We don’t string together a bunch of sentences, sprinkle keywords, stir the pot and let it rip. One of the ways we try to make our content interesting and relevant is by making use of statistics, subject experts, influencers, case studies, places and other real things that people can connect with.
Let me give you an example to highlight the importance of digital marketing statistics. I just mentioned the flood of content above. I could add that:
A) “There are millions of pieces of new content being created every minute, and thousands of blog posts get published too.” Your likely reaction: Yawn… We all know that. So what’s new?
B) 211 million – the number of new content created every minute.
1400 – the number of new blog posts published every minute.
Your likely reaction: Wow! I didn’t know that. Let me share this on social media right away.
How Statistics Help Create Engaging Content
Statistics clearly lend an air of authority to your content, but let’s explore this in depth. A little psychology here will assist in understanding how this thing called “engagement” really works. There are 3 steps involved in how we remember things. It goes like this:
Also Read: The 5 Most Common Content Marketing Blunders That Are Scaring Away Readers
Encoding –> Storing –> Retrieving
How you retrieve information from your brain depends on how it was encoded and stored in the first place. The way the brain works is that visual and statistical information can be encoded for much faster retrieval than text sentences.
Visual statistics road sign
If this sign said “Dangerous curves ahead for next four miles” in text, then you would have whizzed past it before you could read anything more than dangerous, and then probably ended up in a ditch on the side of the road wondering why you didn’t stop to read the rest of the sign.
Similarly, if I wrote that there are thousands of blog posts being published every minute, you wouldn’t remember that. But if I say 1400 blog posts/minute, that gets stamped into your brain, and you’ll remember it later.
This is why you need statistics in content to effectively engage your audience and drive home your message. The human brain processes it much faster than a line or paragraph of text.
Why Create Engaging Content Using Statistics
Now you could question why you need engaging content in the first place. Yes, it’s better than generic mumble-jumble, but what do the statistics say? This is an overwhelming concern for marketers.
60% of content marketers say producing engaging content is their top challenge. (CMI/MarketingProfs).
74% of social media marketers use visual assets in their marketing (SM Examiner).
A/B Testing Statistics For Creating Better Content
The best way to test the veracity of this statistics theory in content marketing is to do A/B split testing on it. You have your existing plain old page without any statistics, and then you have a variance page that has a key statistic or statistics which ensures that your message is seen and remembered by your audience.
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