How to write new media titles? 10 practical methods behind thousands of popular titles!

A good title is like a magnet that can quickly attract people's attention. In the new media era, the skill of writing titles is particularly important. Today, we will explore how to write titles that can detonate traffic and share the secrets that appear repeatedly in millions of popular articles.

It is said that a good title is half the battle of a good article, and some even say, “A person who can write a good title is worth a thousand troops!”

This is of course an exaggeration, but it is also very realistic. Because users only give you 1 second, if you want people to read it, the title must immediately catch their eye and make them want to click on it.

The title is the first link in all reading exposure, likes, comments and reposts. Opportunities are fleeting, and you only have less than 1 second. If you cannot attract users to click within 1 second, then it will have no chance to be on the stage.

I have a habit of frequently reading the titles of the top 100 popular articles recommended by Toutiao, because titles on Toutiao have a more direct effect, and have less influence on the fan base and tone. I will analyze them while reading, and I always feel a lot.

Today, I will mainly share some key points and methods of titles that I have observed. Durable and reliable!

01 Title and topic are inseparable

When talking about the title, we cannot avoid the topic. As mentioned above, “a good title is half the work”, half is the title and half is the topic.

Why should I talk about the topic first? Because relatively speaking, I think the topic is more important. If the topic is not right, the title cannot save it.

The choice of topic not only directly determines whether users open the content, but also affects the upper limit of the content's diffusion. The most important thing is to have a topic first and then a title.

There are of course many practical ways to choose a topic. Here are some key points I have observed:

01. Hot topics and hot topics are good friends. If you tap into hot topics in time, it is easier to become a hot topic.
02. The topic has high attention, covers a wide target population, can penetrate into multiple circles, and form multi-circle dissemination
03. Find those strong emotional convergence points to stimulate high arousal emotions
04. Don’t choose a mediocre topic, choose a sharp and sharp point of view. A strong point of view is a hot spot.
05. Subvert the existing common sense, say something that others have not said, and say something that is different from the public's perception
06. Find the angle of entry from the controversial point or opposite side of the incident
07. Satisfy strong curiosity and arouse unexpected surprise and desire to share
08. Help readers express their thoughts and say what they want to say but have been suppressing deep in their hearts
09. Be valuable, have profound insights, and provide social conversation topics for others
10. It can help the target group to shape and consolidate their image, and even show a sense of superiority

These are all very reliable and popular topic selection directions. Countless people have created good content based on these angles, that’s for sure.

A more "convenient" method is to build a rich topic library.

This should include the core pain points of the target population, issues that all ordinary people care about, eternal topics, popular topics of your own account, hot topics, competitors' popular topics, and good topics on various platforms, etc. All should be collected.

As long as you have enough material in your topic library, believe me, you will never be short of topics. You just need to think about how to write them.

02 10 key points of the title

Back to the title, what kind of title can quickly attract attention?

There are many methods and techniques, such as dramatic conflict, using specific numbers, chasing hot spots and hanging out with wealthy people, using contrast, stimulating pain points, creating controversy, triggering resonance, highlighting short-term interests, highlighting practicality, creating an atmosphere of urgency, using labels such as region, age, and identity, stimulating emotions, creating suspense and curiosity... and so on, too many to count!

However, the following key points are definitely principles that appear frequently during my observations and are worth noting down.

01. Closely related to readers, insight into life details, identity labels are important
02. The words are more direct, the tone is stronger, and the emotions are more explosive
03. Curiosity is a human quirk
04. Be specific, detailed, and direct in your benefits
05. Suspense, contradiction, conflict, revelation, conflict, reversal, subversion are eye-catching killers
06. Hot spots, hot spots, hot spots. Anything hot may be a hot spot.
07. Use "I", "you", and "TA" more often to make the story more touching
08. The angle should be novel, and the viewpoint and attitude should be clear, even extreme
09. Long titles can accommodate more eye-catching words
10. Connotation and depth cannot defeat simplicity and crudeness

It is recommended that everyone pay more attention to these principles.

Especially "suspense", "curiosity", "hot spots" and "identity labels" are simply eye-killers.

Let me give you an example below and let’s take a look.

03 Practical methods behind 10 popular headlines

After looking at those popular headlines with relatively high click-through rates and exposure, I summarized several highly concentrated headline formats.

No need for extra explanation, you can tell the good from the bad at a glance.

The key is to feel and analyze through cases, and then use them as references when writing your own work.

You have to admit that the title itself is very easy to imitate, and some can even be directly applied perfectly. It is more effective than you thinking hard.

