The Secret to Creating Content That is Memorable
If everyone was the same life would be boring. The same principle applies to content and articles. No one wants to see the same thing over and over. Readers want to feel an emotion so they are not bored. When you integrate your personality and/or your interests into your writing you can bring out emotion in your reader.
Be Yourself: It is Interesting
People are smart enough to know and see what you are really passionate about it. Don’t try to be witty and use a popular item to enhance your advice. People will see right through that. You have to be “real”. If you are passionate about boating, running, fishing or even painting and you use references to enhance, compare or clarify concepts, the passion will be obvious and your content will be more memorable. It will be especially memorable to someone that has the same passion as you.
Use what you love to enhance content marketing and also to build a good reputation for yourself and your company. Don’t fake it, be yourself. Integrating parts of who you are and your experiences can enhance your writing. Don’t hide from it and don’t be embarrassed by it. Your uniqueness is what makes you interesting. More importantly, the real things and/or the things that you love integrated into your writing can make you or the concepts you discuss more memorable.
Example of the Real Me: Star Wars
There are millions and millions of people out there that love Star Wars. I hear there are those that don’t, but my brain can’t wrap itself around that fact so we will just not think about that possibility in this post.
The “real me” is a Star Wars fan, lover, geek, die hard…choose your phrase. Bottom line is I love it. Star Wars is a part of my daily life and several times a day my brain compares a daily with something that happened in the 6 Star Wars movies (or the additional 137 Star Wars books I have read).
Do I realize I am more extreme in my love of Star Wars than many people? Yes, but my love for it makes me different. I am somewhat unique in this attachment to it, but I don’t hide from it. In fact, I have included Star Wars references in content marketing often and what I found through the years is that this was in no way a mistake. People that follow me socially, clients and/or readers often associate the idea of Star Wars with me in conversation and that has made me more memorable to some.
The Brain Creating an Association
When you let readers see the real you, whether it be an interest, a personality type or even a style of writing, you are helping the reader’s brain create an association between you, the “real” parts of you and the concept you are discussing.
In regards to my Star Wars fandom, my readers, clients and those that attended my trainings have actually remembered certain concepts better because their brain associated an idea or concept with something they have a deeper attachment or memory for (Star Wars). In meetings and conversations people have brought up “Star Wars” references I have made in several articles as almost a memory device to bring up an idea I had discussed. This association with Star Wars serves a purpose.
The brain is an amazing thing that can remember all kinds of ideas & concepts, but many ideas are kind of lost in long-term memory. The brain can go into its memory and find certain things better if there is an emotional attachment or related memory to an idea the person is searching for. For me, Star Wars has been a big win in content marketing, entertaining clients, helping clients remember concepts and also making myself more memorable.
It is important to say that I don’t shove Star Wars down reader’s throats; I just enhance the writings with references.
Make Yourself Stand Out
Most of the writers that I read have something about them that makes them memorable. Some have obvious personality traits, some have unique interests and some have very different styles of writing. They are all real and I don’t think any of them planned on standing out, but they do and they are memorable. I read one man that is always “ranting” about things he disagrees with. Another writes like a CEO because he is one. I see things from a CEO’s perspective every time I read his articles. One writer always associates things with food, because she loves to cook. I read these people’s blogs because I am not bored; I am often intrigued, inspired and entertained, respectively, and this is why these people are memorable.
Don’t Overdo, Just Be You
I am not saying that you have to take an interest, personality trait or anything else and integrate it into everything you write. I am saying that if you let the “real you” come out a little bit when you write you will become more memorable. Bringing out different kinds emotions or feelings is good, but keep in mind there are some emotions and feelings you don’t want to overdo.
Negative emotions and feelings might be appropriate in certain circumstances, but focusing on negative all the time is never a good thing. There are certain emotions and feelings you don’t want to focus on too much because it will push readers away.
Try to focus on the positive and let the reader see who you really are.
Melissa Fach has been in the SEO industry since 2007. She created her own agency, was the Managing Editor at SEJ, worked as an editor for Moz with their community team, she worked at Pubcon as the Community Manager for 5 years, and is an editor for SEMrush US Blog.
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