Recently, TCC had the pleasure of joining an inspiring campaign. EveryAGE Counts aims to fight ageism, which is a form of discrimination like sexism and racism. Ageism is widespread, normalised, and negatively affects the lives of many older people. By raising awareness of ageism, EveryAGE Counts hopes to create positive social change.
As content marketing experts, we helped the EveryAGE Counts campaign by crafting some of their blogs. Read on to find out what we did, how we did it, and how you can do the same.
Conversations
One way to craft content for your campaigns is to engage in conversations. Choose a topic that is relevant and interesting to your readers, then have a discussion with an expert on that topic.
An example of this is our blog How Ageism Prevents Older People from Growth and Learning. In it, we had discussion with Mike Rungie, a former CEO of an aged care provider and current head of Modern Elder Academy. As an expert in his field, Rungie helped to shed light on how ageism impacts older people’s ability to learn. We also discussed how important growth and learning is in later chapters of life—all of which provided great fodder for reading.
Profiles
Another approach to crafting content for a positive impact is to profile inspiring personalities. Look for experts, celebrities, influencers—anyone with authority on your subject and a sizeable fan base. Write up an adoring biography that piques your readers’ interest in your chosen person’s messages.
On the EveryAGE Count blog, we showcased Ashton Applewhite in Have you met our friend Ashton Applewhite? Applewhite is an anti-ageism activist extraordinaire, and the author of several books and a famous TED talk. We also took the opportunity to inform our readers on her exciting tour down under.
Ask interesting questions
Your content marketing goals might be to engage people who already agree with you. On the other hand, you might want to convert people who don’t. Either way, your readers are going to be asking some difficult questions. As part of your content marketing strategy, you’ll want to answer them.
In our blog, Does Ageism Exist in all Cultures? We examined how ageism rears its head in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. To support our article, we drew from recent studies by the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils (FECCA). As it turns out, ageism does present uniquely in CALD communities. This blog calls for more research and discussion on the issue.
Dos and don’ts: Crafting content for social change
You should now have an idea as to what type of content you can craft for your positive change campaign. Let’s turn our attention to some best practice principles to get you started.
Do
- Write clickable headlines
Headlines are crucial to grabbing your audience’s attention and attracting them into your great content. Give your headlines some TLC by using CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer.
- Share on social media
You’ve published your content on your blog—great. Next step is to let everyone know it’s there. Share your content through social channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
- Consider accessibility
If you’re writing for a social cause, it’s a good idea to practise what you preach. Use accessible marketing to ensure your content is inclusive.
Don’t
- Use stock images
You might think that Shutterstock and Pixabay have better photos than anything you can take yourself. While that may be true from a technical point of view, audiences actually prefer authentic photos. Ditch stock images for photos of your team, your events, or anything that gives readers “behind-the-scenes” access.
- Write a wall of text
When online, even the most adept readers tend to scan rather than read. Keep sentences short and punchy, use simple language, and break up your text with paragraphs and subheads.
Create positive change one blog at a time
Creating digital content is a versatile way to engage your audience. It gives you the opportunity to communicate your message in a way that invites discussion and changes hearts. As you can see from our EveryAGE Counts blogs, the possibilities are almost endless.
Now, over to you to give it a try.