Social shares are the gateway to greater content marketing popularity.
Content marketing is only as powerful as the visibility you can get for your content. Even if you have amazingly written, detailed articles, you may not see an uptick in traffic or reputational benefits if no one is discovering those pieces.
One of the best gateways to greater content visibility is getting shares on social media; each share increases the reach of your content, and increases the possibility of further shares. With enough of a cascade, your post could go viral.
But what types of content tend to get the most shares?
- Valuable content. “Valuable” can mean different things to different people, so it’s important to know the values of your target audience. Sometimes, the most valuable content is entertaining. Other times, it’s informative. As long as you’re providing something meaningful and desired to your audience, you’ll be doing good.
- Concise content. Social media isn’t a place for long diatribes and book-length discussions. It’s a place for concise interactions, so concise content tends to perform better. Short videos and tight written posts are ideal.
- Emotional content. People are much more likely to share content that evokes some kind of emotional reaction in them. Content that makes them angry, sad, joyous, or any other extreme emotion will appeal to them, and motivate them to share it with their friends.
- Surprising content. Similarly, people love to share surprises. Videos with surprise endings and written articles with unexpected assertions are great fodder for earning social shares. Do something unique that people can’t easily see coming.
- Controversial content. Controversial content is also great for shares; not only does it evoke an emotional reaction, it also invites comments and discussions, which are similar gateways to higher visibility on social media.
It’s hard to engineer content to get lots of shares, but it’s useful to embed as many positive qualities as you can. If you need help planning or executing a content marketing strategy, with or without the help of social media, contact us for a free quote today!
