New media operation title guide: 5 methods and 3 practical skills

“A good title is half the work.” If you can choose a good title, your article is halfway to success. However, the fewer words there are, the harder it is to write. What's more, in today's world of attention deficit, it is not easy to come up with an eye-catching title.

Table of contents:

• Steps to writing a title
• Specific methodology
• Practice

1. Specific steps for writing titles

1. Framework structure, keyword summary

We first list the main keywords and meanings of the article, and then optimize it according to the following steps.

process:

• To understand the product, we must first think about its framework
• List the keywords

2. Identify your audience

Whether it is advertising copy or articles, you must consider the audience's reading habits, feelings, psychological factors, and other factors, and consider the issue from the reader's perspective.

The more specific the audience positioning is, the better. You also need to put yourself in their shoes and consider what they care about, what they hope to get, what tone of voice will be most likely to bring you closer to them and win their trust, what they fear, and so on.

For example, if your article readers are mainly middle-aged people, you can easily attract their attention by using topics about children; the elderly are more concerned about how to keep themselves healthy and free from disease and disaster; when facing girls born in the 1990s, a literary tone will be more to their liking; if your target audience is rebellious young people, you need to understand their behavior, or speak in their tone.

Of course, when dealing with people from different industries and professions, it is also necessary to communicate according to each other's habits and language. For example, when facing programmers and lawyers, who are generally science majors, you need to use more logical and complete language in the title. If you are talking to a designer, you may need to use some professional terms or express yourself in more delicate language.

3. Type combinations are more powerful

Once you have determined the main keywords and target audience of the article, you need to choose some of the title types mentioned above to attract your readers. You’ll find that most attractive headlines don’t fall into just one category, but are a combination of multiple types.

For example, "How can I dress to make my breasts look bigger?" 》This title contains both questioning and sexual elements, and is also beneficial to the target audience. Such an article title is obviously more attractive.

Another example is "The little-known secret weapon of trading will help you make more than 5 times the profit." First of all, 5 times makes "profit" more specific, and "little-known" fully arouses the readers' curiosity, while also allowing readers to relate to their own interests. Just imagine, would you refuse to let yourself make a profit?

So try to combine these 8 basic title types in your titles as much as possible, and you will get unexpected results.

4. Final Modifications

Any good title is the result of careful consideration and repeated revisions.

After we have completed the first three steps, we need to modify our title, consider whether the wording is reasonable, and whether there are any unnecessary words that need to be deleted.

For example, "It will be deleted within 2 hours, please read it quickly! ”, “delete within 2 hours” already has a sense of urgency, and “check it out quickly” seems a bit redundant. It would be better to change it to “must be deleted within 2 hours”, which is more concise and powerful.

For example, "I like people who are serious about buying houses." Logically speaking, it's correct! After all, buying a house is a big deal, shouldn’t you take it seriously? But if it is changed to "I like picky people when buying houses", the effect will be much better. Changing "serious" to "picky" will make readers feel that this is in conflict with normal cognition. It also expresses the meaning of seriousness, and it will be more attractive after the modification.

The title needs to truly adhere to the principle of "a word is worth a thousand gold".

2. Specific Methodology

1. The brand name should be in the title first

Look for endorsements:

Well-known people, companies, stories, cities, brands, achievements, etc. are all good candidates for endorsement.

• "What truth is hidden behind Jack Ma's 'abdication'?" 》
• "Liu Bei said one sentence, which offended thousands of women"
• "From Silicon Valley to China, one is sold every three seconds. Once you use this juicer, you won't want to touch any other."

2. The title should be appealing, attracting the attention of casual strangers and allowing them to identify with the title

1) Vent your emotions

For example, designers are always asked to revise the manuscript and make the font larger.

"Party A has never lost when asking the designer to revise the draft"

For example, women dislike men caring about whether they are virgins.

"Are you a virgin?" "None of your business"

For example, most people still fail after failing several times.

• "Failure is the mother of success. Do you believe this bullshit?" 》
• Why do customers remain indifferent despite your extensive advertising? 》
• "Every time this dish is ordered, the female colleague who insists on losing weight can't help but pick up her chopsticks."
• Why do new media require so many skills but the salary is so low? 》
• "I spent 2 months and failed 6 times in hot marketing"
• The bitterness of the copywriting industry, the road I have walked is full of tears
• "Work like a slave, don't be a secondary party!" 》
• "The highest level of romance is the trivialities of life"
• Do you say thank you to the people close to you?
• "What you call stability is nothing but a waste of life"

2) Create opposition

The first one is logical inversion.

For example, a wanted person is unlikely to be someone with high education and the ability to make money, but that is exactly what happens.

"The second-generation rich scholar is wanted, graduated from Yale and Oxford, and earned 200 million in 9 months after returning to China"

The second type is counterintuitive.

For example, society generally advocates that women should be gentle, kind, and considerate, but what if there is an advocacy that seems to be the opposite?

