Do you currently have a content marketing strategy? You’ve probably heard the infamous marketing saying that ‘Content is King’. It’s true that consumer thirst for good content has never been more rampant. But are you currently creating content without a structured system of building virality and greater levels of social sharing into it? If you are, then you’re truly missing a trick! There’s now a scientifically proven and tested method of getting your content more widely shared and talked about. Read on to find out more…
If you’ve been following me for any period of time, then you’ll know that I’m a huge advocate of content. More specifically, content that is highly shared and talked about, both online and offline. And that I rank virality of content as one of the single most important components of your marketing that you should be striving for. I’m going to run through some reasons why this is so important. Let’s get started.
Why is a good content marketing strategy so important?
Why do I think developing a strong content marketing strategy is important? Because for me, this is ‘clever’ marketing. Anyone can easily and quickly learn how to run ads on Facebook or Google. Or perhaps some other paid advertising platforms and/or channels. But the problem I have with this approach is that, generally speaking, you’re paying for all of the traffic that you drive to your website. And in this age of mass consumer content consumption and engagement — for me, that just doesn’t make good sense. It’s not good for your budget, and it’s not doing anything special for your brand advocacy either. Let’s think about why for a second.
Why a great content marketing strategy is so powerful these days
People these days want great content. Especially in this day and age, in video format. And great content means content that’s engaging, interesting, educational and inspiring. These happen to be the very same qualities that also make people want to share content with others.
It makes them look good, by improving their social currency and making them seem interesting and intelligent in front of their friends, relatives, peers and other personal contacts and associates. And this is something you can really use to your advantage.
It’s a match made in heaven. Which is why I shall continue to push you to learn how shared content that goes viral is created, distributed and nurtured. Because this can have a seriously profound impact on your marketing when done well. So be sure to implement what you learn here into your business moving forward.
But where do you start with this type of content marketing strategy?
Well, you need to understand what goes into a piece of highly sharable, viral content. So that you can start to create some yourself for your company. This is probably not as difficult as you might think.
Luckily, there’s a set formula and criteria for doing just that, and this is what I’m going to cover in the remainder of this article. Pay close attention, because if you get this right, it could just prove to be the most profitable and cost-effective marketing and sales initiative you’ve ever implemented into your business. It’s that powerful.
The 6 principles of creating highly sharable content
It’s possible these days to get huge amounts of organic views, comments and likes on a piece of content without paying for many of them. If something about your content makes people share and want to tell others all about it, then it could end up going viral. Or at the very least, get hundreds or even thousands of organic views and engagements. And you wouldn’t have had to even pay for most of them. Now that’s smart marketing. Which is the kind of marketing we love.
But did you know that there is actually a scientifically-proven methodology and criteria that you can follow? This examines what makes people share and talk about companies and their products, services and initiatives. It’s broken down into 6 key principles that I’m going to summarise for you now.
Principle 1: Social Currency
If you want people to share and talk about your content more, then you need to provide them with content that they can’t resist telling others about. Because that makes them look good in front of their friends, relatives, work colleagues, and other contacts and associates that they are keen to impress. It’s key to build this into your content marketing strategy.
People share and talk about things with others when they know that it’s going to make them look intelligent, refined, ‘in-the-know’, and up-to-date with what’s happening in the world. Or even within a specific industry and sector that their peers have some kind of interest in. And it also helps if along the way, they know that the content they share is going to make others laugh. Or feel some other strong sense of emotion that is favourable such as Awe or Inspiration.
So be sure to tap into these emotions and feelings. Make it clear to your target audience that they can make others feel them too, through sharing your content. This is one of the key components that triggers lots of content sharing – so it’s a vital thing for you to focus on.
Principle 2: Triggers
One often overlooked component of getting significant numbers of people to share and talk about your content, is Triggers.
Research has shown that Triggers can be extremely powerful. They remind people to talk about your company and content that you have produced. When there is some kind of physical trigger and/or stimulus within the environment of the target audience, people are reminded about your product or service. This could be anything from items with a specific practical use such as carrier bags, key-rings or pens. Or it could be more quirky items that really stand out because of their unusual use or features. Things like custom products that you design and create.
The important point is that you need something within the environment of your target audience that is clearly visible. And visible all the time, on a frequent basis.
It also helps if this trigger causes people to ask, ‘What on earth is that?’. Once that kind of question gets asked, you know you’re onto a winner. Typically anyone within hearing distance of the question will hear all about where the item came from. Which will no-doubt include a reference back to your company and your products and services. And this is exactly what you are aiming for. This is how you generate more word-of-mouth and social sharing offline. It’s often very much down to Triggers.
