination

The two elements that lead to reader engagement, that fantastic social media sharing, and the “gotta have it now” impulse are meaning and fascination. But you knew that from the subhead.

Let’s unpack each a bit.

Meaning: This is the informational aspect of your content that your regular readers, listeners, or viewers look to you for. This is also a topic that matters to the prospective audience you’re trying to reach though social media sharing.

Another way to think of this important aspect of your content is relevance. Content must be highly relevant to your existing and prospective audience, but I prefer meaning, as it implies an extra level of value that makes people treasure you.

Fascination: The fascinating element of your content is where your creativity shines. It’s the fun, shocking, or entertaining aspect of your content that makes people pay attention and share with their friends and colleagues.

Often you’re using an analogy, metaphor, or simile to make an associated connection between something cool and an important topic that might otherwise be pretty boring. Not only does this attract and hold attention, it also aids in comprehension and retention for your audience, which in turn increases your subject-matter authority with them (because they actually learned something).

Examples from Copyblogger (meaning in italics, fascination in bold):

5 Things Depeche Mode Can Teach You About Effective Online Marketing

With this article, the meaning is expressed by promising to share information about effective online marketing. The fascination is the pop culture reference to Depeche Mode, which will intrigue fans of the band, or at least prompt curiosity from those wondering how the hell I’m going to make this analogy work.

How I Became a Better Writer Thanks to Distracted, Hungover College Kids

Rather than a pop culture reference, this article took a different but still highly improbable source of fascination to deliver the meaning readers of Copyblogger seek – how to write better.

5 Things a Bad Dog Can Teach You About Writing Good Copy

This post ran yesterday. It was pretty easy to spot the meaningful and fascinating elements, right?

(Don’t Fear) Fascination

Many people, especially in professional services or conservative industries, are afraid to go out on a limb and throw in that fascinating aspect. I’d argue that these are the types who have the most to gain from breaking out of stodgy convention and shaking that moneymaker a bit.

Pop culture is an easy source of fascination. But you can get a lot of mileage out of industry inside jokes and references that are completely obscure to outsiders. Remember, you don’t care what anyone else thinks other than your target audience.

And from post to post, you may only bond strongly with a small segment of the people you talk to. One article speaks strongly to some, the next to others.

The point is to bond strongly with someone rather than boring everyone.

Bonus points if you got that the subhead for this section is a terribly clever Blue Öyster Cult and Human League reference: (Don’t Fear) the Reaper + (Keep Feeling) Fascination.

Also, if you have to explain your terribly clever reference, it’s too obscure. Clarity matters more, no matter how cool the author thinks it is.

Ultra-Meaning Can be Fascinating

It’s true that you can intrigue people with an overwhelming amount of relevant meaning, to the point that it becomes fascinating in and of itself. This is the realm of list and how-to articles that go viral on sheer value alone.

The key to this type of engaging content is specificity. The more specific the value you promise and provide, the more fascinating people deem it.

Check out these recent examples:

Hopefully you feel the same way about this article.

Yep, This is Also How You Write Great Headlines

In each example I’ve given, you can spot the intersection of meaning and fascination from the headline alone. That’s why meaning + fascination = the secret to engaging content and great headlines.

Remember, the title of your article is simply a compelling promise of what your content offers. When I say write your headline first, I mean come up with an intersection of meaning and fascination, reduce it to a working title, then deliver on the promise by crafting the content.

If you find you can’t deliver on the promise (for example, What Mark Zuckerberg Can Teach Your About Empathy just doesn’t work for some reason), you’ve got to scrap that idea and find another.

Don’t strain to make a bad analogy work; simply look for another pairing of meaning and fascination – they’re everywhere once you understand what you’re looking for.

Go Deeper Into Meaning and Fascination

Are there deeper aspects to identifying meaningful topics and tie-ins that are fascinating? Absolutely.

I recently did a webinar with ace copywriter Jeff Sexton called Magnetic Headlines Intensive. During the presentation, we reveal:

13 questions for truly understanding your audience
10 aspects of relevant meaning at a psychological level
7 forms of fascination that trigger desire and engagement
How to smartly combine meaning and fascination (examples)
The essential headline element your English teacher forbids

How do you get this webinar?

You get instant access to Magnetic Headlines Intensive (with included manual and slide deck) plus The Premise Guide to Effective Copywriting (73-minute audio seminar and 23-page PDF manual) when you try out our new Premise Landing Page System for WordPress.

I watched the Magnetic Headlines video before I even installed Premise, and it may end up being worth the price of the whole thing for me. ~Susanna Perkins

Check out everything Premise delivers here.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Brian on Twitter.