Why Add People Into Your Blog Articles?
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Don’t Just Write Down Dry Facts
Breathing life into a non-fiction article is tough, especially if it doesn’t include a character. Sometimes called “literary journalism” or the literature of fact, creative non-fiction merges the boundaries between literary art and research nonfiction – statistical, fact-filled, run of the mill journalism.
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Even in Non-Fiction, You Have to Build a Page-Turner
Non-fiction authors should take a few tips from their sisters and brothers across the aisle. We must build page-turning non-fiction books too. Short attention spans are baked-in. We can blame smartphones, millennials, or the weather, but we’ve got to keep our reader’s attention. An informing tone, usually overused in non-fiction, will turn off readers if used consistently. Breathing life into a non-fiction article is tough, especially if it doesn’t include a character.
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Creative Nonfiction Should:
Include accurate and well-researched information
Hold the interest of the reader
Potentially blur the realms of fact and fiction in a pleasing, literary style – while remaining strangely grounded in fact
Nonfiction writers often choose to write about topics or people close to them (including themselves). As long as the piece deals with something real, or something based on the real, the writer is allowed to take the piece in any direction he or she wishes.
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Your (Non-Fiction) Article Needs a Human Face Too
Marketing Guru Jeff Bullas explains why: “Individuals have emerged as a means to put a human face to the soulless and faceless stats of the demographic data scientist. The problem is that just considering a demographic profile misses that human element. So personas were invented to help the new breed of marketer understand the human side of the data.”
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Newspapers: “If it bleeds it leads”
Thumbing through any newspaper or magazine, you will find people in almost any story: mentioning of names, interviewing a person, citing people…
“Newspapers have understood this at a primal layer for a long time in what news they published on the front page. Editors and journalists have known for a long time that “If it bleeds it leads”. Fear also sells newspapers. Personas have personalities, they have fears, wants, and passions. People in their articles have an age, an assigned gender, and even a college degree.”
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***It does not matter whether you are a blogger, a brand or social media marketer, or a non-fiction writer of books, you need to make your content more human.***
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To Develop a Persona Requires Asking Some Questions – Here Are a Few to Get You Started:
What are the biggest problems in their private lives?
What are the challenges in their job?
Where do they get their information from? Blogs, trade magazines, books?
What would stop them changing to your product or service?
How do they convince their boss to make a buying decision?
Do they print off an ebook and put it on his desk?
What media do they consume? YouTube videos, white papers, podcasts?
Knowing the answers to some of these questions will help in creating relevant and appropriate articles – and to add people in your non-fiction writing.
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Personas and Content Marketing
“Creating a persona is both an art and a science. Contagious and engaging content that touches hearts and minds is your goal as a content marketer. The content not only needs to answer the questions but also be on the media preference of choice.
That may be a video, a blog post and on Slideshare – or maybe all three. If you can put your content creators in the buyers’ shoes then you are well on your way to content marketing success.”
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