Clickbait

Clickbait is nothing more than a strategy that uses flashy titles to attract more clicks to online content.

As a rule, it appears as a link, with a super sensationalist title, and with a very appealing photo, to generate interest in the user and lead him to access the page.

In some cases, it may happen that the person does not even open the link, but believes in the content of the title, and still shares the post on their social networks .

It is worth mentioning that it is possible to find this type of content on the most diverse networks, from Instagram and Facebook, even on Youtube .

As a rule, after the person accesses the portal where the post was made, he is faced with content that does not even come close to delivering what was promised.

Not only that, but often the information present there would already be weak in the face of normal situations, and considering the expectations created, it can be even more frustrating.

Examples of clickbait

We introduced you to the concept, but perhaps it was not so clear how to identify this strategy in practice.

Therefore, we decided to separate some classic examples of clickbait, so that you can better visualize what we are talking about.

Are they:

• “You won’t believe what so-and-so did to achieve fame”;
• “discover the secret to making money fast”;
• “see what happened to so-and-so after fame”;
• “find out once and for all what to do to lose x kilos”
• “learn how to make money on the internet in x days”

Have you ever come across any of these in your everyday life?

How did clickbait start?

Contrary to what you might imagine, clickbait did not exactly emerge with the advent of the internet.

I know this may seem contradictory, after all, the very name of the practice takes the word clique , but the point is that the concept of using flashy titles in articles has been around for much longer.

The first historical record of the so-called clickbait, long before this practice received that name, dates back to the 19th century, with the so-called “yellow press” in the United States.

Look how curious, this title of “yellow press” was given to newspapers at the time, which were more concerned with using sensationalist headlines, with little or no commitment to reality to increase their sales.

It reminds you a lot of current practices, doesn’t it?

What happened was that over time this strategy was renewed and adapted to the environment in which it existed, ranging from email chains to posts on social networks.

Why not use clickbait?

After we’ve talked so much about what clickbait is, you’ve probably noticed the problems with this strategy, that’s why it’s not a good idea to use it.

The question is totally linked to the development of your company in the long term, after all, even if this approach gives you a few clicks now, it can compromise your e-commerce bounce rate .

It’s not hard to see that if your company takes this approach, over time the general public will understand what your strategy is, and that will have consequences.

That feeling of feeling cheated, will gradually make people no longer click on the links on your portal, and your brand will lose credibility.

It is important to remember that this approach goes directly against everything that digital marketing preaches.

While in this model our goal is to produce and offer content that is relevant and that can help solve the problems that affect the public in their daily lives, clickbait does not show any kind of consideration in this regard.

If your company’s content doesn’t offer anything useful to the user, why should he start trusting it?

And then build any kind of bond and relationship with your business?

Clickbait results are just the opposite, and will make your company’s sales plummet in the medium and long term.

What is the weight of clicks in the marketing strategy?

The clicks that your page receives over a given period play a key role for your e-commerce .

Firstly, because the higher your click-through rate, or CTR (Click Through Rate), the better your portal’s performance within online search engines.

For those who don’t know, the click-through rate is a metric to evaluate the performance of a certain ad or advertisement.

This calculation is made by dividing the number of clicks received by the number of views, and from this it is possible to determine the effectiveness of your strategy.