April Fools Day: How to Incorporate Humour in Your Content

Any piece of well-written content should grab the attention of the reader. While incorporating pertinent statistics and relevant content are always important, humour can also represent a great way to “hook” your audience. Studies have shown that the average visitor has an attention span of approximately eight seconds in terms of content consumption, so eliciting a chuckle or two can work wonders when creating a memorable article. How can we add a bit of humour into the average post without detracting from the material itself?

Defining Good Humour from Bad Taste

The most talented comedians in the world are well aware that humour often involves walking a very fine line. While you want to push the boundaries and surprise your audience, you never want to shock them into aversion. For instance, a phrase such as “the only thing attracting me to her is gravity” is most likely not the best way to introduce a product designed for weight loss. While humour can entice the reader, it can also easily offend if deployed in the incorrect manner.

The Principle of Three

Another great suggestion offered by Writer’s Digest involves what is known as the “rule of three”. In other words, try to place two funny observations in line with a more serious statement. Consider this fictional example of political predictions for 2018:

• The Commander in Tweet Donald Trump will once again put his foot in his mouth.

• Kim Jong-un will keep his same haircut.

• The Brexit will likely experience more delays.

The first two statements grab the attention of the viewer while the third outlines a clear fact. Readers will appreciate this approach and in turn, they are more likely to continue engaging.

Relating to the Audience

Always keep the audience demographic in mind and try to tailor your content accordingly. As we noted in our previous blog, men and women tend to write differently. It only makes sense that each gender will resonate with specific types of humour. The same holds true for age, nationality and even profession. In other words, do not try to insert a joke pertaining to a trending teenage meme if you are catering to a professional engineering audience.

Ultimately, you might not always hit the mark on your first try. With a bit of experimentation and preparation, you can nonetheless include humour as another tool within your writing arsenal.

Also, feel free to read our blog titled “Word Games for your Content Pleasure“. Here you find more tips that can help you with creative writing.

About our author

Ron first arrived in Barcelona, Spain in 2007. Although initially pursuing a career in wealth management and finance, he learned that the content writing community provided the highest level of personal satisfaction while still being able to personally help clients. He has been a full-time professional writer since 2011. Some of his other interests include martial arts and bodybuilding.