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November 25, 2013 at 12:21 PM
In an online world where content is king, it’s not good enough to just have content. You must have valuable and engaging content that is highly relevant to your target audience.
What does it mean to have valuable and engaging content? This is where it may get complicated. The best way to provide value is to know what your target audience needs, then deliver content that educates and offers solutions to any problems. Notice I said educates first, solutions second.
The challenging part is that unless you capture their attention, you won’t have the opportunity to do either of these things. This is where media diversity comes into play. Earlier this year, I wrote an article called “Broaden Your Appeal & Increase Engagement with 4 Types of Content” where I emphasized Neil Fleming’s VAK/VARK model focusing on a behavioral science approach to communication. This model is a staple in learning design and development. It focuses on how each of us has different learning styles and preferences toward the way in which we want to receive information, a rule that is important when planning your communications approach, as well.
Neil Fleming’s VAK/VARK Model
v Visual –Pictures, infographics, charts and videos
v Auditory – Podcasts, radio shows and videos
v Reading – Whitepapers, blog posts and email newsletters
v Kinesthetic – Games, calculators or applications that allow interaction
We’ve all heard the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This might not be far from the truth. Did you know:
v The brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text (Sources: 3M Corporation and Zabisco)
v 40% of people will respond better to visual information than text (Source: Zabisco)
Video
Think about it: Most of us are drawn to movies and pictures. Why? They capture our attention by triggering various learning styles. Take online videos as an example. Suppose you have a video that involves images, narration and text expressions inside the clip. This type of video may activate the visual, auditory and reading learning styles. Assuming the message is compelling and relevant to the audience, it will be one of the most widely appealing forms of media. This is part of the reason that online video consumption is increasing at unprecedented levels.