• Be a difficult woman and you will live a better life
• "Looking forward to it, looking forward to it, my old mother finally passed away" (Jianshu: Xiaodao Loves to Listen to Stories)
• "My Lover is a Psychopath" (Jianshu: Tomato Loves Traveling)
• "Unlucky Girls, Good Luck Isn't Too Bad" (Mimeng)
• After watching "Wolf Warrior 2", I want to say to Wu Jing, you deserve it! 》
• "Women Who Can Spend Money Are Happier" (Kawa Weika)
• "7×7≠49?" 》(Tomato Loves Traveling)

The third method is the comparative method.

For example, without comparison, there is no gap. Suppose that almost no one reads the articles you write, but you always see other people’s popular articles, would you be a little curious about how others do it?

Why do other people’s articles get over 100,000 views each, but no one reads your articles? 》

The key to this type of title is to create opposites. Some of these opposites are on the surface, while others are hidden beneath the surface and need your wisdom to dig them out.

• The difference between a copywriter with a monthly salary of 3,000 and a copywriter with a monthly salary of 30,000
• "Look at other people's cafeterias. What you eat is shit."
• 《Resumes that are popular and resumes that people are impatient to read》
• "After eating this pineapple cake, all others are just so-so" (Eger is full)
• "These 10 small items used during menstruation are 100 times more useful than brown sugar water" (IF)
• "After reading these 10 copywritings, I am willing to gain another 10 pounds" (Xizhimiquan)

3. Psychological suggestion

The first one is the perceptual description

"Eating a good crayfish is like catching the summer in Changsha"

The second type is suspense hint

For example, keep the reader in suspense, reveal part of the story vaguely, and let the reader click on the title to discover the rest.

"The secrets that dating experts never tell you: After using 12 dating apps in 14 days, I found that..."

4. Benefit inducement

9 Ways to Triple Your Sales

"Why can an article explode in the circle of friends?" 10 Communication Rules Behind Users’ Active Forwarding

5. Scenario-based

One is "How comfortable you will be if you have this product", and the other is "How miserable you will be if you don't have this product"

If you sell a steak frying pan, it is more important to describe the wonderful feeling of eating steak than to describe the material of the pan. NetEase Yanxuan used a set of copywriting full of "details" to arouse users' appetite for steak:

Cast iron provides constant heat

The wonderful Maillard reaction

More than 100 kinds of meaty aromas are created for steak

Coarse sea salt differentiates the layers

When it comes out of the pan, the oil has been drained

It's Friday, treat yourself to dinner

The Maillard reaction, more than 100 kinds of meat flavors, coarse sea salt, Friday... these details build up a beautiful dinner scene guarded by steak, which is by no means comparable to an empty phrase "the steak is delicious and juicy". In addition to describing positive and happy scenes, copywriting often focuses on describing negative and painful scenes. After all, the wonderful enjoyment brought by the product still needs to be imagined, but the pain is something they have experienced personally.

You can do beauty treatments at home, but it’s too abstract, so we add some scenarios to it.

Lie on the sofa in the living room and enjoy skin care in the beauty salon.

This copy uses scenario-based techniques to make users associate the leisurely feeling of lying on the sofa at home.

6. Numbers are a killer, and titles with numbers are even more lethal

How to ____ in 10 seconds

• 99% of people guessed wrong about this ad
• "Secrets of Grassroots Entrepreneurship: How to Ship 100,000 Yuan in 3 Months"
• After continuously producing 10w+ popular articles, he summed up these 3 writing experiences
• "When in love, men are most annoyed by these 8 behaviors of women" (Gu Jie)
• "Escape from Mini Programs: 60% of Users Return to APPs, 70% of Developers Want to Give Up Development" (Titanium Media)
• "YY's overseas story: What can we imagine about a live streaming platform with 30 million monthly active users and a valuation of 400 million US dollars in one year" (36Kr)

7. Use interrogative sentences

Why····? +Number suspense

Why are children less willing to communicate with you as they grow older? 99% of parents don’t know

Why···? +Associated Authority

Why do children tend to cough in winter? Listen to what a 10-year veteran mother says

How to use +XX seconds/minutes/hours/days + ideal state

How to clear a blocked nose in 10 seconds? Just spray it on and you’ll feel comfortable all day long!

···So many···, why···?

Qianliao, Lizhi has so many parenting courses, why is Teacher Li’s course the best-selling?

Achieve amazing results +···Why?

She dropped out of school at the age of 14 and is worth over 100 million yuan at the age of 29. How did this girl born in the 1990s do it?

1 time = N, what kind of... helps you (save, gain)...?

1 use = 200 facial masks, what kind of healing bottle can help you save 1 year's worth of facial masks?

You haven't used it? +Great value benefits

You haven't worn it? It is already very popular in Beijing. It does not slip when you sweat and cannot be shaken off!

Why..., but still...?

Why is it that even though we know Maslow’s needs by heart, we still can’t write good copy?

A···+How···

How can a short 3-hour course teach you to be a less anxious parent?

···Could it be that··· ? Why···

When a child cries, do we have no choice but to compromise? Why not try this method?

Ambiguous:

A vague title should not be too specific, but it should not be too vague. At least it should let people know what the article is about.

