It is common knowledge that there’s more demand for content creation now than ever before. But it’s not only content creation, it’s to create engaging content! This is good news for content marketers because it offers you the opportunity to be more creative and consistently produce more content.
However, even though millions of pieces of content are created, curated, and distributed each day on different platforms, some of it goes viral while many pieces will hardly be shared.
To Create Engaging Content, First Understand Viral Content
So, what makes content go viral? Before we go further into this article and answer that question, let us first identify what viral content is all about.
What is viral content?
Viral content is any type of content – video, infographic, blog post, podcast, etc., that is continuously shared by users on all marketing channels including social media sites.
This content suddenly becomes sensational online material because it is rapidly circulated by consumers and thus, spreads like wildfire.
What makes content go viral?
An infographic by 21st Century Technologies on the anatomy of viral content shows that viral content must be worthy of being circulated across all channels, and must have the capability to solve a particular problem.
The content must add value to your audience and improve their lives. If your content has these elements, then you have a piece of viral content.
Content comes in different formats. As mentioned earlier, it could be in the form of a video, podcast, PDF, blog post, or infographic, to name a few.
These content types are created, curated, and distributed for the purpose of attracting and retaining your readers and prospective customers.
Therefore, to be able to attract and retain readers with your content, it means that your content is attention grabbing or engaging.
So, attention is the way to go. To back this up, the president of advertising for Fox Network said:
“Attention is the new economy. It’s the world’s most valuable resource. You shape hearts and minds only with attention,” –Joe Marchese.
Joe Marchese is right, because attention grabbing content will help you capture the hearts and minds of your audience and turn them into loyal customers who will always advocate for you by distributing your content.
How to Create Engaging Content that Will Go Viral
In this article, you are going to learn simple, effective tips to help you create engaging content that goes viral. Please, continue reading.
1. Identify a topic your audience can’t do without.
The first and foremost step to creating viral content is to identify the type of topic or content your audience loves to read.
Your audience should be the focus of your content creation. Provide what they love to read, the type of content that keeps them engaged.
That’s the beginning of producing viral content. If you’re not able to identify the type of content that engages your readers, whatever other content you produce won’t count.
Identifying the type of content your audience loves to read doesn’t have to be difficult. There are amazing tools that can help you figure out what your readers love to read. Some of the best tools in the marketplace for this include:
In fact, SEMrush won the 2017 US Search Awards. You can read about it here.
Use these amazing research tools to search for keywords and keyword phrases that your readers are always talking about, and tailor your content to harmonize with your search results.
Another way to create content your audience will love is surveys. Surveys are fascinating ways to get to the heart of your readers and draw out the most pressing issues they are facing.
Run a survey on social media groups such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
For example, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger conducted a recent survey on his Facebook group about what type of content his readers would love to read.
The result was stunning, making it a remarkable way to figure out what type of content your readers love to read.
When you create content based on your audience’s response, your content will have a better chance of going viral.
You can use tools to conduct your survey – I personally recommend SurveyMonkey. This is an epic tool that makes conducting surveys a lot easier.
2. Is your headline irresistible?
After you identify what topics and content your audience loves to read, the next step is to craft a catchy headline for your post. But why?
It’s because your headline is the first impression your readers have about your content, and it will indicate whether or not they’ll read the body of content.
According to Copyblogger, about 80% of web visitors may not read your article if your headline is not catchy enough to grab their attention.
A headline is like a door to your content. It gives the reader an idea of what they’re getting into.
If your article headline is not captivating, it’s more likely that visitors to your site will not click to read. In order words, they’re not being welcomed.
But an irresistible headline will definitely attract more clicks and engagement, and best of all, it will help to share your content with followers.
Pro Tip: Ensure that you always craft catchy headlines for your content, as well as sub-headings.
You can use tools such as CoSchedule Headline Analyzer to help you come up with irresistible headlines.
3. Narrow down your niche.
A friend once said to me, “Moss, we strive to write high-quality content for our clients and our audiences, but what we tend to write has already been covered hundreds of times before.”
That is accurate, and that’s where narrowing down your niche comes into play.
What does it mean to narrow down your niche? To narrow down your niche simply means to cut down and/or niche down the topic you want to write about.
That is, to cover other areas – including sub-headings – that other writers are less focused on. In order words, narrow it down into areas no one is writing about.
For instance, let’s say you want to write about “The Benefits of Influence Marketing” and you find out that the topic has already been covered many times by experts in your niche.
You’ll have to narrow it down by focusing on sub-headings on the same topic that have not been covered many times before.
You can also rephrase your topic. That is, instead of writing about “the benefits of influencer marketing” you can write about “what no one tells you about influencer marketing,” or “why you need to invest in influencer marketing.”
4. Promote your content across channels.
It’s common knowledge that people are always plugged into one social media channel or another to consume information.
So, after spending time creating amazing content, you want to share and promote it accordingly. There are many promotional channels where you can share and promote your content, such as:
- Stumble Upon, etc.
These social media platforms offer you the opportunity to promote your content and increase visibility.
Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn groups (for example) are stunning promotional platforms that can boost your content reach and engagement.
So, share your article on groups as well. This will help you create brand awareness, generate leads, and increase engagement. That is virality.
5. Make use of calls-to-action.
The call-to-action has been one of the best ways to make your content go viral. Word-of-mouth has power, so tell people what you want them to do with your content.
Consequently, after you share your content, try to reach out to those in your groups that are relevant to your niche and send them a message, asking them to share your article with their audience.
If you have the budget, invest and promote your content via paid advertising. Paid ads are fascinating because they locate your targeted audience and send your message to them when they’re sure to see it.
6. Are you utilizing BuzzSumo?
I recently watched a short video by Neil Patel on LinkedIn on the subject of “How to make your blog content go viral.”
Among the tips he mentioned was the use of BuzzSumo. In fact, he made clear that he uses BuzzSumo to create viral content – but how?
Neil told viewers that to consistently create viral content, he opens BuzzSumo software and types in a keyword he wants to write about.
BuzzSumo presents him with a list of best performing articles under that keyword. So what does he do with the list?
Neil said he uses the list to create his own version of content that has already gone viral.
For instance, he said that if one of the viral content pieces in the list is “10 ways to write catchy headlines,” for his own version, Patel said that he will write “20 ways to write catchy headlines for your blog post.”
The concept is simple. Use this tool to identify the types of content that have gone viral in your industry, and create your own version.
To Go Viral, First Create Engaging Content
As the demand for more content creation is growing at a rapid and steady pace, the need for valuable and useful content has become the focus of content marketers.
As you see, the world is changing with each passing day, and so does content marketing in the digital space.
Because of these factors, using engaging and attention-grabbing content is the way to go. So, make the creation of engaging content your priority. Creating content that goes viral doesn’t have to be hard!
Will you now make it your goal to create engaging content that can go viral? Let us hear in the comments from you!
