golden girlsIn the late 1980s, you could often find me humming the theme song to The Golden Girls. Admittedly, I’m singing it as I write this. The show’s catchy tune, “Thank You for Being a Friend,” summed up everything the show was really about: amazing friends that went through everything together and came out stronger. Despite potential age differences, we can all relate to the lives and struggles of The Golden Girls.

Over the years, The Golden Girls became one of America’s best classic sitcoms because it incorporated comedy, drama, friendship, and a touch of humanity. Let’s take a look at what The Golden Girls can teach us about creating great content.

  • Humor makes good content great. Sophia, my favorite Golden Girl, was the endearingly honest – although blunt – matriarch of the bunch whose presence was always accompanied by laughs and a bit of hard-earned wisdom. When writing content, adding humor is one of the best ways to make your content engaging to the reader. Tastefully placed humor makes the reader laugh and keep reading to find out what you’ll say next.

  • Add some suspense. One of my favorite episodes of The Golden Girls involves the entire bunch becoming shipwrecked on what they believe is a deserted island. Although the problem is resolved and everything returns back to normal, the entire episode had viewers wondering, “How are they going to get themselves out of this one?” While I’m not recommending you tell your readers you’re blogging from a seaside cave, adding an element of suspense in your content can help spruce up its appeal. Are you launching a new product? Offering a new service? Considering taking the company another direction? Tease your readers with tidbits of information hinting at something new and watch the view count rise.

  • Be friendly. The Golden Girls is a story of best friends who live, laugh, and overcome challenges together. Unless your business is market research, your audience isn’t looking at your blog to read an industry report, research paper, or get detailed statistics about your company. With your audience does want is a friendly voice that speaks to them on a human level, not as a business or customer. When writing content, make sure to keep a friendly tone that will make your readers feel at ease.

  • Make your content relevant. The Golden Girls, through their many trials and tribulations, provided the American audience with their version of how to deal with a problem. Although this bunch of best friends may have not handled every situation perfectly, audience members were able to relate to the many problems the bunch faced, such as dating, finances, and loss. In order to get your content read (and loved), your audience needs to be able to identify with it.

How can the Golden Girls’ approach spice up your content?