Tips for writing titles for new media operations!

One of the basic skills of new media operation is editing ability. One must be a superb writer, and the most important thing here is the ability to write titles. A good title can instantly catch the user's attention and increase the click-through rate. This article summarizes what you should pay attention to when writing a title and shares it with everyone.

1. The charm of word count

Word count requirements for major self-media platforms:

• Toutiao: 5 to 30 Chinese characters
• Yidianzixun: 5~30 Chinese characters
• Sohu public platform: 0~23 Chinese characters
• Penguin Media Platform: 10~23 Chinese characters
• Baijiahao: 0~40 Chinese characters
• Phoenix: 0~64 Chinese characters
• Sina Highlights: 5~64 Chinese characters
• NetEase: 0~27 Chinese characters
• WeChat public platform: 0~64 Chinese characters
• Big Fish Number: 0~50 Chinese characters

The word count for titles varies between different platforms. When sending push notifications on mobile devices, there are also differences in the word count between iOS and Android. Try to ensure that users can see important messages in one line when they receive the push notifications. Also, try not to use several lines but just one line, which will be much more convenient for users.

2. What are the secrets of the sentence structure of the title?

1. Homophony

• The ups and downs of Sino-North Korean relations over the past 50 years: Living with Kim is like living with a tiger (“Kim” and “King”)
• How can the Netherlands stop them! They reversed the situation and beat Spain 5-1 (Who can stop the Netherlands)

Use idioms and two-part allegorical sayings and then replace them with words of the same pronunciation, and use this inertial thinking to instantly capture the user's curiosity.

2. Ask questions

• What did Zhou Qi go through in his transformation from devil to God?
• How are those classmates who graduated and entered state-owned enterprises doing ten years later?

Everyone has a lot of questions in their mind, and some questions are deliberately designed in certain scenarios to resonate with users.

3. Citation

• Heavy rain in Beijing: people in "swimming pool" and cars stuck in "pond" (parallelism, quoting place names)
• A 19-year-old firefighter sacrificed his life to save others. A special banner for the special you! (Quote lyrics)
• The cherry blossoms fill the garden, but 100,000 tourists come to enjoy the flowers (quote from a poem)

Quotation is to use the user's familiarity and attention to poems, lyrics, place names, and other unique names to awaken the user's sense of familiarity.

4. Create suspense

• A working girl relied on these 4 men to become the richest person in the mountain city, and even the underworld had to give him some respect!
• Ninety-nine percent of men have done it wrong. You won’t know until you see it, and you’ll be shocked when you see it!

The main thing is not to explain things clearly, to create suspense and arouse the user's curiosity. Only by clicking and browsing the article can you know what it is.

5. Parallelism

• Mobile payment changes life: no wallet needed, money is not felt anymore, money goes away faster
• It's hot! The temperature in Beijing soars to 43 degrees
• Two young men in Yunnan were hospitalized for heat stroke

Parallel sentences can better highlight the key points, allowing users to find what they want at a glance among a large amount of content.

6. Fame Effect

• Jack Ma said that successful men all have these traits, so learn them now!
• Lang Lang has suffered a lot when practicing the piano. As a parent, you must understand these principles!

In addition to celebrities, there are also hot events, famous cities, and well-known companies. These famous things themselves bring traffic and attract attention.

7. Use idioms wisely

• The future of ash 3: The city of Tianjin is engulfed by haze
• Most masks are defenseless

Use idioms, poems, etc. cleverly to attract users and make them feel refreshed.

8. Highlight data and numbers

• The money Xu Caihou embezzled weighed a ton and filled two trucks.
• What is the difference between someone with a monthly salary of 1,000 and one with a monthly salary of 100,000?
• How did VIPKID help a child learn 8,000 words in one month?

Users may not be good at math, but they are naturally sensitive to impossible numbers.

9. Touching with emotion

• How did a weak single mother survive with three children?
• They only ate 5 buns in three days. The spirit of the firefighters deeply shocked us!

People are all made of flesh and blood, and they can capture the sympathy of users with their compassion.

10. Create scenes and exude a sense of immersion

• Three meters of snow and 50 degrees below zero, the transport team successfully delivered relief supplies
• A steamed bun, a glass of cold water, and a bag of mustard tuber are his best birthday gifts.

By describing real objects and scenes, users are gradually brought into the experience, enhancing their sense of participation.

The title is to encourage everyone to be innovative, such as this "Haze, haze, north, haze, haze, haze, haze, square, haze, haze". It is necessary to have a wild imagination, but this kind of basic skills requires operators to contact and browse more often in their daily lives. Little by little, they will succeed.

3. The crime of clickbait is unforgivable

Title party refers to attracting the attention of the audience with eye-catching headlines. When the audience clicks on the content, they find that it is very different from the title.

The act of intentionally magnifying a very small part of the content, or even exaggerating and deceiving netizens. Title parties cannot last long. They may deceive people for a while but not for a lifetime. They can be used occasionally, but they must be supported by high-quality content to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Performance of the title party:

1. False exaggeration

2. Generalizing

3. Quoting out of context

4. Substituting concepts

IV. Precautions

A few years ago, the titles of new media were still relatively traditional discussions, and now a lot of content is distributed by machines, so at this time we must understand the recommended vocabulary.

For example, the important words in Toutiao, such as celebrities, politics, natural disasters, and news hotspots, are definitely of higher weight, because once something happens, it is definitely a news event with high traffic. If it is accompanied by strong adjectives such as explosion, death, poisoning, murder, record breaking, winning the championship, entering the finals, etc. Unfortunately, XXX star died in an accident. This is definitely a breaking news with a lot of traffic, so the platform algorithm will judge the authenticity of the news immediately and allocate a large amount of traffic.

We must pay attention to whether our self-media is knowledge-based or news-based, as there is a big difference. Knowledge is not timely and the quality of the content is very important, while news is very timely and will be very different as events develop.

Therefore, the title must be combined according to the flexible use of means, whether the content is news or knowledge.

V. Conclusion

Writing titles is an essential basic skill for media professionals and editors. Don’t underestimate titles, as they can indeed bring in a lot of UV. If a title increases the opening rate by 1%, then how many UVs can one thousand or ten thousand titles bring? Therefore, operators should not ignore any point. It is true that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

In our daily work, we have to write at least 4-5 titles, and then select the most suitable one, and even let classmates in the group vote. You should also summarize, read and think more about the copywriting titles of competitors' products and learn from others' methods. Writing a title is a process of accumulation, which will take at least a year or two.

Author: Bai Gaoliang

Source: Public account Baigaoliang