Of all the responsibilities you have as an online content marketer, there is nothing more difficult than getting people to share your stuff. This is observable on all major platforms, even on large accounts with millions of followers. There are a number of things people do to get those all-important shares, but sometimes what you’re doing could be precisely what is keeping it from happening.
In this business, the first and most important thing that needs to be considered is whether your content is shareable. I’ve done other pieces on this subject, so I will leave it to you to scroll through the blog for them. Today, I want to approach the same issue from a different – and very important – angle. What sorts of things are you doing that are stalling the process? I have several ideas that you may not have considered until now. As you read, be honest with yourself and pay close attention to the fixes I suggest.
1. You Aren’t Doing Your Research
One of the best ways to know how to produce shareable content is to visit (and even follow) pages with similar themes to your own and see how well their content is performing. If a specific subject isn’t getting any likes or shares, what’s the point of trying to emulate it? Certain subjects get better engagement at specific times than they do at others. Now that Halloween is over, for example, content revolving around costumes, Halloween recipes, and spooky subjects are going to get less play.
That’s just one very obvious example, so apply the details of your own industry or niche to the equation. People consume more content about health and diet right after the first of the year. That means it’s time to start developing that kind of content if that’s your niche. The midterm elections had an impact on various financial markets, so it might be time to deliver a little content on investment forecasts.
The most important part of this process, though, is being certain of what the market wants. You can usually start out with a basic gauge based on past content performance, but there will always bigger considerations. All of the specifics will need constant tweaking to meet market demand. Again, read as many competing blogs as possible and follow as many competing marketers as you can on social media. Take note of what the most popular and successful ones are covering and add your own unique spin to it.
2. You’re Writing for Yourself, Not the Market
This is a huge, and extremely easy, trap for any marketer to fall into. As the guy who fields all the incoming jobs, I’m not about to tell you we won’t write a specific piece because it’s not market-friendly. It is important to understand the demands of the current market and deliver content that gets shared.
This might mean laying aside your personal likes and dislikes and simply developing content that’s marketable. Forget about whether you would like or share the content; that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is how your ideal avatar or buyer would do with it. How likely is that person to share this piece? What else should I be considering? If the content isn’t being shared, what’s the reason? Well, here are a few more possibilities…
3. Your Titles Are Too Generic
Even if your content is list-based, you don’t always have to lead in with “Top 5” anything. Present the subject in a way that you think would pique your audience’s interests. You can always split test and see if the “top 5” strategy works better, too. Remember, this is about learning to understand your market, and in some niches, the list strategy will work well.
By the way, a slight hint of controversy never hurts, either. Come on, admit it: You clicked through to read this piece because of the title, didn’t you? That was by design. See? It works!
4. Your Visuals Are Not Engaging or Original Enough
Even though we’re a copywriting company and not a graphic design firm, I feel it’s important to always look at the big picture (no pun intended) with content. I hate the idea of a client paying money for a good blog post, then failing to get anyone to read it. One of the key reasons that happens is because the visuals you’re pairing with the copy aren’t complimenting it.
As I’ve stated many times before, your visual content strategy will be much stronger if you build copy around visuals, not the other way around. Custom graphics are also a much better option than stock images, but stock can work, too.
If you are using stock images and videos, try to avoid any that you have seen before, especially if they’ve been associated with other content in your niche. There are loads of free stock image sites out there, as well as plenty of royalty-free content that hasn’t already made the rounds. If people see the same images too often, they will scroll past thinking they already saw your content.
5. You Aren’t Asking for Shares
I cannot emphasize how important and how effective a well-presented, simple call to action (CTA) can be when it comes to boosting shares. Just asking your audience to spread your content will increase your shares significantly. You’ll get even further by incentivizing your CTAs with one or more of the following:
• Free Prizes or Contest Entries
• Digital Assets
• Coupon Codes, Discounts, or Other Sales Promotions
• VIP Access to “Inner Circle” Content on Your Website
If none of the above applies to what you’re doing, just focus on asking for the share. You will get much further than if you just throw the content out there and hope for the best. Few people will be proactive enough to share your content unless prompted. That’s why CTAs are so important: Most people will do nothing with your content unless you ask them to.
I hope that these observations are getting the cogs turning and helping you develop a few winning ideas for how to better present your content. If you need more help, BeezContent is here. We have a very talented staff of experienced writers who are waiting to help make your next content marketing campaign a success. Contact us anytime to chat about your project. We’d love to hear from you.
