Make Your Content CLEAN

We have conditioned ourselves to a certain style of thinking and a certain style of communication. We have overpopulated our collateral with jargon, strangled it with acronyms and leeched any remaining meaning from its thinning blood. Is there any wonder that we now struggle to deal with the immediacy and impact of social media?

Communications in the social world are a different beast entirely. Your blog posts, your tweets, your messages have to be full-blooded. There must be a pulse in the language and a beat to the message. This is storytelling of a new order or magnitude.

You have to think outside the content square. It means thinking and acting CLEAN:

Clever – Play to your audience’s intelligence. Don’t dumb it down. Amp it up. Create content that flatter’s your audience’s knowledge and understanding.

Layer – The advertising adage – tell them, tell them and tell them again – just doesn’t work. You need to layer meaning. Invite your audiences in. Wink at them slyly. Nod to their expertise. Appreciate their engagement. Remember they’re not here for you – you’re here for them.

Engage – Engage your audience as if you are entertaining them. Even the driest content can be compelling if you inject personality and passion into its creation.

Active – It sounds basic, but provide some form of activation. Can your blog post be easily shared? Is there a video that can be embedded? What about a book that can be downloaded and passed on?

Nervous – Does your content make you nervous? Do you get a small thrill when you write it? Do you worry that people will respond in a way that is unpredictable? If so, you may be on the right path. To produce content that is remarkable – you need to invest something in it. You need to have an opinion. The best content makes you a little nervous as you release it to the public.

Here is a great example from Marcus Brown. What’s he doing? Is he keeping it CLEAN? You be the judge.

Official Tweet Mime 2. Robert Scoble from Marcus Brown on Vimeo.