Make no mistake: most content producers (be they aspiring influencers or corporate hires) fail at generating work that people can find engaging. They offer fill-in-the-blanks articles with nothing to say, no captivating angles, and no personality or humanity.
The lack of humanity is tricky. A generic piece of content can still get somewhere if it has that human touch: that feeling that a person or people devised it, instead of some optimized content-assembly AI.
On the flip side, if you’re creating content that makes some great points and comes at relevant topics from fresh angles, you can find that it seriously under performs if it feels robotic.
In this post, then, we’re going to set out 5 ways in which you can give your content a human touch. This will make it much more impactful, helping you to captivate your audience. Let’s begin.
5 Ways To Give Your Content A Human Touch
1# Include personal anecdotes
Regardless of which topic you’re covering, and in what format, there’s value in talking about your experiences wherever they’re applicable.
If you’re writing about SEO, for instance, then mention how you’ve found working on it before. Which parts do you find easy? Which do you struggle with? How have you managed to succeed (or fail) before?
Outside of specifically-relevant anecdotes, you should always look for ways to bring in your general history: the narrative of why you do what you do and how you got started.
Telling your story is one of the best ways to produce content in general, but don’t stop at a great “About Us” page and one long here’s-the-origin-story post.
Work elements of the story into everything you do as a way to remind your audience that you have a worthwhile viewpoint.
2# Use (appropriate) slang terms
Am I saying that you should abandon all traces of professionalism and start acting like you’re producing content for your best friend, complete with abstract in-jokes and casual profanity?
No, certainly not — but you should be mindful to avoid coming across as cold or sterile in the way that corporate content often does.
You surely know what it’s like to read a post that feels overly focus-tested: like all the rough edges have been smoothed down through a lengthy series of revisions until there’s zero risk of anything being vaguely controversial or challenging.
Avoid that. If you want to tell someone what the sitch is, do it. Don’t swap it out for “situation” because you’re concerned about clarity. The slight risk of causing confusion is much smaller than the risk of seeming bland!
3# Offer genuine opinions
Modern content production often involves talking about things that you don’t really want to cover and don’t care about, or even things that you personally dislike but are obliged to be positive about because you’re working on behalf of a client.
When you’re not being genuine, you’re not going to seem genuine, even if you try quite hard to fake it. Authenticity is key.
By sticking to genuine opinions wherever possible, you can make your content much more effective — and you don’t need to abandon your editorial missions for it.
Just be artful with your wording. If you’re covering a topic that other people really care about, talk about that passion instead of your own, and admit that you’re not the biggest enthusiast.
Modest positivity from a genuine place will always be more effective than a clearly-fabricated endorsement.
4# Invite audience feedback
Humans love to connect: it’s core to how we operate and how we see the world. Don’t you want to share things with the people you care about?
Social media became a phenomenon (one worth studying) because we’re all so eager to do just that — and when you want your content to have a human touch, you need to include elements of engagement with your audience.
Since you generally can’t get the audience directly involved (unless you’re doing a live stream, which is admittedly possible), you should instead seek feedback to help shape the direction of your content and even provide user-generated content to be included in subsequent pieces.
Wrap up every piece by speaking directly to your audience and asking for comments: it’s a fantastic way to show that there’s a creator invested in the results.
5# Show real enthusiasm
I talked about how important genuine opinions are when it comes to the topics, products and services you offer, but you do need real enthusiasm: it just doesn’t need to be on any given matter.
It needs to be general enthusiasm about the niches you discuss and/or the industry you work in — and if you don’t possess that enthusiasm, then you’re not working in the right area.
There’s a reason why you do what you do, and you must care about it somehow. Let that shine through in the content you produce. Instead of being dispassionate and indifferent, get excited about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it: get creative and show that you really care.
The more you come across as enthusiastic and passionate, the more your audience will want to hear from you, because we’re all attracted to passion. It helps us cultivate our own.
Giving your content a human touch can make a massive difference, significantly boosting its impact. Use these five tactics to overhaul your work and start connecting with your audience in a much more profound way.
Author: Kayleigh Alexandra
