Twitter has changed the world. Whether you use it or not, it’s changed your life. It’s not necessarily because of the brevity of Tweets, it’s due to the fact that Twitter entertains us. All of social media is there for our entertainment, and we are so engulfed in it that we expect all information to come at us as it does via Twitter, or Facebook, or Pinterest: Visually appealing, Simple to understand, and Amusing.
We are in the process of re-vamping our website to have an online library and it’s going to be tricky because on one hand we need an excellent, extensive, in depth content side that pleases the search engines and helps us get discovered by our target market. On the other hand, we will need a very simple, straight-forward portion of the website that is very instructional based to retain the attention of our potential customers. The instructional side of the site will have “how to” & “where to” & “what not to” do sections with short outlines that are user-friendly and don’t scare people away. Intimidation is exactly what the FWC (and all government run sites) does through information overload, so we’ll simplify things through info-graphics, bulleted lists, and instructional videos. Essentially we’re taking the FWC’s website and transcribe it into short burst of information so people are more likely to be entertained by it (Tweets).
Entertainment is the key to engagement today
People have been trained to learn in very short bursts of information (Tweets) and that is what they expect out of today’s businesses, minimal thinking involved on their part. Thus making the job of the business to serve up a pre-made set of information that is useful and helpful while simultaneously entertaining our consumers. Is hunting fun? Yes. Is cleaning a gun? No. But you better believe we’ll do our best to make that gun cleaning instructional video as entertaining as possible to keep your attention.
If you have a great product or service but can’t seem to get the traction you want, analyze your presentation. How appealing is your storefront? Is your website easy to use and filled with helpful and entertaining information? Do customers know what they’re supposed to do when they get to your site? Does your sales process flow? Are your designs too cluttered? Ask yourself these questions and be honest with yourself, don’t compromise. Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes and challenge yourself to simplify everything you can, eliminate that which is unnecessary, and focus on get to the core of your message so it is crystal clear. Once you know what your message is then it’s time to engage your users by making it easy to understand, simple to get, and visually appealing.
Simple and entertaining enough for you?
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P.S. I edited this post at least a 10 times, and each time I took something away to use less words and make it easier to read simplify it. Try it with your next ad and see what happens.
