How to Create Engaging Content that gets your Audience to take Action

Today I’m sharing a video that I recorded several years ago while in snowy Toronto attending a Mastermind with one of my business mentors, Stu McLaren. It’s a summary of the important steps to creating content that actually gets your audience to take action.  Not just “oh, that’s interesting” but then they move right on by and forget all about you.

Before the pandemic I used to regularly attend conferences and business events in Canada and the USA and I always like to bring back practical tips and strategies to share with the members of my community – and this is really a relevant reminder that I thought would be useful for all of you when you come to creating content.

It can be all too easy to fall into the trap of looking for the NEW shiny strategy, but because I have been running my business for over 12 years there are not a lot of genuinely new things I learn these days –  instead I tend to hear the same information in different ways depending on where I’m at in my business.

Often what I get is a reminder of something I learned previously that I was not ready to implement at the time I first heard it.
Or a reminder of something that I already know but that I really could be doing better.  This video is about one of those!

And since it was such a useful reminder to me I decided to share with you too:

How to Create Engaging Content that gets your Audience to take Action

So here is a 5 Step reminder of how to create content designed to get your audience to take action.

(In the context of this article your content could be a video, a blog post, a social media post, a FB Live or Instagram Reel, or a podcast episode).

1. Have a Catchy, Compelling Hook

This is your Headline or Title.  Unless someone is a “super-fan” who will consume absolutely anything you put out, you need to be capturing your audience’s attention with a compelling headline, and hooking them in so they actively want to hear what you have to share.

The title of this video & blog is a an example of compelling hook – because it did, didn’t it?

2. Tell a Story

Stories engage people’s attention on a deeper emotional level than when you just share information alone.  So if you can, start by telling a story.  This could be your own story (with this video I started by telling you about my Mastermind, and showed you where it took place).  Or it could be a story about a client or someone else you know.   When you bring your teaching to life with a story it’s more likely that people will engage with and also remember what you have taught.  The more specific the details in the story are, the more effective it will be.

3. Share a Lesson or Teaching points (Max 3)

Your aim is to share between 1-3 pieces of teaching content maximum.  So 1 key lesson or 3 pieces of content. If you share too much you’ll find people don’t take any of it in.  It’s true that if you want to have an impact then less is usually more.

4. Summarise

Once you have taught your content, go back and summarise what you’ve just told them. This will embed the teaching you have just taught and it gives your audience time to absorb what they have heard.  Remember this marketing catchphrase that’s been around a long time:

“Tell ’em what you’re going to tell them.   Tell them.  Then tell them what you’ve just told them”.

5. Call to Action

Make sure you finish by telling your audience exactly what you want them to do next and be very specific about it.   Most of the time the action you want people to take will be to sign up for your Free Giveaway.   But you could have other calls to action like to sign up for a webinar, join your Facebook Group or book in for a Discovery call.  Or even just to share it or Like or comment if they find it useful.

Make sure the summary comes before the Call to Action so that there is nothing distracting them from taking that action at the very end!

So get creating that compelling content and thoroughly enjoy sharing your stories and your expertise, and as always, please do share your thoughts in the comments below.

My Call to Action to you today:

My call to action for you today is to create your own piece of content by following these 5 steps and share it on your blog, YouTube channel, social media or podcast – or all of them! Then come over and share it in the Selling from the Heart Facebook group (make sure you Tag me!)

And here’s another one:

How to get Clients when Marketing is Making you Miserable

If you love working with clients, but find the marketing side of things a bit too much of a slog, then you’ll enjoy this free training focused on what to focus on and new ideas for how to make your marketing more enjoyable.  Whether that is falling in love with sharing content on social media, or getting off the social media treadmill altogether.
How to get Clients when Marketing is Making you Miserable:  Find out more and sign up here.