Healthcare PR Insights: How to Create Great Content in 2016

“With the explosion of content, time-starved consumers are increasingly selective of what they’re viewing and reading,” Adobe concluded from its recent survey on content consumption, “The State of Content: Expectations on the Rise.”

The company interviewed more than 2,000 U.S. consumers and concluded that there is growing skepticism about online content. The results also show a new imperative for brands and creators to develop content that is well-designed, easily accessible and authentic.

“The message from consumers is clear: the bar is higher for content creators than it has ever been,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president at Adobe, in a media release. “People are overwhelmed by an ever-increasing volume of media and apps.”

As inbound marketing gains more ground over traditional paid advertising, the excessive offering of content has made consumers even more selective. Attractiveness of imagery and layout, length, and loading time are all crucial to hold viewers’ attention.

As if that was not enough, marketers are also pressured by a shrinking window of opportunity to captivate their audience: eight seconds is the average online attention span. That is less than the 12 seconds from 15 years ago, according to The Associated Press.

Considering that reality, we have compiled a few suggestions for healthcare PR and marketing professionals, to help create great quality content in 2016:

Focus on one message. Be clear about what your key content takeaway is for your audience. Before production, draft the script, work camera angles and set up lighting with the intent of strengthening that message. Authenticity is directly related to layout attractiveness.
Keep it short and sweet. Average online video length has been steadily decreasing since 2012. Shorter videos also load faster on browsers and use less data on mobile. Using strong imagery, emotional score, suspense or comedy usually helps.
If the message is complex, consider telling the story in multiple pieces. This approach also has the upside of creating a series that will keep viewers coming back for bitesize material.
Better. Using non-technical language is the best way to make sure the content effectively reaches a wide array of people and gets the message across. It is safer to assume that none of your viewers know industry jargon.
Problem solved. People like happy endings. When developing video content, give an overview of the issue and focus on the solution your company brings to the table. Show off specific insights and use quantifiable analyses to convey positive results.
“Entertainment value becomes increasingly important to break through the noise,” Adobe found. As consumers become more and more skeptical about content authenticity, entertainment is the easiest route to get a message across.
Before uploading. Be it to Vimeo, YouTube or Facebook, consider the title, the description and the tags that will be used describe the content. All of those are scanned, serving to optimize SEO and drive traffic to your content.

When limited to a 15 minute window to consume content, 66 percent of consumers would rather watch a video than read an article, complementing the fact that enjoyment of video increases purchase intent by 97 percent and brand association by 139 percent.

Having engaging content is good not only to generate sales, but to build relationships while entertaining consumers.

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a PR, marketing or social media campaign, contact Scott Public Relations.