#content round-up

by Stratton Craig

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This post will take you approximately 78 seconds to read from start to finish*
UX Writing – what is it?
In the words of Jennifer Anniston in the L’Oréal advert: “Here comes the science bit – concentrate!”  Ben Barone-Nugent made up the term and we like it. It’s the science-writing part of building a good website, one that people find a pleasure to use. It’s writing things like ‘Buy now’, ‘Hit Enter’ etc, and it largely goes unnoticed unless the phrase is badly chosen / misleading.  Original source>
Grammar mistakes can ruin content marketing
Let’s face it, not everyone cares about grammar, but if you’re writing for an audience that does, getting it wrong is often taken to mean a glaring admission that you don’t really care. It’s particularly bad if it happens in a sales document, a cover email, your CV or if you’ve positioned yourself as some sort of language guru.
More lists, quizzes and cats
Do we really still love pictures of cats with speech bubbles? Debatable according to David Carr (of the New York Times) who recently commented that ‘just because something is popular does not make it worthy, but ignoring audience engagement is a sure route to irrelevance’. It’s a good read>
The secret ingredient of content marketing
Another one we hear you cry? It’s clearly a complex recipe with so many different and exotic ingredients. We can’t help but think that if one secret ingredient is enough for Coca Cola and IRN-BRU, it’s probably enough for content too. Begging to differ is Jay Baer>
6 of the 10 performing UK magazines are produced by brands
What better way for Waitrose to bring together branded content and direct marketing? Result>
And Jerry’s final thoughts:

  • Creating free content may lead people to you to buy your services. Or they may just keep coming back for the free content. @Andy_Maslen
  • Put your audience’s needs before your own commercial interests or your content will just pollute their lives @justinpearse
  • Do you agree?

*Based on how long it took the author to read it through at the end.