The term ‘content fatigue’ is used to describe decreased online engagement as a result of audiences becoming overwhelmed or indifferent towards the sheer volume of content being produced.
In the digital world, there are countless brands and individuals all battling for attention, but this surge in continuous content leads to consumers tuning out content that doesn’t provide them with value. Brands regularly producing content that receives this response from their audience can result in decreased engagement, lower trust, and a diminished return on content marketing efforts.
What causes content fatigue?
There are various aspects of a content strategy that may be causing content fatigue. In some cases, one of these factors may be the main point of concern for an audience, but more often than not, multiple factors clash together to build a feeling of disconnect between a brand’s content and its audience.
To effectively modify your content plan to fight against content fatigue, you must first understand why your audience may be feeling this way:
- Information overload – Across any platform and media form, a constant bombardment of content can easily overwhelm an audience. Posting too regularly can not only lead to decreased engagement but also push your audience to start unfollowing or unsubscribing from your channels in a bid to free their newsfeeds from your constant stream of content.
- Repetitive content – Recycling the same ideas, or producing content with strong similarities to the rest, will often fail to capture the attention of your audience. Repetitive content coupled with information overload is a sure-fire way to push your audience away.
- Lacking value – Audiences want content with a purpose, whether that’s to educate, or simply just entertain. Posting low-value content may lead your audience to question what the purpose of keeping up with your content really is – if they’re never getting anything out of it, why would they continue to engage with it?
Five ways to fight content fatigue
Prevention is always better than cure. Adopting positive habits designed to prevent content fatigue is the best method for maintaining a strong relationship with your audience and increasing engagement, so consider this early on in the creation of your content strategy.
However, if you’ve already started to see the negative effects of content fatigue, it isn’t too late to turn your strategy around!
Quality over quantity
As in most aspects of life, quality content over a large quantity of content is key. Focus on creating fewer pieces of high-quality content that offer real value to your audience, rather than churning out as many content pieces as possible with little consideration of how they’ll be received.
Diversify your media
How are you sharing your content? Is it all text-focused, or do you sprinkle in videos, photos, and graphics? Have you considered what type of media is best suited for the platforms you post on? What you decide to post on LinkedIn should not be a carbon copy & paste of the same content you’ve posted on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest (or any other platform!), as the needs and preferences of users on each platform differ greatly.
Embrace storytelling, but stay authentic
Narratives that evoke emotion can help foster a deeper connection with your audience, keeping them engaged and wanting more. This could be through behind-the-scenes content, ‘meet the team’ segments, or highlights of your brand values – and how these benefit your customers and online communities. Always stay authentic to your values, and avoid hopping on every social media trend unless it clearly aligns with what you preach. This will maintain trust between your brand and your audience.
Maintain a sustainable posting strategy
Create a content calendar and take the time to consider which days and times are the best to post. Most platforms have their own insights into the best time for your brand to post, but tools like Hootsuite also offer guidance in this area. When planning your calendar, avoid flooding timelines with posts – schedule the content in a way that maintains a balance between presence and absence.
Listen to your audience
You should already be regularly reviewing metrics like engagement rate, click-through rates, and audience retention, to identify what strategies work best for you. Monitor feedback and social media comments to understand what pieces of content are proving the most valuable to your audience. A content strategy will often need revising, and neglecting to do so can lead to a build-up of content fatigue.
Engagement is one of the most important social media metrics for many brands. Don’t slip into bad habits that may harm your results.
