Go Viral: 9 Ways to Create Shareable Content

One well-established way to get publicity for your company is by word of mouth. Whilst this approach is still definitely very useful, it can be limited to a small circle of people depending on the size of your business. This is where social sharing comes in. If you can create content so good that anyone who reads it on your website or blog wants to share it, then you are expanding your word of mouth recommendations to a much wider and potentially international audience.

We have put together a helpful list of 9 ways to make your inbound content more shareable. Before you start sharing content you may want to think about refreshing what you already have and making sure it’s optimised for any new Google algorithm updates. Also, if you’re new to content creation, it’s good to get an understanding of how content wins leads.

So here are 9 ways to create shareable content and get your message in front of potential customers.

1) Create content that people really want to read:

When creating new content, refer to your buyer personas check what problems your potential customers may have and think about how you can help them. It’s useful to think about the needs of your existing customers, as you want to encourage repeat custom. We all know what it is like to be an existing customer and to be overlooked for new customers.

Make your content as valuable to your intended audience as possible by educating and solving problems. Think about if you would want to read your content. Also, have a look at some of the sites you regularly refer to for industry news and helpful tips. What can you learn from their content style?

2) Tailor your content:

You may feel that the best way to catch the biggest audience is to be as general as possible. But you only have to think about how you use Google to realise this is not the case. When you search online, you use specific words (keywords) to find what you are looking for, which is often a solution to a problem. It helps to think about what keywords a customer might use when looking for an answer to one of their business problems (linked to you product/service). Then you can create content that is optimised around these keywords This is the most common way to win new customers using Inbound.

The key to making your content appealing to your intended audience is to base it on one of your buyer personas and place keywords related to that buyer’s needs in the text (in moderation, of course). Imagine you run a marketing company and you’ve created a Marketing Director buyer persona. Your research tells you that Marketing Directors who fit your buyer persona are concerned about the effectiveness of their Inbound Marketing Strategy. Your keyword research has shown that ‘effective Inbound Marketing content strategies’ is a good long-tail keyword to rank for. To help them discover your website you might create a blog post called, "7 Ways To Supercharge your Inbound Marketing Strategy". For increased SEO impact, you’ll want to get in early with a sentence like, "Creating effective Inbound Marketing content strategies is an area that causes confusion amongst marketers" (and there’s the long-tail keyword in italics). Remember, the more potential customers find your article, the more shares you’ll get and the more business you will win.

So you have checked your content is up-to-date and specific to your target audience, how can you make sure it gets to them?

3) Get the value in the title:

The value of your offering should be evident in the title, to draw your audience in. Also, creating a great title is important for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which will help to get your content in front of potential customers.

4) Get found

There is no point creating great content if your potential customers cannot find you. We have mentioned keywords above but specifically using long tail keywords will really help prospects to find your content over that of your competitors.

5) Be concise:

Visitors to your website or blog may be very pressed for time, so making your content concise means that your message is more likely to resonate with your potential customers. Check that your content delivers what is promised in the title with as much clarity as possible, in 1600 words or less. This means that it should take the average person no more than 7 minutes to read.

6) Think visual:

Images, infographics and videos can all help to make content more attractive and easier to digest, which encourages visitors to view your content for longer. This also makes them more likely to share it through their social media networks, giving you the exposure you are looking for and driving your conversion rate up.

7) Use examples

When you are writing helpful, educational content, it’s good to link to case studies or give direct examples. Provide a link to your website that shows a testimonial from an existing customer, demonstrating how something you have recommended has made a difference to their business. Or, for example, you may be able to provide a downloadable eBook, that takes the customer through a step by step process to implementing an enhancement to their IT system.

By giving examples of where your recommendations have worked, visitors are more likely to use your content and if they have a positive experience, to share your content with their wider circle. This should help to boost your credibility on the industry topic you are discussing and the profile of your business as a whole.

8) Talk to your customers

Your existing customers can be a valuable pool of marketing information. Ask them what sort of content they search for. Find out what of your content they have liked and what they thought needed improvement. Talk to all of your customers, not just the best ones. In this way, you will get a real idea of what content prospective customers in your industry want. Also, your customers will appreciate you consulting them and they may remember this when their next project comes up.

9) Make it easy to share

Make it easy for your visitors to share your content by embedding social media sharing and networking buttons. This will make it quick and easy for your visitors to share your content on their own social and professional networks, getting your name and your company out there and drawing more visitors to your site.

Following the tips above should help you to attract more new visitors to your company using excellent content that converts them into leads and customers.

For more great ideas on how to win clients with Inbound content, download the free Ultimate Inbound Marketing Plan Workbook.