{"id":101796,"date":"2014-03-28T14:34:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T19:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/honest-headlines-superlative-snippets-titillating-titles-can-learn-upworthy-clickbait\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:40:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:40:09","slug":"honest-headlines-superlative-snippets-titillating-titles-can-learn-upworthy-clickbait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/honest-headlines-superlative-snippets-titillating-titles-can-learn-upworthy-clickbait\/","title":{"rendered":"Honest Headlines, Superlative Snippets and Titillating Titles: What can we Learn from Upworthy and Clickbait?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Copyblogger claims that 80% of people read the headline of a post but only 20% will read the rest.<\/strong><\/span> \"1385334_371653846302488_533834683_n\"<\/a><\/span> Marketing legend David Ogilvy tells us that 5 times as many people read the headline than the rest of the copy. ‘When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar.’<\/strong><\/span> As these authoritative stats suggest, headlines deserve a lot of love and attention. They shouldn\u2019t be treated as \u2018the cherry on top\u2019 as<\/span> Jeff Goines<\/span><\/a><\/span> puts it, but as the actual ice-cream sundae.<\/span><\/span> But how should we approach titles in this quickly changing online world? When SEO was at the forefront of online marketing, lifeless, keyword-ridden headlines were sadly the norm and by far the most successful.<\/span> Sam Parker of the Guardian<\/span> tells us<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that during this phase when optimisation was key, in the event of a celebrity death, he had to include both the words \u2018dead and \u2018dies\u2019 in his article titles, anticipating the phrases that would be typed into Google. The headline: \u2018Michael Jackson Dies: Singer Found Dead At Home\u2019<\/strong> is not only uninspiring and clunky but somewhat baffling.<\/span><\/span> The current trend is to produce emotional or \u2018superlative\u2019 headlines that include a curiosity gap. These work very well on social media, a place where users are comfortable and need to be thoroughly tempted in order to click away. These sensationalist snippets are designed to compete with messages from friends<\/strong> and updates from ‘liked’ Pages (such as bands, brands or celebrities), so really need to grab the audience’s attention. We call these \u2018clickbait.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Clickbait and superlatives<\/span><\/h2>\n

The purpose of clickbait, simply and obviously, is to get the highest number of clicks\/impression. Because of this aim, more often than not, the content in question does not live up to expectation.<\/strong><\/span> Where best to start but an example?<\/span> This post has been doing the rounds on Facebook over the last week or two and perfectly illustrates this idea.<\/span> On Youtube the video is simply titled: \u2018Harlem Elvis.\u2019 An uninspiring and uninformative description. When viral-content site and clickbait experts,<\/span> Inspire More<\/span><\/a><\/span>, got their hands on it, they promoted it with the comparatively awe-inspiring phrase:<\/span><\/span> This Guy Lives Like He Spends $84,600 Every Day. How He Does It Will Impress You.<\/strong><\/em><\/span> I, like many (the video has nearly 800,000 views), instantly watched, rubbing my hands together with glee while mentally designing my Beverly Hills mansion. One swimming pool or two? Sadly for us all, the video simply shows a man telling us we should live life to the full. This is a fluffy idea that I’ve always been aware of and certainly wouldn’t have clicked on.<\/span> This content doesn’t fulfil the headline\u2019s promise and this betrayal to the viewers is summed up beautifully by the top Youtube comment:<\/span><\/p>\n

What a waste of $64 dollars.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the problem with click-bait titles. They promise such amazement, such value and such interest that they VERY rarely live up to the hype. When ever I click on this type of stuff, 80% of the time I feel unfulfilled by the pitiful content that I\u2019ve been tricked (yes, tricked) into consuming.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The rise of clickbait posts and viral content sites\"Upworthy_Icon\"<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

Fuelled by social media, the number of viral content sites has increased exponentially over the last half decade or so. Sites like Buzzfeed and Cracked at least produce their own articles but many are curation sites that simply source content from elsewhere before wrapping it up in a clicktastic package, so intriguing and inspiring that we cannot help but press our mouse button.<\/strong><\/span> Upworthy are the undisputed kings of the clickbait headline. This is the content-curation behemoth that brought you such titillating titles as:<\/span> Why\u2019s This Kid Throwing Coins? The Reason May Or May Not Blow Your Mind, But Something Does Blow U<\/a>p<\/span><\/span> Mind is fine but unimpressed.<\/em><\/span> I Honestly Didn\u2019t Think A Video About Birds Would Make Me Cry. I Was Wrong. Ten Bucks Says You Can\u2019t Make It To The End Without Tearing Up<\/span><\/a><\/span> Ten bucks please.<\/em><\/span> Is Sugar The Original Gateway Drug? What It\u2019s Doing To Our Brains Is Pretty Wild<\/span><\/a><\/span> No, no it\u2019s not (to both sentences).<\/em><\/span> Want more? The<\/span> Upworthy Generator<\/span><\/a> puts an endless supply of sensationalist snippets at your fingertips.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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