We’re living in the attention economy (think “5 super weird reasons why your headline doesn’t perform”).
Whoever gets the audience’s attention, gets the first shot at selling them something. So, it’s no wonder that people love to use attention grabbing techniques – such as scroll-stoppers or click-baity headlines.
LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook are flooded with these things that have the sole purpose of making you click “Read more”.
And it might get you the click. Initially, that is. Until these techniques wear off and the readers just give up on clicking “Read more” because every single time the actual post doesn’t deliver on the promise.
And suddenly, something unexpected becomes the attention grabber for these readers. Suddenly, they are drawn to the people who just post valuable stuff. Smart thoughts. Funny takes. Or useful hacks.
Don’t get me wrong, though. There’s nothing wrong with grabbing people’s attention. If you can grab their attention, go for it. (We’re really in the attention economy.) Just make sure that what you deliver after the click delivers – or even better: overdelivers – on what you promised before the click.
In other words: Make a bold promise – one that gets people’s attention – but keep it, even better: overdeliver on it.
