Do you struggle with content?
Do you know where to get compelling content?
Is your content worthy of sharing?
We’ve all been there — you hit publish on a blog post, status update on Facebook, tweet this on twitter and expect the social shares, page views, retweets and agreeable comments to start rolling in. But sometimes you get pure silence. Why?
There’s a lot of content published, and we must admit it’s a bit noisy at times. Using social media and content to market your business isn’t a new concept, so just doing the bare minimum won’t cut it. Today it takes more effort than simply publishing content and doing your typical marketing to reach your audience and generate leads.
Your content needs to stand out. It has to rise above the noise and get found.
EMOTION
A recent study of 7,500 New York Times articles completed by the Wharton Business School tried to identify factors that made content viral. They discovered a strong relationship between emotion and content going viral.
The study’s most-shared content garnered a strong connection in the reader, igniting one of six key emotions:
- Joy
- Fear
- Surprise
- Sadness
- Anger
- Disgust
Word of caution here. Be clear about the kinds of emotions you want associated with your brand.
The content will market itself if it provokes enough of a strong reaction by the reader. Consider what content you’ve read or created that provoked an action, and use this idea to create some seriously emotion-provoking content.
HEADLINES MATTER
No matter what kind of a website you have, the one thing that is always true is that your headlines are really important. Headlines affect things like user engagement, readability, conversions, SEO, social sharing, and even click-throughs.
• 80% of people will read a headline, but only 20% of people will read the article. Whether or not you snag that extra 80% depends on the magnetism of your headline.
• A really good headline can spike your traffic by 500%.
So … what makes a great headline? It’s similar to writing a great subject line for email marketing. Think about the four “U’s” that Copyblogger teaches us about great subject lines and headlines:
- Useful: Why is the blog post valuable?
- Ultra-specific: What can I expect to learn from the blog post?
- Unique: Why is this blog post compelling and unique?
- Urgent: Why should I read this NOW?
Be sure to incorporate all four of these qualities in every headline that you write, and people will be more prone to continue sharing your content across social media.
COMPELLING CONTENT CREATION TIPS
Source: Infographic by Websearchseo
About Blair
Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1.3 Billion in sales annually.
Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.
Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.
The Race is ON! – Get into the Game and WIN!
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