These amazing tactics will get your content shared

Conversions, high open rates, and high average time on page are the dream of every marketer. Social shares can skyrocket those metrics. In this post on Digital Rose, I'll show you how to get your content shared.

Make people want to read your content

Before we even talk about getting shares you need to make people read your content. 80% of them read the headline and the rest 20% - the copy. 

59% will share without reading the article. This means you’ll need to step up your headline game.

How to catch attention with your post?

There аre many formulas for writing headlines. Everyone is a proven professional. When you read some articles on the topic you will get the main idea. BuzzSumo has done it in their research:

• How to…
• The future of…
• You need to…
• Why you should…
• Can learn from…

These are the top choices for your headline. Here are several more:

• Top ways to…
• 7 best…
• 10 ways to…

How to write headlines that make people read your content?

Let’s talk about how to write headlines. They’ll make people read your content or at least skim through it. Here are some of my top tips:

1.     What benefits do readers get?

You have to give your readers something. Here are some things they want:

• to learn new information
• have fun
• understand some concepts

 If you have a digital marketing blog you’ll have to provide your people with how-to guides, explanations about different marketing strategies and tools, and so on.

2.     Numbers are your way to visitors’ hearts

People love numbers. Here’s an example:

• How I got my website from 10,000 subscribers to 600,000 subscribers
• How I grew my website’s fan base

You’d rather open the first one, right? The same rule applies to the usage of statistics

3.     Trigger their pains

What are your audience's pains? Why do they come to your website? Answer these questions and you’ll know what type of content to produce.

4.     Arouse their curiosity

The best way to do it is through your headlines. Give people a small piece of the information and leave them begging for more.

5.     Mistakes are your way to success

No one likes to make mistakes /I do/. Use this fact to create engaging posts. If you write for the failure of a famous person, your statistics will skyrocket. It will be even better to write about your own mistakes.

6.     Don’t write for SEO, nor for people. Write for both

Although SEO is great, don’t get obsessed. Your content isn’t written for robots but for your audience. 

The SEO rules usually are helpful for readers: bullet points, headlines, shorter paragraphs, etc. Other things like keyword optimization may not have a positive impact on your audience. Try to meet the needs of both parties.

7.     Use clichés 

You are taught to stay away from cliché content. Well, I encourage you to do the opposite. Why?

Because people will always search for clichés: 

• The best songs for…
• How to get six packs?
• How to be more productive
• How to fight mood swings

You may think that your chances to rank for these terms are negligible. No! The skyscraper technique will be your best friend. Search for the top pieces of content and try to outperform them.

8.     Use power words

Power words in the copy and the headline grab the attention faster. Here’re examples:

• The best
• Top
• Ultimate
• Unique
• Amazing

What motivates readers to share content?

Readers share the content of those who they know, trust, and like. But the chances of getting your content shared have to do more with the relationships of your readers with others than with you.

The most common reasons we share content are:

1. To bring value and/or entertainment to others. 49% state that they share content to show products they like, to share opinions, to encourage actions.
2. 68% of people share content to give a better the idea of who they are /personality traits, what they care about/
3. 78% share content to nourish their relationships with others
4. 84% share to support causes or issues they care about
5. 73% of the interviewed say that they share content because that way they process the information better and faster

Good first impression leads to a good social impression

The average human being has an attention span of eight seconds. That is how much time you have to keep people read your content.

The headline is a top priority but so is the introduction of your post. They are the first impression.

Here are some tips on how to write hooking introductions:

• Use statistics
• Start with the end in mind
• Give a summary of the post without giving away from the surprise
• Something personal. It happened to you in your life
• Something funny /or poignant/

To learn more about the art of writing great read this CoSchedule post.

Keep an eye on what is trending now

You have to write in your niche and write what you’re passionate about. But sometimes that isn’t a good idea. You know that you create content for your audience, right? 

What you want to write about may not be your audience's desire. Go check Google Trends to find out what are the most popular topics now. Try to post in the first 30 minutes of them being trending.

Add a visual type of content

People learn more efficiently when written information is presented visually.:

• Videos
• Infographics
• Charts
• Diagrams
• Photos

A lecture and reading are the least efficient ways to learn.

You can get royalty-free images from:

• Pixabay
• Unsplash
• Gratisography
• Morguefile

And create infographics on:

• Canva
• Piktochart
• BitVisme
• Visme
• Snappa

And best of all – create some videos! I know some of you hate recording video content /are lazy to do so/ but it can increase conversions by 80%. Plus, the visual type of content will improve the average time on page.

Make your content easy to read

It doesn’t matter how good is your writing if people can’t find the information they’re looking for.

Large chunks of text - Images - Video - Bullet points - H2/H3/H4 headings = Low engagement + Low average time on page

This looks like a chemical reaction and it is. The only condition is to give the starting materials enough time and “Voila!” You’ve got the anti-share formula.

Here is what smarter people will do instead:

• Divide the information into small paragraphs /2-4 lines/
• Use headings and subheadings to help readers navigate through the information
• Use a visual representation of the text content
• Use bullet points and/or numeration
• Use statistics

I know you’re smart and will do the right thing /it’s the second one/.

Encourage high-arousal emotions

Content that evokes emotions is much more likely to be shared by your audience. That’s what Noah Kagan's study showed. He analyzed the top 10,000 most shared pieces of content. The emotions linked to the top 3 articles were:

• Awe (25%)
• Laughter (17%)
• Amusement (15%)

Based on the New York Times research the primary motive behind why people share content is to improve the lives of our close ones.

Here is another interesting thing: 

If an advertisement triggers more negative emotions, that will be great.

Angry, annoyed, affected users are sharing like crazy! Yet, this may be crucial for your brand and/or company. 

There are cases when offended customers break down the company's image of fluff and dust. Be careful when you play with fire.

So, read your content before publishing it. If it doesn’t make you feel anything, some editing may be a good idea.

Write useful content to help your visitors

Most of the cases people read posts because they want to learn something. 

In your case, it may be different. Understand what your the audience wants and give it to them.

If you run a photography website visitors may want to see something different than just photos. Provide them with thorough guides on how to create great portraits, how to edit photos, etc.

My content's purpose is to teach you how to use different marketing tools, how to create marketing strategies, etc.

Help influencers and they will help you (and your content)

One of the most popular social media platforms is Instagram with over a billion users.

Its kings and queens are the influencers. Their task is, well to influence people. Many brands benefit from high-tier influencers. They promote their products and services to a huge number of followers.

This is a golden opportunity for you as well. Before you start stressing about paying a top influencer to promote your content, look at what I can offer you. 

Smaller businesses rely on micro-influencers. Their auditory isn’t made of 700,000 people but 1,000-100,000 is ideal for your needs.

Search micro-influencers by hashtags or use some apps like Kicksta.

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