March 20, 2006

Up Close and Personal

Do you want to get people's attention and cut through information overload? The key is creating content that is meaningful, appealing and engaging. You can make your audience care about your content and messages—if you use your audience's natural curiosity about other people to your advantage. Tell the story behind the story—about the people—and keep it personal. Here's how:

1. Make your content about "real" people.
   Don't write updates about projects (boring!). If you make the content about people your employees can relate to, your audience will be more engaged. Instead of profiling another far-removed senior leader involved in a key initiative, reach out to the project manager or a team member for your next article.
   
   
2. Bring people to life.
   The line between personal and professional is rapidly disappearing. Let people's personality come across, convey their sense of humor and add personal details, such as involvement in a charity. If there are some real "characters" involved in the project, make sure they get coverage, too.
   
   
3. Tell lively stories.
   Let's face it: Work is not always boring. Every project has funny, insane or scary stories. It's the nature of people, especially at work, to share these stories. Include them and your audience will be hanging on to every word.
   
   
4. Use real quotes.
   People don't speak the way writers write. Don't write fake quotes in articles, use the real thing. Actual quotes communicate volumes about the speaker—and they will reinforce your work to make the subject come alive.