➤Examples

Original title: "Wang Jianlin, Asia's richest man: Son will not be Wanda's successor"

After modification: "Asia's richest man Wang Jianlin expressed his opinion on Sicong's successor"

3. Practice

1. Product Features

Today I want to share Apple's copywriting:

1. Apple Pay – This wallet has money but no bag
2. Apple MacBook Air – There is Something in the Air (exaggeration)
3. Apple Macbook Air – innovative, new, thin (the thinnest laptop in the world)
4. MacBook Pro – A tool that can be used to create your next project.
5. The gift that makes mom happy, opened again and again (very vivid)
6. Give yourself a surprise, give the world a surprise
7. Information, really laugh, laugh out loud.
8. The words "school starts" have never sounded so good. (Is it because school has started and I can show off my iPhone?)
9. Apple iPod – Put 10,000 songs in your pocket.
10. The slogan of the first iPhone – “Apple has revolutionized the mobile phone industry” (This is Only the Beginning)
11. iPhone 3GS – The fastest, most powerful iPhone yet
12. iPhone 4 – This Changes Everything. Again.
13. iPhone 4s – The Most Amazing iPhone yet
14. iPhone 6/6s Plus – Bigger Than Bigger
15. iPhone 5s – “The most advanced, unprecedented phone ever” (Forward Thinking)
16. iOS8 – A big event for developers, a great thing for everyone
17. iPhone7 – 7, here
18. iPhone 7 Plus camera – two lenses snap together (a bit like the MacBook Pro)
19. AirPods – Wireless, no fuss, just amazing (product functionality)

2. Human nature

1) Selfishness

Drew Eric Whitman said in "What Makes the Best Advertising Business": Put the product's greatest benefit in the title.

Whether readers are learning about a product or reading an article, they will subconsciously think: How can this help me? If readers glance at the title and feel it has nothing to do with them, they will continue to browse other articles. So, first of all, you have to tell the reader what benefits he can get after reading your article.

For example, "What is the difference between a monthly salary of 3,000 and a monthly salary of 30,000?" When reading, readers must be thinking about how the copywriter who earns a monthly salary of 30,000 does it and what I can learn from him. For example, when reading "How to Avoid Mistakes When Building a House", readers must be thinking about what mistakes they need to pay attention to, otherwise they will suffer losses. This is selfishness.

2) Herd mentality

Think back, when you first heard a new Internet term, did you go to Baidu first? Because we are always worried that we cannot keep up with the pace of the times, especially in this era of information explosion. This is actually a kind of herd mentality. We are afraid of being left out, afraid of being embarrassed because we don’t know something when everyone is talking about it. So you often see "If you don't learn XXX, you'll be out!" on the Internet. 》, and it always attracts readers.

Pursuing news and hot events is also a manifestation of herd mentality, such as Wang Baoqiang’s divorce, Luo Yixiao’s incident, and Edison Chen’s sex photo scandal. If you don’t understand the background, you will often be confused and have no idea what everyone is talking about. The reason why many people follow hot topics is simple: because people around them are following it!

The herd mentality is the biggest reason why articles that follow hot topics have a high readership.

3) Shortcuts to success

Each of us wants to take fewer detours and take some shortcuts. We always hope to achieve success with the help of other people’s successful experiences. Although most people cannot succeed, this does not hinder the popularity of such articles.

But when we face articles such as "How I made 1 million using this method" and "There is no need to take so many detours to succeed", we are always immune.

We can also use it cleverly when writing titles, but be careful not to become a title party!

4) Curiosity

As mentioned in the previous section, curiosity is the only way to get readers to click on your article. Many news and revealing columns take advantage of people's curiosity. In addition to the previously mentioned words such as "truth", "revelation", "behind" in the title, we can also use these two methods to arouse readers' curiosity.

One is to reveal the secrets behind those people and events that were originally well known to the public, such as "Uncovering the Hidden Rules of Wall Street."

The second is that it is inconsistent with common perception. For example, when you see a title on Alipay: "I encountered Wang Sicong driving a bus in Hangzhou", it is obviously inconsistent with the public's perception of Wang Sicong, and curiosity is aroused at this time.

3. Platform tonality

Different platforms require different titles.

Needless to say, different self-media platforms have their own attributes and styles, such as Jianshu, Douban, WeChat, Toutiao, etc. As multi-platform distribution has become a major trend in content creation, formulating titles of corresponding styles according to different platforms will definitely have different effects. Don’t think about solving the problem once and for all. You must learn to prescribe the right remedy to accurately meet the needs of fans on each platform.

Titles are getting longer and longer.

One advantage of the mobile Internet era over the past paper media era is that the length of the proposed titles is allowed to become longer and longer. After all, the cost of paper printing is high. Without the rigid limit of word count, authors can write more perfect titles. WeChat now allows 64 characters for titles, Baijiahao allows 40 characters, NetEase allows 27 characters, Toutiao allows 30 characters, and Dayu platform allows 50 characters for titles.

In the new media environment, titles are getting longer and longer, which is a phenomenon of "information pre-positioning". The reason is that the information explosion has caused attention resources to become increasingly scarce. Instead of waiting shyly and passively for readers to open it, it is better to display the information directly at the entrance so that people can see it at a glance.

Author:Amber

Source: Amber