Titles increase clicks up to 50%. Even on Periscope
Periscope is the new live-video streaming app, acquired by Twitter for approximately $100 million.
It has transformed anyone into a live reporter, streaming any kind of videos everywhere in the world. Since it’s taking over really fast (it has passed the user base of Meerkat, the competitor, in just a few weeks) brands are trying to test it and thinking about how they could integrate it in their marketing campaign.
-> SEE ALSO: HOW YOU CAN USE PERISCOPE FOR MARKETING
What you do on Periscope stays in.. the world!
The psychology behind this app is the same behind tv shows as the “Big Brother”. People just want to see what you are doing and apparently they are very interested in your fridge (yes the fridge!) may be because it is something private. The content you can find in the news feed are different, from people showing live events, animals, reviews to video-selfies.
Titles on Periscope
As for blog posts, even on Periscope titles are important to grab the attention of watchers. Since it is the first thing they see, it determines also who will see your streaming.
I have run a test to see how the engagement and views change using exactly the same content for both videos: a black screen
The experiment, despite apparently silly, shows how the second title got more views (249) than the first one (133). Again, the videos were just an empty and completely black background with no sound and nothing more. The second video simply grabbed the attention because it stimulates curiosity.
A/B Test
An A/B test is a split test marketers do in order to discover which is the most engaging content. An example is the “Buy Now” button. In this case the A/B test could be applied on the same button but with two different colors (red or green for ex.).
This kind of tests help websites to increase the conversion rate dramatically. Most of the time we don’t consider this but as you can increase your CTR by close to 50%.
The limit
The boundary between tricking your readers and awaking curiosity is very thin. You must be careful to not mislead them. Otherwise it looks like you wanted just to make them click on your content. My test was, of course, a joke, but you have to back your title with a content that it worths the click, otherwise you will fall into the click-bating bad practice.
Titles are of course very important, especially in a world where over 80% of readers will just read that.
How can you split test your title?
If you are a WordPress user you can test your titles using a simple free plugin “Title Experiments Free”. If not, you can simply show three or more different headlines to some friends, or a group of loyal readers, and see the results of the poll.
What do you think? How are you engaging your readers?
p.s Follow me on Periscope. My name is Stefano Mongardi 🙂
