How To Make Shareable Content: 6 Questions To Ask

Your blog can have the most interesting, useful information, but if it doesn’t get shared, it’s not doing your company any good. While you may get a certain sense of pride out of having your content shared, there’s more to it than that.

You need to learn how to make shareable content because shared content can actually help your business and give you an idea if your strategy is working or not. At that point, you can determine where you need to adjust your blog writing and topics to determine how to better reel customers in and keep them.

How To Make Shareable Content

Unfortunately, most content is shared three times or less. This does not bode well for your marketing plan or your conversion rates. So how can you create content that is SEO-friendly and helps you build a name for your company and your brand? We have six questions to ask yourself about your SEO content marketing that will help you increase your shares on every piece of content.

1. What Is the Content’s Worth?

If you’re publishing uninteresting, worthless content, how can you expect it to be shared? The most important rule in SEO content marketing is to create content that is worthwhile, interesting and full of information. That leads customers and other companies to share it with their friends on social media.

No one is going to share content that is irrelevant or weak. Quality content is a part of how to make shareable content. The more you publish weak content, the more you train your followers to completely ignore you. If you must, publish your content less often to ensure that it is up to par.

But how do you determine if the content is high-quality or not?

How To Create Quality Content

Although “quality” can be defined in many ways, there are a few factors that indicate content of any topic to be of high caliber:

• Originality. Google’s algorithm works in a way that eliminates duplicate or plagiarized content to rank highly. Anything written should be completely original, including topics, which is why many people go to freelance copywriting services to get good quality that stays original. Fresh perspectives can help you find topics not yet discussed while getting an original voice.
• Search Engine Optimization: If you are looking for how to make shareable content, you’ll want to make it easily findable on Google. This requires some SEO tactics. Incorporate keywords, use headings and bullet points and don’t neglect metadata. Try to keep your content focused on a single topic to help with consistency and the overall quality of content. This also improves your Google search rankings.
• Reliable Data: To improve the quality of content, be sure to include data and research within your content. If the research was not done by you, always include a link to the original source. However, be careful where you get your data from. Bad links can be very harmful to any kind of content, no matter how well-written it may be.

Yes, there is much you can do to increase the quality. But the point is this: you need to spend time and effort to create quality content. Creating basic content or paying for low-priced (which is ultimately low-grade) content will rarely get to shareable status.

2. Who Are You Asking?

It may be so simple that most people don’t think of it, but are you asking others to share your content? Many are surprised at how easy it is to get more shares when they have other marketers, friends and businesses promoting their content. While 50 percent of content gets shared less than eight times, you can beat this number just by asking a few people to share.

Of course, you don’t want to spam followers. Asking for shares can be done tactfully because it IS part of how to make shareable content. A great way to encourage followers to share is to have social media share buttons readily available on your blog. If you don’t have any widgets to help readers easily connect to their social media platforms, you’ll get even fewer shares. We’ll talk more about that later.

Graph by buzzsumo.com

3. How Are You Catching Their Attention?

Boring headlines cause a fast death for any piece of content. The best way to catch a reader’s attention is with an exciting, catchy headline that reels them in. Even the most basic how-to or tips list can be funny, entertaining and shareable with the right headline. When facing 15 articles with the same content, readers will often choose the one with the best headline. The reality is that even if your content is shared, it may not be read by most people, but just the headline can reel them in and entertain them enough to make them want to pass it on.

When coming up with a headline, write down a few versions and decide which one pops out the most. Keep in mind that lists and how-to guides are enticing to many readers.

4. Who Are You Mentioning in Your Content?

Name dropping is an age-old marketing tip and can also be when learning how to make shareable content. Referred to as influencer marketing, you can promote your company with the help of established people in your industry. Mention authority figures by name in your content to give it more credibility. You also look smarter when you quote and rely on experts for your information.

Of course, whenever you quote or mention other companies and influencers, include a link back to them. They will likely appreciate the outbound links, and it helps readers go to the source if they want to know more. The more experts you use as your foundation for your content, the more your credibility will increase within the industry.

5. Are You Using Pictures?

A picture can tell a thousand words and can often be the reason why a reader clicks on your post. If you’re publishing pieces of content without pictures, you may want to step back and see if this is a big part of making shareable content that you are missing.

There are two ways images can be used in content: As a companion to a great title and within the content itself. Having at least one image to support your title is a great way to make your content shareable on social media. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter easily display the picture along with a link, and these may help readers feel inclined to click on the article. Social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest put a lot of weight on pictures, and they are vital to your success on these accounts.

But there is more than just getting a good hook for readers. Blog images help readers get through your article. Sometimes, too many words or paragraphs can make it hard to focus. Having images that go with the content every 100-200 words is a great benefit for readers, and increases the value of your article. If it was easy to read and was aesthetic, readers are much more likely to share it with their friends.

Make It Easy For Viewers To Share

It makes sense. Your target audience wants to save face, so they won’t share something that might seem tedious (unless your words are just so amazing… and in that case, why not have pictures to compliment them?) with their friends and family. Save them the embarrassment and provide content that is full of visuals. You may need to experiment with a variety of images to see which ones make a difference on how to make shareable content.

There is also another advantage to marketing your content with an image. You can completely convert your content into an infographic or standalone piece that summarizes the basic ideas in your blog or article. Simplify your post into five steps or tips, turn them into an image and allow them to stand alone to be shared. Readers are much more likely to look closely at an attractive photo than a wordy blog post.

6. What Plugins Are You Using?

Blogs can benefit the most from social sharing plugins, but every page of your site should have social sharing buttons to make it easy for readers to share to every platform. If a reader enjoys a piece of content but has to go through the hassle of copying, pasting and moving from platform to platform, they may opt out of sharing your content with all their friends, even though it may be valuable information for them.

Widgets can be easily installed on your webpages, and they are the secret to sharing content in this day and age. Make it easy for readers to share, and they might be persuaded to do it.

SEO Friendly Content Writing Services Are Vital

It used to be all about keywords, but in today’s world, you need content that is interesting, relatable and shareable in order to promote your site and brand. This turns into more visitors to your site, more exposure for your products and more revenue for your company. Creating shareable content is one of the most important ways to gain loyal followers of your brand.

These six questions can help you learn how to make shareable content. Have you had experience with increasing shareability? Share your expertise in the comments!