1. Direct Quotes + Sharp Points

• Chinese dramas with distorted values: No matter how high the ratings are, I have to give them a bad review
• "Joined the company for 12 years, was fired in an instant": The dumbest effort is to be busy without any results
• "Houses are more reliable than men": You can't even imagine the happiness of rich women
• "Why don't you get married": Because low-quality marriage is not as good as high-quality singleness
• "Dear, please help me cut a knife": Your so-called friends are stealing your time

2. Highlights in the front + create suspense

• Almost all of Steve Jobs' iPhone design team has resigned. How did Apple force designers to leave?
• A minor wound cost two lives. Doctors remind: 3 types of wounds, no matter how minor, you should get a tetanus shot
• Super accurate psychological test: What do you see when you first see a picture? Test your innermost secrets
• Before Du Yuesheng left for Hong Kong, he warned one person that he would die if he stayed, but he didn't listen! After Du left, he sneaked back to Shanghai and didn't live for 3 days
• I switched jobs to a company with a monthly salary of 30,000 yuan, but I regretted it in less than half a year.

3. Ask curious questions and create suspense

• Would you send your parents to a nursing home? Check out the elderly captured by British photographers
• Are people who fart a lot more likely to get colon cancer? Doctors suggest: These are the reliable ways to check for colon cancer!
• How difficult is it to get married in the countryside? Three old farmer's rhymes express the bitterness and helplessness of many people
• How to steam egg custard without honeycombs? It turns out that the time of putting it in the pot is very important. If done right, it will be more tender and smooth than tofu.
• Who are the harassing calls starting with 95? Finally found the source, how to block it

4. Subvert stereotypes + use contrast to create suspense

• It was not Liu Bei and Cao Cao who created the chaos of the Three Kingdoms, but a pig butcher, but later generations ignored him.
• When your child kicks the quilt while sleeping, don’t think it’s because he’s hot! If parents don’t pay attention to these two situations, it will affect their development
• The love story of these two middle-aged men is sweeter than an idol drama
• HR of a large company: What I hate to see most is the “excellent employees” selected from small companies.
• Is it most comfortable for babies to turn on the air conditioner at 26 degrees in summer? Wrong! How to turn on the air conditioner in summer? Listen to me

5. Identity label matching + direct attack on pain points

• Babies should not eat these 5 types of food before they are 3 years old. They have a great impact on their health. Parents should keep them in mind.
• My status at home depends on my bank balance | Young people humiliated by bank balance
• Do you know how many breeds of cats have died in backyards?
• Before marriage, "I support you", after marriage, "I support you"

6. Challenge cognition + break the routine (say the opposite of what you mean)

• As a mother, I never loved my children.
• I finally accepted that my son was an ordinary child.
• Taiwanese snacks really... taste very ordinary.
• Yes, I am the selfish woman who divorced and doesn’t want children!
• Have you eaten plastic today?

7. Highly insightful opinions/phenomena + direct quotations

• "On the fifth day after giving birth, I was admitted to the ICU"
• "I'm sorry, what I want is marriage, not targeted poverty alleviation"
• "In my mother's eyes, my life is over"
• “You’re good, but you’re fired.”

8. Hot topics + sharp opinions

• A former colleague with an annual salary of 600,000 yuan is seriously ill. He said frankly: Extreme self-discipline is self-destruction. No matter how hard you work, you must cherish your life.
• 52-year-old Sichuan man took the college entrance examination 23 times, sparking heated discussion: Pointless struggle is a waste of life
• Middle-aged mothers can no longer afford Dior: The competition between women starts from their children's cram schools
• A Nanjing guy fell drunk in a subway station and burst into tears: The adult world is too hard, you need the right to collapse

9. Highlights first + stating surprising facts

• 21.8 trillion tons! NASA discovered a dense foreign object near Chang'e 4, which is 6 times larger than Wuhan City
• "Mom, let's get a divorce. Stop pretending!" A letter from a 15-year-old high school girl | True story
• Don’t waste this summer! 8 documentaries to help your children learn about astronomy and geography
• The "Break" Post-90s Generation May Be China's Most Mentally Healthy Generation

Please remember four key words: curiosity, suspense, unique perspectives, and subversion.

In addition, if you read a lot of popular titles, you will find that there are always one or two keywords in these titles, which can quickly attract you. Your hands are faster than your brain, and you click on them unconsciously.

For example, the following popular headlines from Xiaohongshu make you want to click in and take a look, right?

This is also a very critical method. I always mention this point every time I talk to others about the title, which is——

The title needs to contain one or more keywords that can directly stimulate the user, quickly stimulate the brain, and "electric shock" at first glance. I call it the title trigger word.

Corresponding to my point of view, there is a quick trick to test the title:

• You can break down all the keywords in your title, remove useless auxiliary words, and then see if there are one or more triggering words that can immediately attract attention.
• Then feel whether these refined trigger words are strong enough. If they are not stimulating enough, then we need to strengthen them.

You see, many people who create content for Xiaohongshu and Douyin will deliberately collect keywords for popular titles. This is the reason.

In short, this way, you will have a method to follow when writing the title, and you won’t be completely clueless.

Finally, let me say a little more. Everyone knows that the title is important, but the more important something is, the more time it takes to polish. Methods and techniques are just tools, and any results need to be tested and summarized.

The method is the method, the result is the result. It is effective but not a shortcut.

A title is a title, and a hot article is a hot article. They are related but not equal.

Well, if this article is helpful to you, please click on "Watching" for me, thank you!