Curiosity killed the cat. Anyone with a cat will know the precarious situations these critters can work themselves into. For this reason, the phrase is fitting. But maybe it isn’t the cat’s curiosity that leads to its demise. What if it’s our curiosity? I mean, if you know the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat, you can see how it might be Schrödinger’s own curiosity that killed the cat. He just had to look in the box…
We can hardly resist our own curiosity. It’s much of the reason clickbait is so dang effective. But remember, it’s only clickbait if you click it (by Schrödinger’s logic.) The takeaway here is you can spark curiosity to achieve better results with your content. To help you out, CoSchedule is breaking down how to use curiosity gaps to write headlines people must click.
So…what’s a curiosity gap? It’s the gap between what you do know and what you wish to know. Let’s dive into the key points to keep in mind when utilizing curiosity gaps.
- Capture your reader’s curiosity. If they don’t care, then they won’t look at your content. You need to prompt genuine curiosity to effectively draw someone in.
- Settle your reader’s curiosity. If you pose a question, you better have an answer for the reader. Anything less will be seen as a waste of time. Nobody likes their time wasted, so demonstrate your trustworthiness by providing an actual answer.
- Be creative, but clear. Everything you write should be clear. If it’s confusing, then how can it possibly resonate with your audience? Creativity will allow you to write an effective hook that gets the gears turning in your reader’s mind.
Read on for more, but remember: Schrödinger’s CTA below is only linked out elsewhere if you click it. 🤷♀️
