How to Create Content That Your Audience Will Want to Share
When you’re creating content that inspires your audience to share it with their contacts, you’re tapping into an essential source of organic marketing. The fact is people are influenced to purchase from businesses their colleagues and friends recommend. When your emails, videos, newsletters, vlogs, and blogs are shareable, you’re on your way to achieving new followers and increased sales because you’re reaching people who are in the dark about your products and services.
Shareable Content Leads to a Greater Customer Base
When your loyal followers care enough about your content to share it with their friends and colleagues, you’ve reached the next level of marketing success.
Use the following techniques to create content that is too good to not share.
Take your audience on a candid journey back in time.
Think back to when your business was just a thought bouncing around inside your cranium. What inspired you to start your business, and what problems were you trying to solve?
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in business for 18 months or 20 years, your customers will enjoy hearing about what encouraged you to create the business that provides products and/or services that make their life easier, better, or more fulfilled.
Revealing the very early stages of your company is shareable because it’s real. Don’t be shy about discussing mistakes and setbacks you experienced along the way. Every business has growing pains, and your customers will appreciate yours even more once they learn how much heart and soul it has.
Videos and vlogging are tops for sharing!
When you create your first marketing video and see that it’s being circulated by viewers, you’ll know you’ve broken through the barrier that’s been preventing your content from going viral.
Videos continue to be the most lucrative form of content marketing, especially since the advent of the smart phone. Considering shareability, Wordstream.com reports that 92% of people watching videos on mobile will share it with others. Meanwhile, Hubspot.com states that nearly 50% of internet users search for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. When your followers are sharing your vlogs and marketing videos, they are influencing their contacts to purchase from your store!
Be original and authentic!
People are thirsty for content that’s fresh and real, and when they see it, they want to share it. Creating content that’s unique and personable will set your business apart from the competition. However, therein lies the challenge because it’s difficult to come up with something that hasn’t been done before.
If you’re at a loss on what content to present, consider how you’re presenting the content. Try discussing your products or services in a humorous light. After all, laughter is contagious, so when your content succeeds at making someone chuckle, it has a good chance at going viral.
Make sure you’re using the best platform for content sharing.
Prior to publishing your marketing content, you need to decide which platform will result in the most shares.
Email will always be a quick and easy way for people to share content. According to Campaign Monitor’s study of 1000 small business owners, email marketing is ranked as the second most effective medium for building brand awareness. This fact reinforces the idea that email subscribers are the number one resource for introducing businesses to those who aren’t yet aware of it. Plus, you can’t beat the level of trust an email from a colleague provides, so the receiver is likely to open it and view the content—and then choose to forward your marketing email to their contacts!
Facebook continues to be the primary distribution channel for content marketing. Facebook has millions of users, which is why unique and interesting content has the potential to go viral. This is especially true when the content is in the format of a video.
Instagram boasts over 500 million daily users, so it’s no wonder it’s the second best performing social media platform for marketers. Instagram is appealing to people because its visual content is concise, informative, and often entertaining, so users are eager to share what they see.
Snapchat and TikTok are extremely popular platforms, but the user base is saturated with younger people, so this isn’t the ideal platform for content marketers as of this writing.
Trust and Respect Come Full Circle When Content is Shared
When your loyal customers are sharing your marketing content, it means that they believe the info you’ve provided is worthwhile, but it also means they have respect for you and your business. Sharing content is a demonstration of trust that works in your favor because the contacts they share your content with respect and trust them, so they won’t think twice about viewing the forwarded content. The act of sharing content creates a circle of trust that is made complete when the recipients of the shared content begin following your business and become loyal customers who also share your marketing content.
To begin making content worth sharing, you must identify an interesting topic, then decide on the best presentation format. While many people read blogs and social media posts, we live in a society filled with people who prefer to watch videos because they are the fastest and most convenient way to obtain information.
Given that videos and vlogs are the most shared content, this is the format you should be focused on. While videos are easy to make and cost effective, some marketers choose against creating them because being on camera can be intimidating. If this same concern is preventing you from creating shareable content, fear not. There are lots of ways to make a video and there’s no rule saying that you must be in the frame. Plus, there are numerous video editing tutorials online that can teach you how to modify it until you’re satisfied.
The formula for creating shareable content is simple. Just choose a fascinating or funny topic, be authentic as you’re weaving a story around the subject matter, then roll it all into a video. It won’t be long before you see your customer base growing because your marketing content is being shared by your loyal followers who like and trust your business!
If you’re ready to create marketing content that your audience will share, Higgins Marketing Group can help. Contact us for a pressure-free chat about the methods we use to continually produce highly shareable content.
Not sure yet? Check out our work and let us know when you’re ready.
