Shareable content is a gateway to success in content marketing. If you can get your followers to share your content regularly, or in high enough volume, you'll gain access to thousands of new potential followers, earn tons of referral traffic. You will also gain permanent links that boost your domain authority and potential to rank higher in Google searches, says Jayson DeMers, founder and CEO of AudienceBloom, a content marketing firm.
His tips come in handy because many agents and sales advisers rely on personal channels, such as their Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook to promote their services. They also share general information such as economic outlook for the year, financial trends and in Asia, even fengshui and horoscope tips. How then, does one post content that would encourage readers to share and thus gain one more followers?
Technical factors
Mr DeMers notes from industry research that there are some common traits to content that gets shared frequently. Videos, quizzes, and list-based articles tend to get more shares than other types of content, possibly because they’re relatively quick and easy to digest. However, they earn fewer links, presumably for the same reasons. On the other end of the spectrum, even though 85% of content contains 1,000 words or fewer, the 15% of content that contains more than 1,000 words gets far more shares and links.
Most importantly, the number of shares different posts receive do not represent an average; instead, there are a handful of “outlier” posts that get a disproportionately large number of links and shares, while the majority of content gets nothing. This is important--it suggests that you’re better off creating a handful of standout pieces than a large number of mediocre ones.
Core Motivations
According to a report by UCLA researchers, more “buzzworthy” ideas are associated with specific regions of the brain, indicating there’s a neurological component to the types of content and ideas we like to share. Overall, this urge to share tends to creep up with three main “types” of content—those that fulfill one or more of the following functions:
- Utility. We like to share content that we deem useful or helpful in certain situations, like "life hacks", as they help to make daily life easier.
- Entertainment. Entertaining pieces of content make us laugh, be amused, and share that positive experience with others.
- Inspiration. Interesting and inspirational content that pique our curiosity or stimulate or creativity encourage us to reach out to others.
The Role of Emotion
Mr DeMers says that according to research from the journal Psychological Science, and perhaps unsurprisingly, our emotional responses to content can play a massive role in whether or not we choose to share that content with others. But it isn’t exactly a straightforward relationship, because readers are likely to share content associated with both strong negative or positive emotions. It’s tough to conclude for sure, but generally those posts triggerin stronger emotions lead to higher share volumes.
The Role of Surprise
Our tendency to share content may also be linked to how our brains are wired to process surprises, says Mr DeMers. Surprises are an experience of novelty, meaning we saw something we didn’t expect or learned something we didn’t know. Sharing surprises with others is a good way to update the group about a new threat or a new resource. But it also works well for a surprising punchline at the end of a long video. Surprises are also linked to memory, which gives you the added benefit of making your brand more memorable in the process.
What does it all mean?
So what does this all mean for you create content that people want to share?
- Opt for digestible posts (or pack them with detail). Short and concise posts work well, as do long, detailed, rich posts—there’s very little middle ground for sharability.
- Consider your purpose. Useful, entertaining, and interesting posts tend to perform best.
- Evoke strong emotions. Positive emotions work best, but most strong emotions result in higher share volumes.
- Give your readers a surprise. People love to share surprises with each other.
And we'd just add to Mr DeMer’s tips: if you can afford it, there’s no harm in holding your very own Facebook giveaway contest or put up some boosted (paid) posts once in a while. But note that once you get your subscribers, you would still need quality content in the long term, in line with the tips above, to sustain their following and sharing.