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Following the post-Christmas trend I too find myself coming down with a nasty cold. Just like my parents and friends I have that horrid sore throat, chesty cough and dratted runny nose. I can also add fatigue and dizziness to the list – yawn …. (you still there?). I sit at home wrapped in a blanket feeling like I really need to do something proactive in my search for new opportunities but at the same time I lack the energy to do much.
Writing a blog is in theory a relatively easy and quick thing to do. However as anyone who regularly blogs might tell you it is not always that straightforward. You need to be inspired to write something. Having a cold stiffles inspiration in my case. So I searched for something to write about and whenever I search for information I always turn to Twitter. Yay to Twitter! In my search today I can across some very interesting posts on 3D printing to a debate on whether health apps can benefit healthy people.
Typical to social media content consumers, and also as a result of my fatigued brain, I only glanced at these and read the bits that seemed interesting. Then it dawned on me just how lazy we have become in this 8 second world (the length of time you have to grab someone’s attention). The 8 second rule is so true! We are bombarded with so much live and new content everyday when we go online (including across multiple devices at the same time) that something really needs to stand out to make us look. This is of course where the impact of visual content really wins ground – afterall “a picture is worth a thousand words”. When it comes to text we really do have to use attention grabbing titles – such as “oi you!”.
Of course it takes more than a pretty picture or an attention grabbing title though to keep hold of that attention. Do you really have something interesting to share or to say? Or are you just producing content to meet your planned editorial calendar? Have you actually looked around at what your content is currently competing with? If you prepared it a while back is it still as relevant or attention grabbing as it could have been? Too often we get lost in doing what we have to do to meet our goals, without taking the time to look around and just check that we are in synch with what our customers or readers are interested in right now. Oh and by the way you aren’t just competing against your competitors for people’s time you are competing against the likes of #watermelonboy and #cutepuppy.
If you have read this far then I salute you and I clearly have written something that grabbed enough of your attention to merit me getting out of bed and trawling the internet for inspiration. Thank you for reading and do come back soon for more 8 second content!
(Ps. I made the smoked salmon nibbly bits myself and this dog above is looking for a forever home – go to http://www.hopeforstrays.com for more information)
Did I mention #cutepuppies?
