Episodic content is one of the new buzzterms in marketing today. As companies and organizations compete for the limited time and attention of their would-be customers, they’re looking to leverage what they currently know about the psychology of the viewer. Episodic content involves telling your brand’s story or otherwise engaging with an audience over multiple installments. While this might sound easy, it’s more difficult in practice. Here are four ways to enhance your episodic content to improve your marketing strategy’s execution.

Embrace the beauty of human interest stories

If you can tell the story of your brand through relatable human experience, then you’re on your way. One of the reasons that the popular podcast Serial had so much success in the beginning is that it focused on a compelling human interest story. Listeners were invested not only in the story of a man who was potentially wrongly accused of a crime, but they were also interested in the human element in the storytelling. People wanted to learn more and more because they were attracted to the story’s human elements.

Using time to your advantage

If you’re going to produce compelling episodic content for your business’s website, you’ll need to use time to your advantage. Consumers are accustomed to waiting one week to receive the next part in their favorite television show, but many grow impatient in the era of Netflix show dumping. Many of today’s best shows are dumped in their entirety, allowing individuals to binge. You’ll need to keep this in mind as you craft the time frame between each piece. On today’s Internet, waiting a week between each piece may cause a loss in interest. Many experts recommend waiting only a couple of days.

Mastering the art of the cliffhanger

If you want people to come back time and again to engage with your content, you’ll need to master a cliffhanger. The key to a good cliffhanger is to give the listener or reader just enough content to provide value while leaving some of the most important elements for your next installment. You should bring them to the edge of a good story, getting them emotionally involved in its elements, without giving away your big reveal. Some consumers can get cynical over cliffhangers, but you’ll generate more positive engagement than otherwise with this approach.

Visual storytelling beats written content in episodic content creation

If you’ve been running episodic written marketing pieces, you may be missing out on extra engagement. Visual content is best for this format. Videos are quick and easy to watch, and they require less intellectual commitment from the would-be consumer. To commit to a series of writings, a person has to be willing to invest quite a lot of time and energy. Videos are much easier to engage, so you’ll want to add video content if you truly want to get the most out of episodic content marketing.

The goal of many marketers today is to build engagement with their brand. They want people to not just see an ad, but to think about the company for some period of time after the ad runs. Episodic content is one of the best ways to ensure this effect. By running a series of pieces and asking people to come back for more, you’ll create loyalty with your customers and stir in them the sense that you are providing value. Just ensure that you’re taking the right steps to maximize engagement with your episodic content.