Principle 3: Emotion
This one will probably come as no surprise to you. Emotion is the one thing that drives us as humans more than anything else in the world. So it makes perfect sense that this simply has to be an essential component of any piece of content or campaign that goes viral.
The key here is not just to find ways to incorporate emotion into your content. But to focus on certain kinds of emotion that are proven to make people share and talk about content more than others. These ‘golden’ emotions are ‘Awe’, ‘Anger’ and ‘Humour’. These are the key emotions you need to focus on.
It’s worth noting that for this type of content to work, the emotion contained within it does not have to be positive. Research has shown that negative emotions can work just as well when it comes to getting people to share and talk about your content.
Getting the context right
But of course, the negative emotion has to be in the right context. For example, you obviously don’t want people to be angry at your company or brand. But if you incite negative emotions like anger in people towards a specific issue, action or event, this can work exceptionally well.
This is about helping to spread awareness of an issue outside of your company, that significant numbers of other people will get behind. If they get angry about something you are supporting and helping to promote, this is where is can work really well. They’ll tell others about what’s making them angry, and mention your company and brand in the process. This is where virality and social sharing can come from.
If you can unearth the kind of stories and narratives for your content that cause the most word-of-mouth, then the results could be outstanding. So work on developing content about things people have done, challenges they have overcome, and ways in which they have helped others or defied conventional logic or reason. These are the kinds of things that people just love to share and talk about.
Principle 4: Public
If you want to garner lots of word-of-mouth and the levels of social sharing that can often accompany it, then there are some key things you need to do. You need to make your products, company and brand highly visible within the environment of your target audience. And this means finding ways to show off your company logo and branding out there in the world. So that the right people get to see it, and start asking questions about what it means and where the content has originated from.
There are some great examples of how companies and brands have done this in the past. From Apple agonising over which way up to put the famous logo on their laptops. (Should it be the right way up for the user opening the laptop, or the person who views the device from across the room?). To virtually all big brands providing carrier bags with their logo and branding prominently displayed across them. These are all methods of getting your brand and content seen by countless people.
But even as a small company, you can employ exactly the same tactics to tap into this key principle for gaining valuable word-of-mouth and social sharing for your company. Simply look for ways to display your companies logo and branding within the environment of your target audience.
Principle 5: Practical Value
There is another powerful reason why people share and talk about content to others. It’s when that content contains a high amount of practical value. Meaning that it focuses on something that is genuinely useful and valuable to the people that it was aimed at.
This works well, as it’s another way in which people can make themselves look good to others by passing on information that’s of real benefit and value. So the emphasis here when you are producing content should be on effectively tapping into any expertise and insider knowledge that you have inside your company. Provide people with the kind of information and educational content that they would struggle to find easily elsewhere.
If you can create this kind of content that possesses these key characteristics, then you significantly increase the chances of your content getting talked about offline. And also being widely shared and engaged with. Which is the holy grail of this type of content marketing strategy, and can lead to some extraordinary results.
Principle 6: Stories
The final principle that we will cover in this article that is one of the key components of content that gets widely shared and talked about, is stories.
What you have to focus on here, is wrapping up your key messaging about your company and your products and services in stories. This means creating narratives that provide people with interesting, engaging and emotionally stimulating material that they can pass onto others.
The key to unlocking the immense power of this principle lies in managing to unearth those awe-inspiring, inspirational and moving stories within your company. You need to find out how customers use and benefit from your products, and find the hidden gold within your user base. Look for amazing ways that people have benefitted from your company. Are there inspiring things that people have done with your products and services?
Look for the stories within your company and within your customer base that adhere to the above principles. As they are likely to get people talking and inspire people to share and push your messages out to other people. Which is exactly what you want.
So how does your content marketing strategy stack up?
After reading the above, how do you think your current content marketing strategy fairs? Have you done anything in the past to create viral content and get it widely shared? And are you doing anything like this now?
If not, then do try and create this kind of content moving forward. Then get it out into your target audience and see what happens. It can have an incredibly affect on your marketing. So do give it a try now and let me know how you get on. I’ll help further in any way that I can.
Conclusion regarding this aspect of your content marketing strategy
I hope that the above has given you some great inspiration and direction on how you can start to produce better content. Content that gets much more widely shared and talked about, both offline, as well on online. This should be a key part of your content marketing strategy.
If you follow the principles outlined above, you should find that your content gets more traction and organic reach amongst your targeted audience. Without any of the high costs associated with other forms of marketing.
Do let me know how you get on with following these principles and guidelines. And be sure to let me know any questions, thoughts and feedback that you have in the comments section below. I’d be very keen to hear your opinions and experiences and follow up with some personalised advice and guidance for you. Good luck with your word of mouth and social sharing.
Want to learn more about content marketing? Check out the Content Marketing Institute website – it’s a hive of fantastic information and help.
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