All about content writing is great, but it is ultimately getting that content shared that impacts your conversion rates. Because of this, it is important to produce content that has the best chance of creating engagement. Social shares have a huge impact on everything from brand recognition to SEO. Don't you want to produce content that gets bottom line results? Here are 7 types of content that your audience is more likely to share with others.
1. Memes
Memes are the internet's version of a clever one liner. A familiar picture or drawing and a few lines of text can convey hilarity, disgust, happiness, skepticism, and a whole host of other sentiments. The beauty of a meme is that your audience is either going to be familiar enough with the image and what it is meant to convey that they will 'get it' immediately, or if it's a new meme they understand it after a bit of thought. If you can find a popular meme and organically add your own messaging to it, you're going to reach a wider audience. If you are thinking of using memes, here are a few things to consider:
- Younger audiences love memes as do those who are interested in technology and entertainment.
- Memes might fall flat with an older or more conservative audience.
- You can use a meme builder to create memes from popular images or from your own image.
Finally, make sure that you do some research before you use a meme. You want your audience laughing with you because you used a meme to creatively make a point. You don't want them laughing at you because you used a meme that you clearly didn't understand.
2. Lists
'The Top 10 Reasons You Aren't Losing Weight', 'The 5 Best Holiday Destinations for 2015', '7 Delicious Cake Recipes For Your Next Birthday Bash', all of these have one thing in common. They are headlines that let readers know that they are about to get hit with some serious list content. Lists tend to generate a lot of shares because they are easy to skim through, and really mobile friendly. Lists are also generally easy to create, which means more content published more often. That is always a good thing.
3. Infographics
Infographics are a combination of pictures and words that are used to educate or inform readers about a particular topic. A few infographics that have gone viral on social media include the following:
- What Happens to Your Body When You Drink Diet Cola
- What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Eating Sugar
- 52 of The Most Common Myths and Misconceptions Debunked
- 23 Dangers of Sleep Deprivation
Each of these infographics earned an extraordinary amount of shares on social media. There are tools that will help you create original infographics, or you share popular infographics to get your audience engaged.
4. Videos
Watching a video is a great way to learn about complicated subjects without enduring the strenuous task of reading lots of text. This is a good thing because the attention span of the average internet user is dropping. Videos are easy to consume, memorable, and they can be quite persuasive. Some popular forms of videos include, do it yourself, product demonstrations, interviews, and videos depicting life at a particular location. YouTube is also a popular format for people to upload short films that they have created that are often humorous, or touching.
5. Long Form Content
Of course, not all content needs to be short and aimed for a low attention span audience to be shared. Long form blog posts that exceed 1500 words also tend to generate a lot of shares. This is the kind of content that tends to be distributed to the decision makers in organizations, and to those who have jobs or interests that require more in depth understanding of a particular than one can glean from a short blog post, or infographic.
6. How to Posts
If you have ever used Google to search for how to complete a particular task, you're search engine results were probably full of links to how to websites such as WikiHow, or Instructables. These websites, and also websites such as Lifehacker, are popular because they are full of posts that provide easy to follow steps to get something done. Great how to posts are full of both text instructions and images, making them ideal for sharing with others.
7. Pictures
Content that is almost entirely image based is more likely to be shared than text based content. It is for this reason that social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, and SnapChat are so popular. Compelling images, especially personal photographs, gets a lot of shares.