It’s no secret that creating sharable content is essential to blogging, but how can you ensure that your online content is too good to pass up?
Since the inception of the Internet, users have been racing to be innovators in their field. The first website owners, the first online retailer, the first popular bloggers; it’s a sprint that continues to this day. The Internet is a brave new world of content creation, and everybody wants a piece of the pie.
With this in mind, let’s talk about how to make sure that you get your slice. You have your content, but that’s only the first step. To spice up your blog marketing, you need content that resonates with readers and prods them into telling their friends. Given how ensnared the online world is in social media, this wouldn’t seem like a difficult task, but how can you be sure that what you put out will get spread around?
Authenticity
The first step towards your goal of creating imminently sharable content is the step that so many people struggle with — being original!
We tend to follow trends for what’s worked in the past, but when you try to replicate others, you’ll always be in their shadow. Get creative with your content and don’t be afraid to write posts that showcase your own personality and voice. Nobody likes reading boring articles, and an injection of personality can go a long way towards making your content something that people share.
You’re the Expert
Emboldened by the previous paragraph, you now feel ready to begin blogging with original content in your own unique voice. From here, you need to take your topic and own it. Why should the readers trust your opinion over the hundreds of others out there?
Because you’re the expert. Make the topic your niche so that you’re the authority that people trust. By knowing your content inside and out, you’ll find that you won’t have to share your message to get it out there — your readers will search for you.
Laser-Targeted Relevancy
However, as we mentioned above, more content doesn’t necessarily make it more sharable. Don’t just create more; create something more relevant to your readers. You should have some idea of who your target audience is by now. Create content specifically for them and you’ll earn yourself more followers by virtue of how well you know your readers.
This applies not only to what you say, but also how you deliver it. Everyone prefers to view media in different ways. Use data analytics to track what your top performing content medium is and provide more of it. Your readers will appreciate you without ever knowing why.
Brand Loyalty
When you have your own style and provide specific content for your readers, you’re doing more than just putting words out into the ether. You’re building a trusted connection with them, which is not something to take lightly.
Image and research from Fivestars.com
A customer loyalty study conducted by Fivestars highlights the importance of this by noting that20 percent of your customer base (your loyal followers) can generate up to 80 percent of your total revenue. By following you and reposting your content, they’re putting their faith in your words — something far more valuable than acquiring a couple more followers.
People become highly attached to brands that they like, and will vehemently defend their choices in the face of opposition. Take advantage of this and use your personalized style and targeted content to build up a following of disciples willing to defend your brand to the death. Once you have them, don’t betray that trust by spamming them with irrelevant content and messages that contradict what brought them there in the first place.
Work Smarter
Once everything else has fallen into place, you can begin utilizing several other techniques to guarantee that your content is as sharable as the common cold:
- Create actionable content: That is, content that gives purpose to your readers and provides them with the desire to act on your suggestions
- Repackage: Take small bits of content you find from larger sources, optimize it to make it relevant to your audience and repackage it in your own personal voice. In many cases, the work is already done for you
- Use statistics and data: They’ve been proven to add value and provide exceedingly sharable takeaways, giving your content a greater sense of legitimacy
Conclusion
While creating sharable content is often easier said than done, you can improve your odds by using a unique, original style, creating relevant content and promoting loyalty of your brand to keep your followers coming back to find more tidbits to share.
Creating sharable content can be effectively done in a variety of ways. Let us know how you’ve managed it in the comments below!
