Learn More About Creating Viral Content that Gets Social Shares
Content marketing (like blog posts, social media posts, and email newsletters) is a great way to gain increased visibility for your business or organization.
However, creating that content is only worthwhile if people are reading and sharing your information.
So, how can you encourage online readers to share your content across their personal channels? Luckily, there’s somewhat of a science to creating viral, shareable content. Keep reading to learn more about using these tactics to your own advantage.
1. Write share-worthy headlines
Did you know that writing shareable headlines is part art and part science? It’s true — creativity helps, but there are also tried-and-true headline formulas that get results.
Buffer published a comprehensive post about data-backed tips for writing better headlines. These simple tricks could amplify your content, and they’re worth reading about.
2. Use screenshots, quality images, infographics, and other visuals
Online readers want to see more than giant, dense blocks of text. They need visuals to help them remember the information you’re presenting and to keep their attention from drifting away.
For example, screenshots are very helpful when presenting certain information, like how to use a piece of software. Quotes placed over an image are easy to make with a service like Canva, and readers love to share quotes superimposed on quality photos.
Do you need some data to back up this claim? Hubspot compiled a fascinating list of 37 visual content marketing statistics for 2016. Here’s one statistic that’s directly related to making your content more shareable: Visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content.
3. Make sharing your content easy
Are you making it easy for readers to share your content with their networks? It’s a simple step that many businesses neglect, but the fix is easy enough.
Simply add a social sharing plugin to your blog, for example. These plugins even count the number of ‘likes,’ shares, Tweets, and more, and when viewers see that other people liked or shared something, they’re more likely to do the same. Research has proven that “very small signals of social influence” can create a snowball effect, especially in terms of likes and upvotes on content.
4. Use proven writing techniques that prompt sharing
There are also a variety of effective techniques that you can use in your writing to make your content more shareable. These include:
Write with personality, or your brand’s unique voice.
Try to trigger an emotion, whether it’s happy, angry, entertained, or something else entirely.
Ask your customers and readers what they want to read about. It’s a simple tactic, but if you have a large enough audience it can be very effective. You might even want to offer a coupon code or discount to prompt more people to share their thoughts.
Share new, innovative data. You can even share results from your own surveys and polls. Again, offering something in return for survey-taking will get you more results.
Create content that teaches the reader something tricky, or helps solve a common problem.
And lastly, don’t forget to publish your content on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media networks to prompt even more sharing.
