Sunday, March 22, 2020

Why You Need Binge-Worthy Content

We increasingly live in an on-demand culture. Whether it’s the latest gadget or the biggest music hit, people generally aren’t willing to wait long, if at all, to get what they want. We’re even impatient when it comes to entertainment – who wants to wait for the next episode of a show when you can binge-watch the whole series? Some have called this craving for instant gratification the â€Å"Netflix effect† and it applies to content as well. If someone is looking for information on a topic, they want all it all right away. No one is going to go to the library or locate an expert when they can just whip out their phone. They then expect the content they find to be authoritative, comprehensive and tailored to their preferences. This is why your content needs to be binge-worthy – so that it meets the needs of what people are actually looking for and your content is successful in helping you meet your marketing goals. Embracing the Binge We want to find out everything we can about our interests, right now. That intense, immediate interest is what drives the binge experience and it’s important to take advantage of it. When you’ve captured a reader’s attention, you need to make sure your content is set up for a satisfying binge. Here’s how to do it: Make Your Content Available â€Å"On Demand† Attention spans are shorter than ever so you need to make sure there’s plenty of content available for a potential binge-reader to plow through or you risk losing them to greener online pastures. Instead of doling out your content little by little, consider an â€Å"on-demand† model that makes all your content available to your visitors. This model is the polar opposite of a drip-marketing approach, but can often suit readers better. Create an Easy Consumption Journey Diversify Your Content Formats When it comes to content consumption, people have different styles and preferences. While one reader may enjoy diving into a white paper or in-depth blog post, another reader might prefer the ‘bite-sized’ nature of an infographic or short video. Offering a wide variety of content formats boosts the chances that visitors will find the kind of content they’re looking for and stay engaged with it. Use Data to Plan Your Content Strategy House of Cards garnered tremendous ratings for Netflix and almost singlehandedly spurred the rise of binge-watching. However, Netflix relied on a lot more than luck when they decided to take on this series. The company did some serious data analysis on their existing subscribers and they noticed a few things. Many their subscribers streamed films directed by David Fincher and they also seemed to enjoy movies starring Kevin Spacey. Combine this information with the fact that the British version of House of Cards was already doing well and it’s not hard to see that the political drama was a solid bet. Your company can take a lesson from Netflix and do some number-crunching of its own. Take note of what content your readers gravitate towards and combine that with their known pain points. Using data and analytics to plan your content strategy will make you more likely to hit the mark with your audience. Creating binge-worthy content is a delicate balancing act – you need to provide a deep enough pool of content to satisfy the urge to consume it all in one sitting, but you also need to deliver enough fresh, new content to keep readers coming back for more. House of Cards star Kevin Spacey may have said it best in a talk he gave to TV executives: â€Å"If they want to binge, then we should let them binge.† By ensuring your content is organized and easily accessible to bingers, you’ll be able to do just that and realize more success from your content marketing.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

The Life of Aeschylus essays

The Life of Aeschylus essays Aeschylus was born in 525 B.C. in the city of Eleusis. He has been referred to as the Father of Tragedy. Early on in his life he was immersed in the rites of the city and in the worship of the mother and earth goddess Demeter. He was once sent to watch grapes ripen in the countryside. It was here that Aeschylus says Dionysus appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to write tragedies. He fought on behalf of Athens in the Persian wars, including the battle of Marathon and Salamis. His parents belonged to the old Attic nobility so that he was brought up as a broadminded conservative. He spent a large part of his mature life at the court of Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse, returning to Athens to supervise the production of his plays. He began to present plays in 490 B.C. in Sicily. When he started to write Greek plays were nothing more than a single actor portraying many characters usually with masks. It was a huge step for drama when Aeschylus introduced the second actor. This diminished the role of chorus and put more of an emphasis on dialogue. Aeschylus was an innovator in other ways as well. He made good use of stage settings and stage machinery, and some of his works were known for their spectacular scenic effects. He also designed costumes, trained his choruses in their songs and dances, and probably acted in most of his own plays, this being the usual practice of most Greek dramatists. Aeschylus wrote approximately 90 plays, only about 80 of these titles are known. Only seven tragedies have survived in their entirety. It is said that thirteen of his plays achieved first prize at the Greater Dionysia, which was the annual dramatic festival held in Athens. His first success was in 484 B.C. and he almost continuously won until his death. Aeschylus died in 456 B.C. at the age of seventy. Legend says that an while he was sitting outside one day an eagle flying overhead mistook his bald ...