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- Steal These Thoughts 07.03.23 | How To Create Engaging Messages That Capture Any Audience
Steal These Thoughts 07.03.23 | How To Create Engaging Messages That Capture Any Audience
How To Write Engaging, Clear & Impactful Messages
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The Big Thought
I’ve been fortunate to learn from the same communication experts who’ve worked with giants like Google, Skype and Microsoft.The lessons I’ve learnt from these coaches have shaped the way I now communicate in all forms. I feel like these insights have given me an edge over others in my career.So, I want to pay it forward by sharing what I’ve learnt.What follows is my own adapted framework on how to write engaging yet clear messages to capture any audience.
These are the 3 keys to an impactful message
Tone – how you speak with your audience
Structure – What, why, how, what’s in it for me/why is this important
Timing – know when best to share messages with your audience
Understanding how to weave these together as organically as possible is knowing how to get your messages heard every time.Let’s investigate each of these 3 key attributes in more detail…
Tone
It is essential to understand how to speak with your audience in a simple yet engaging manner.Building a strong narrative that delivers clear messages is more important than a message full of buzzwords and potentially misinterpreted meanings.Use simple-to-understand language, keep your points brief and speak in a human tone.On average, people will scan emails for 5 seconds before deciding whether to continue reading.Messages that sound robotic won’t connect with your audience – you need to be authentic, so craft your messages as you would a conversation with a co-worker.Be human.The caveat to this would be to make sure you’re clear on how the audience likes to talk and tailor your message where needed.You do want to be as authentic as possible, but you must also consider who you’re speaking with and what is the best approach to connect with these people.The way you connect with a team in finance is not going to be the same as you would with those in technology.Knowing your audience matters!
Structure
The structure of your messages should be clear and provide your audience with the key information they need to know or act upon.We can break down any messages into the following framework (you should steal this, FYI):
1/ Subject
This needs to be bold, attention-grabbing and on point – no fluff or drab headlines.Think about the headlines that would make you open an email.
2/ What
What are you asking of your audience?
What do they need to know or do?
3/ Why
The most important component of your message is the why.
Why is this message important?
Why should we care?
4/ What’s in it for me?
What are the benefits for the reader if they engage with your content?
5/ What do I need to do?
Always be clear on the action(s) you want your audience to take.Optimise those calls to action like your life depends on them.
Remember
Place yourself in the audience’s position and ask:
What would you like to see if you received this message?
What would make you act on the requests that have been laid out?
What are the key points you need/want to know?
Most people are driven by 2 questions when presented with instructional communications:1/ How will this make me look?2/ What are other people doing?Use these insights to craft short and succinct messages that will land with your audience in the way you want.
Timing
Timing is everything when it comes to landing key messages.A perfectly crafted communication shared at the wrong time of day will result in poor engagement. Remember those messages that drop in at 5 pm on a Friday?Of course, you don’t. And that’s where the tool of time must be respected.Yearly research on external messaging channels like social media gives us a good indication of when people are most active to receive content.We can use these insights for the workplace too.
For corporate environments
This is what I've found in my own work:
Avoid trade/traditional busy days – Monday is a big no-no here.
Avoid late afternoon post 3 pm and Fridays after 12 pm (try to avoid Fridays altogether if you can).
Tues – Thurs between 7-8.30 am and 12-2 pm produce the highest engagement in my experience.
As a golden rule, avoid sending any key messages that require action from your audience outside of these times.
Do your research. Find out when your audience is most active and where they hang out.
For external and social media channels
There is so much research and analysis into the best times to post across social media platforms that I will not repeat everything here.Instead, you can use these blog posts from the teams at Hootsuite and Hubspot to discover the latest insights from their detailed research.
How you can apply this framework
You can use this across many channels.Of course, it would be most applicable to use as a guideline for your email campaigns.Yet you can deploy all of this insight in face-to-face delivery and adapt it for your short-form social media messages too.The idea is that this framework can flex to your scenario.As we’ve talked through, keep in mind that knowing your audience, being able to explain the why and doing this in an authentic and humane way is what works to get your messages seen and heard.Till next time, folks.
Content that has caught my attention and might interest you too.
It's called LLaMA and spelt that way too. It stands for Large Language Model Meta AI. Try putting that on a sticker, eh? Meta hasn't been released for commercial use just yet. Today scientists and researchers can get access.The AI arms race is hotting up - watch this space!
If you're curious, here's two ways I can help you 👇
1/ My L&D toolkit stack with 20 free tools.2/ Get 7 tools, templates and frameworks to design your career in my How To Win In The Careerverse playbook. Available on Amazon too.Please do share your thoughts with me on these pieces or anything I share on the Twitterverse and LinkedIn. Chat to you soon.
"Many a false step was made by standing still"Unknown
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