Nick Wallenda on tight rope
I had to do a quick post, because I am watching TV and just saw ABC use an interesting content marketing technique to promote one of its special shows tonight.
Let me explain…
I am currently watching Nick Wallenda get ready to walk a tight rope across Niagara Falls. (For those who don’t know, his grandfather was a part of the legendary “Flying Wallendas.”)
It’s pretty inspiring. (Side note: I love this quote… Nick Wallenda (tightrope walker) “If you even think about failing, you will.”)
But here’s where the content marketing lesson comes in. I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch this tonight, but I was pulled into watching.
How? Check the ABC TV schedule below (West Coast programing) and I’ll show you…
8pm – Countdown to Niagara: The Greatest Megastunts of All Time
9pm – Megastunts — Highwire Over Niagara Falls – Live!
Do you see the show that ABC aired before the show I am currently watching (Megastunts — Highwire Over Niagara Falls – Live!)?
They put on a show that they called, “Countdown to Niagara: The Greatest Megastunts of All Time.”
It was a show that was made up of a compilation of edited video clips of stunts that show producers deemed the top 20 stunts of all time. (I bet many of the clips were used from video clips ABC already had.)
By coming up with this list and creating the content for the show ABC basically used content marketing that was designed to hype up and draw people into the show with Nick Wallenda doing his actual high wire feat.
And it worked on me. I am now watching Nick and waiting for him to walk across Niagara!
Content Marketing Lesson: The Power Of Lists
“Top 10 (or 20, 50, 100) ________ lists” are a great way to put together content that you can use to draw people’s attention and interest to your product or service.
These lists can be fleshed out (like ABC did with this show) or just a simple list without much extra content.
The list can be made up of text, a graphic/infographic, a slide presentation, or a video.
They can be solely created by you, compiled from statistics, or crowd-sourced from experts or “audience” feedback.
Why is this such a powerful content marketing technique?
Here are four reasons:
1. People seem to love to read and share lists.
2. They indirectly confirm you, the list creator, as an authority.
3. They don’t necessarily have to take a lot of time or effort to put together.
4. They have a proven track record. This technique has been used by organizations over and over again. One such list is “The Top 100 Great Films Of All Time” (click title to see list) put together by the American Film Institute.
I’ve recently seen just how popular and powerful lists are when I created “21 Types Of Content We Crave” (click title to see list) for ContentMarketingInstitute.com. It’s one of the most popular posts I’ve done for them and currently the second most popular post on their site (based on “Popular Posts” in there right side-bar). If I ever had doubts about the power of lists (and infographics), then I don’t now!
Two “bonus” benefits of lists are that they are really fun to put together and are a great way to encourage engagement from your readers.
The next time you need to create some content marketing for yourself, your business, or your product or service consider creating a list!
What other famous lists can you think of?
What other ideas do you have about how to apply this technique?
Post it in the comments or email me.
Photo from dswent
I’m a business strategist, consultant, content creation specialist, and speaker. I’ve been studying effective marketing and business methods (both online and offline) since 1999.
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Good post!
Thanks, Dean! Glad you liked it.