Spark Consumer Interest With Engaging Content

Of the following two options, which lead has the best potential for drawing readers into the story?

“Insurance agents often find themselves educating first-time business owners about commercial insurance risks and requirements.”

“Following the commercial realtor into the third for-sale bakery that day, aspiring pastry chef Jon Simon immediately felt at home. The wafting aroma of cinnamon and fresh-baked bread brought him right back to his grandmother’s tiny kitchen in the Bronx bungalow where he grew up. But Simon’s reverie was shattered a few hours later when his insurance agent started pelting him with questions in preparation for writing a commercial policy. ‘Grandma never had to deal with these headaches,’ he thought.”

Your recurring task is to create engaging, dynamic and provocative online content about insurance—a topic widely considered stuffy at best and boring at worst. Here are a few things to keep in mind about creating content for digital communications:

“Creating content” is a new label for an old set of journalism skills. So ask the traditional “who, what, when, where, why and how?” and combine the answers in a story that will interest your audience.

• Know and understand what interests your readers. Explore social networks, forums and other Internet hangouts to learn what people want to know about your subject.
• Use various storytelling techniques. Depending on the site, consider images in the form of videos, graphs, photos and illustrations. Use infographics, memes, bulleted how-tos, SlideShares and frequently asked questions.
• People want to learn before they buy. Educate them—don’t pitch. You want to inform, inspire, motivate and entertain—not tell.
• Finally, don’t get pre-occupied with storytelling in never-been-done-before ways. Why re-invent the wheel? Instead, share your perspective on topics already in discussion, and link to the discussions on other sites. Otherwise, you’ll struggle for ideas.

Sheryl Feminis is an IA contributor.