Get better engagement by getting on the ‘Joy List’

“Britain isn’t working”… “businesses forced to cut staff”… “flood chaos and five deaths”.

Those are The Times newspaper’s top stories in the last 24 hours.

As you scroll, there are photos of people in tanks, finger-pointing politicians…crises of every flavour.

Cheerful, it is not.

Bad news sells. This has always been the case. More than a century ago, Lord Northcliffe, the founder of the Daily Mail, urged his reporters to “get me a murder a day!” for that very reason.

Today the scales have tipped.

The Reuters Institute at Oxford University reports more people than ever find the news “depressing” and “relentless” – and the number of people who actively avoid it has soared 10% in just 12 months.

The onslaught of negativity needs a buffer. A light in the shade.

A heavy dose of positivity and joy is vital in delivering your next brand campaign… and will generate greater cut-through for external engagement and employee engagement.

Journalists and content makers find it hard to find interesting upbeat stories – we hear it all the time – it’s an art. And it’s not just the stories – it’s the formats too, especially for internal communications. Short formats, social styles and light-hearted writing can work wonders.

So now is the time to start experimenting and trying out new formulas to create ‘joy list’ content. If you get it right, you can extol your brand values, land your messaging, create greater engagement and connection with your audience, whether external or internal… and get better results.