Why Are Social Media Blog Post Titles Becoming Increasingly Ridiculous?
Listen, I understand the importance of a blog post title. Just like any other headline, it needs to grab attention, spark curiosity and ultimately make you read the body of the post. Still, blog authors are allowing concerns over attracting traffic to undermine the quality of their content. The blogosphere’s informality doesn’t justify writing headlines of suspicious intent and curious immaturity.
For example, let’s look at a post from the well-known inbound marketing company, Hubspot. Today, they’ve published a post titled, “What Did Jane Austin Know About Social Media.” It’s insulting to anyone smart enough to read this blog post to imply that Jane Austin knew anything about social media, let alone to suggest she’d be involved in social media if alive today. I’ve insulted myself by even having to write that last sentence. Furthermore, the post transitions from headline to body content not via Jane Austin’s own literature, but instead a TV series interpretation. What would Jane Austin say about that kind of etiquette?
While they have good intentions, Hubspot and many others are simply trying too hard. Weakly framing social media etiquette around Pride and Prejudice is amateur, poorly thought out and, more importantly, unconvincing. I know Hubspot is much smarter than this and expect better. While I may be too hard on Hubspot, the truth is they’re just the latest in a long line of well recognized internet marketers to fail its readers by creating content that stretches too far to make a simple point.
This kind of content runs rampant in the SM industry. There are far too many posts of this nature, most of which simply repeats the same vague advice only with a different, absurd frame. I’d love to be able to blame on all the supposed “social media gurus,” but the truth is some of the most respected names in the industry are guilty of similar tactics.
Posts such as Hubspot’s are easily identifiable and share similar characteristics:
1. Titles that don’t hold up for the length of the blog post. The post’s headline will often promise a connection between social media and some pop culture reference, only to force fit the content into the format, creating a mess of words trying too hard to satisfy the unrealistic metaphor set up by the post’s headline.
2. Vague advice. Swap out “social media” for a different subject and the post still makes sense. Go ahead, try it.
3. Starry-eyed, irrelevant comments. The comments left for these posts contain over-the-top exclamations like “how true!” Absent are comments initiating debate or contributing further to the topic discussed because there is nothing substantial enough to debate.
The criticism of Hubspot’s post above and similar posts below is rooted in the high expectations readers have when reading content from industry leaders. There are some influential, well-known names in the list below, many of whom I respect and enjoy reading other content from.
My message to these authors: you and your readers are too smart for this dumbed-down content. Most of you have proven you’re better writers than posts like these lead on. Think twice before writing that next headline.
Some other equally as stupid social media blog post titles:
What Socrates Can Teach You About Social Media
What Seinfeld can teach you about social media
6 Things World of Warcraft Can Teach You About Social Media Success
What Jason Bourne Can Teach You About Social Media
What Tyler Durden Can Teach You About Twitter And Social Media
What Zig Ziglar Can Teach You About Social Media
What Chad Ochocinco Can Teach You About Social Media
What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy
What the State Department can teach you about social media
Photo via striatic.
Tags: blog headlines, blog post titles, social media blog posts, social media elite
February 5th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Thanks for the mention!
February 6th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Wow . . .brilliant and off the mark, all at the same time!
I absolutely agree that there is far too much rehashed duplicated information and advise flooding blogs speaking to social media development. But, these seemingly moronic titles ensure that those who are not that technologically savvy will ultimately discover the post.
I believe that as social media continues to integrate into older technologies it will become imperative to assign pop culture terminology to whatever platform you may publish.
Those just now learning about social media and it’s importance to their marketing strategy aren’t sophisticated enough to click on blog postings that may be more technologically descriptive. In fact, the core of the post, if condensed into a short title, may scare the inexperienced user away from reading further.
Still, I completely understand your point of view. I guess it just depends on the profile of your targeted audience.
February 8th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Stacie,
I appreciate the comment, thanks for taking the time. I agree that there’s value for beginners in the way some of the posts I discussed are framed. This approach takes an unfamiliar topic and makes it understandable by pairing it with something familiar, like a pop culture reference. I don’t doubt the effectiveness of using this method, but I think it’s become too prevalent and that too many authors, who are very capable of writing content just as effective at teaching beginners, are taking the easy way out and relying on this approach.
As you said, it’s all about your audience. If you’re targeting newbies, then this kind of content probably does very well.
February 8th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Yes, there’s a fine line between silly and clever. And I’m not a big fan of writing headlines only for shock and awe. However, in my particular case “What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media” – the entire post is built around the premise of longevity and consistency, and those being key qualities for social media success. It wasn’t a tacked on title, it was a metaphor.
And while it’s definitely a title you don’t see very often, it probably generated more clicks than “why social media perseverance is important”.