How to Write Headlines that Will Help You Reach Introverts
Keep Your Promise
That’s not so difficult, is it? If you promise something with your headline, keep your word. Deliver what you’ve promised. So: no click-baity headlines for introverts. Instead, prove your point and show us what you mean.
Draw Us in
Draw Us in
Don’t hit us over the head with your idea. Let us process all the parts of your proposition. Like most other things about introverts, we process more slowly, and perhaps more thoroughly, than others might. Luckily, we can take as much time as we need if we’re reading. By the way, here’s an article that you might like: Six Facts About Introverts and Social Media that Will Impress Your Friends.
Stop Talking
Seriously. Don’t talk so much. We like some silence, and that can help us as much as anything. If you’re writing headlines, keep them shorter and to the point.
Don’t Use Lots of Useless Punctuation
Any headline with an exclamation point will probably get skipped over. Quotes and an ellipses? Probably not helpful, either. And if you use both an exclamation point and ellipses? Stop right there! Let’s not even start on all the ellipses abuse that’s happening right now. Note that the definition of an ellipses is the omission of a sentence from one or more words. It’s not to show others that your voice is trailing off. So stop abusing that poor ellipses! Now that deserves an exclamation point.
Use Humor
A little humor never hurt anybody, did it? Humor is one way to Revamp Your Social Media–when used sparingly. Light heartedness might even be part of your brand’s style. In which case it’s mandatory! Just kidding. Not really.
We Don’t Need Glitter
While we introverts do love cats, we don’t need as much glitter as extroverts do. And by the way, did you know that Introverts tend to be better CEOs — and other surprising traits of top-performing executives? Probably written by an introvert, wouldn’t you say?
Keep it Brief and Inviting
Shorter headlines rock. And another thing? Don’t repeat the headline all over the place in each paragraph, even if it’s good for your SEO. That is annoying to everyone.
Accept That Headlines Are Limited
Sometimes even the best headline can’t convey a message accurately. So, in the body of your article or post, imagery or music may be able to express what the headline can’t. You can only say so much with words. Here’s an article that resonated with me: Introverts aren’t voiceless—they’re quietly powerful.
What Type of Headline Draws You In?
Let me know! And tell me if you’re an introvert or an extrovert. Thank you.
Hi Carol
I spend so much time thinking about what type of headline that will draw my audience in that I’ve never stopped to consider what type of headline draws me in. In the end, the same principles apply in both cases.
A headline has to make a promise that speaks to the desire of its target audience. And it has to express that promise in a way that’s emotive, specific and concrete.
Given that I’m perfectly happy sitting alone with my laptop for hours on end whilst researching and writing for a project, I’d say I’m an introvert.
I’m guessing that as a social media marketer you need to have an extrovert side, whether it came naturally or you had to develop it.
Clement
Hi Clement,
Based on your description of yourself, I’d say you’re an introvert, too!
Yes, it’s a lot to ask of a headline, isn’t it? To appeal to a target audience and keep its promise in just a few short words.
We introverts probably need a very good headline for us to click on it. Not just any headline will do.
Yes, we need to have an extroverted side, too. We could probably fake it, but it’s pretty exhausting to be around people too much (for me).
Thank you for always reading and commenting! Us introverts gotta stick together!
Carol
This is an excellent article — for most writers, even considering who will be reading the headline (rather than what sounds good to you in the moment) sets you apart, but really narrowing the audience down (as you have done here) is genius.
I think a lot of people write headlines for search engine robots, not humans. Who cares if the search engines love it if the people it’s meant for don’t?
The other day, I was thinking about what kind of neighborhood I’d like to live in, and I realized I just literally want to live in the middle of nowhere — anywhere, really, as long as there are no people around. I thought, at the time, that this seems like more solid proof that I’m an introvert. As I read over the stuff here, I found myself nodding alone to every line, especially the bit about reading slowly and thoroughly.
Sometimes, I read something over and over, but eventually it sinks in. It usually means that I’m stopped short whenever I read something that’s BS, or that’s been glossed over or not treated with proper depth in an article, or where the author just has poor logic. I think introverts are going to pick your writing apart, more out of instinct than malice, and if your prose and arguments aren’t tip top, you’ll suffer for it in the comments.
Anyway, great article — thanks for writing it (and reading mine too!).
Hi Adam,
Thank you. I’ve always heard that narrowing one’s audience is the way to more leads, but when writing a headline, it’s difficult to believe.
We all do cater to robots, at least a little bit, don’t we? All that SEO stuff and all. But we only care about the people who read articles and not the robots.
I’m lucky that I live in the middle of nowhere. Alaska would be even better, though. Pretty soon it will be green and not the frozen tundra we’ve come to expect, so maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.
Yep, the introverts will be the one picking apart the logic, so we have to pay extra attention when writing for introverts.
I’ve been enjoying your writing a great deal, too!
Thanks for the comment.
Carol
Hi Carol,
I didn’t realize that we introverts were drawn differently to headlines. Aren’t we special! ;-)
I really haven’t noticed any particular style headline that draws me in but I do know that list style headlines offering more than 7 to 10 items send me running in the opposite direction. Then there are those “This One Little Trick” spam posts that I sprint away from.
Now I’m off to read the interesting links in this post that grabbed my attention.
Thank you again, Carol.
Hi Patricia,
Yes, we introverts are definitely special! I know what you mean about “This One Little Trick” headlines. Also, the ones that say “You won’t believe your eyes!” get me, too.
Thank you for all your support, Patricia. It means a lot to me.
Sincerely,
Carol