16 Oct Read This Headline: Borowitz Rules
Scanning my huge list of marketing, SEO, and social media blogs I came across this item which made me cheer. In many ways Andy Borowitz breaks the mold of humorists. His alerts come like a splash of cold water and a neural jolt that makes you laugh and wince simultaneously. He’s fun but he’s real, and his humor often reveals something troubling under the surface.
Borowitz is a master of the headline. His stories are often 3 short paragraphs. If you don’t get the headline, you don’t get the story and you lose the humor. This article, How to write viral headlines, from BuzzSumo, is miffed that Borowitz doesn’t fit into their equations of successful news and blog headlines.
That’s the point! Instead of following the formula, how about you create your own? What you don;t find in Borowitz’s headlines – amazing, inspiring, surprising, successful – the buzz words that make for a ‘viral’ headline. No lists or quizzes or calls to action (unless he taps into a vein of anger based on his humor). I’m going to check into going #FullBorowitz and chuck the formula. What about headlines that inform and inspire, rather than entice and manipulate? What about getting the right audience, instead of a BIG audience? What about that, huh?
