2. Headline Intent vs Outcome (4 Marks)
Choose one headline you created in Part B, Q#1 Part B and answer the following:
a) What is the primary intent of this headline? (e.g. curiosity, urgency, clarity, relevance, emotional pull)
b) What action or response is the headline designed to trigger?
c) Explain why this intent is appropriate for the target audience you selected.
From the three headlines that I created in question one, I have chosen to reference my second headline of “You Won’t Believe What’s Happening In These 33 Perfectly Timed Photos”. This is a headline that has the primary intent of triggering curiosity among potential readers of this article. Curiosity is going to be easily triggered by this headline in particular due to the fact that the words “You Won’t Believe” are used. Basically, what these words do is signal to people potentially looking to slick on this article that the content within it is going to surprise them in an unexpected manner. I think it is also important to note that despite the headline sharing that the content is surprising, it does not actually say any specific details of the content in the article as this could give away what the photos in the article actually are. Just enough information is given to entice people to want to click on the article. Alongside this, the words “What’s Happening” helps to spark curiosity by increasing the amount that potential readers will likely desire to know “What’s Happening” in the actual article’s content. The curiosity that is sparked from this headline is intended to trigger people to take the action of essentially clicking on the article itself and viewing it. But to get even more specific, the curiosity works to create this action among potential viewers by first interrupting their scrolling. This is happening with the use of the odd number (which I kept from the original headline) as this helps people to have more trust in the headlines credibility, therefore reducing any uncertainty which theft might have. From here, once someone fully reads through the headline there will be curiosity triggered due to the wording of the headline as discussed already. From here is where the actual action of clicking opn the article comes into effect as users will feel the need to fill the established curiosity gap by seeing what the unbelievable content of the perfectly timed out photos actually is.
Going back to who exactly the target audience of Buzzfeed is generally going to be, it is very important to actually explain why this headline aligns perfectly with the intent of their target audience. To first summarize who their target audience is, they are generally going to consist of individuals who are in search of entertainment that is visual, provides the value of humor and is generally considered lighthearted and enjoyable. Therefore, for this audience a headline that is being powered by curiosity is going to be very effective. The reason for this is in the fact that a curiosity driven headline like my own is going to align very well with people who want an article that is entertaining and funny enough to peak their interest immediately after reading through the headline. These people want headlines that stand out and catch their attention enough to trigger their curiosity and make them feel like they urgently need to see what the article content is consisting of. I also think it is important to remember that my headline would be competing with many others that also are looking to have people take action by clicking on their article. Ultimately speaking, by using these tactics to spark curiosity, my headline is much more likely to stand out among many others. Overall, this headline intent is primarily to trigger curiosity which resonates highly with the target audience for Buzzfeed who is generally looking for entertaining content.
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