10 Ways to Create Shareable Content for Your Blog
As a content writer or digital marketer, knowing how to create shareable content is essential. Researching and writing great content for your blog is only half of the battle – you need to make sure that your content stands out and gets noticed. And, perhaps most importantly of all in the social media age, that it gets shared.
But what does shareable content look like? And how can you create it? We’ve got the answers!
Read on to learn how to make effective shareable blog content.
What Is Shareable Content?
As the name suggests, shareable content is digital content that is designed to be shared. It’s content that is so engaging, entertaining, inspiring, or educational, that your target audience can’t resist sharing it with people they know.
Shareable content can include: articles and blog posts, videos, photographs, social media posts, podcasts, e-books, and white papers. It can be material that you create yourself, or valuable content that you’ve curated from other sources. Whatever form the content takes, it will typically have one or more of the following characteristics:
- Offers useful information or practical tips. For instance, this article on how to stay cool and safe during a heat wave.
- Is thought-provoking, or evokes strong emotions. For example, this post on drunk-driving in the USA.
- Provides entertainment value. Take a look at this humorous list of silly signs from Buzzfeed.
- Is relatable for your target audience. This blog post on essential generative AI skills is specifically tailored to freelance writers.
- Connects to current events or trends. For example, this list of the best Rishi Sunak memes following the general election announcement in the UK.
Why Should You Create Shareable Content?
A lot of our interactions (both personal or professional) now happen online. People use digital and social media in all aspects of life – to connect with family and friends, to network, to read the news, and to seek entertainment. And, crucially for businesses, to find products and services.
This is where shareable content comes in. As a business, sharing content is a great way to build a relationship with your audience, grow your online presence, and ultimately make more conversions. Shareable content:
- Increases brand awareness. Customers now expect to see an online presence, and to know what a business stands for. Sharing content is a great way to get your message out there in the world, and help your target audience understand your brand values.
- Builds trust and credibility. Potential customers are more likely to trust and engage with a brand if their content is widely shared, or endorsed by someone they know. This is known as social proof.
- Increases your reach. Shareable content can quickly spread beyond your existing audience, exposing a whole new group of people to your brand, products, or services. You could even go viral!
- Boosts traffic to your website. If you repurpose your blog content and post it to social media, you can then send traffic directly back to your blog. The more traffic you get, the more likely you are to make a conversion.
- Creates stronger customer relationships. Creating valuable, free content shows your audience that you understand their interests and needs. If they see you as a reliable source of information, they are more likely to choose you when they are ready to make a purchase.
As you can see, there are lots of benefits to creating shareable content – whether you’re trying to establish a completely new business or grow an existing brand. So, when you’re deciding how to structure your blog content, always think about making it shareable!
How to Create Shareable Blog Content
We’ve looked at what shareable content is, and why it’s important. Now, here’s our list of top tips for creating shareable blog content:
- Research your audience
- Check out the competition
- Be authentic and original
- Find your niche
- Validate your audience
- Add value
- Make it easy to share your content
- Use video and images
- Keep it topical
- Make it evergreen
1. Research Your Audience
It’s important to know your target audience – the readers of your blog – inside and out. This means understanding what makes them tick: what they love and hate, their values, and their goals.
How do they feel about sustainability? Or microplastics? Or ultra-processed foods? What are their political views? Are they Swifties, or does The Boss rock their world? Plant-based or omnivorous? Gen Z or baby boomers?
Once you know what makes your audience tick, you can try to create content that really resonates with them.
2. Check Out the Competition
Conducting a competitor content analysis can help you understand your audience’s preferences, and get a head start on creating your own blog content strategy.
Take a look at the content published by your competitors on their blog and social media platforms, and ask yourself how they appeal to their readers:
- Which platforms do they use to distribute their content?
- How frequently do they post new content?
- Are some formats more effective than others? (e.g. listicles vs. how-to guides)
- Do certain topics get more engagement (i.e. likes, comments, and shares)?
- Does long-form or short-form content perform better?
Take what the competition is doing as a starting point, and then experiment to find out what works best for you. Some audiences might prefer long-form explanations of, say, how to train your dog; others might respond better to snappy 20 second videos summarizing the key points. The only way to find out is to test it!
3. Be Original and Authentic
It’s important to note that you don’t want to simply copy your competitors’ content. Identify a popular subject, and try to expand on it or offer a different perspective. See what they are putting out there – and do it better!
And remember, just be you! Don’t try to portray yourself or your brand as something it’s not. If something doesn’t align with brand voice, values, and mission, don’t shoehorn it into your content – your audience will be able to tell straight away! Genuine enthusiasm shines through every time.
If you do choose to play devil’s advocate and write a controversial post, approach it with sensitivity. Controversy will certainly attract attention, but you want to make sure it’s the right kind of attention. Remember to stay true to your values, use respectful language, and encourage thoughtful engagement.
4. Find Your Niche
Find your niche and stick with it! You may have lots of great ideas about lots of different things, but narrowing your scope will help you hone in on a specific target audience. Your readers need to know who you are and what you stand for. That becomes more tricky, the more areas you try to cover.
Finding your niche will also allow you to:
- Focus your marketing strategy
- Simplify your content planning process
- Position yourself as the go-to expert in your field
5. Validate Your Audience
A great way to build trust with your followers is to include their contributions and get them involved in the conversation. And when they do dip a toe in the water with you, make sure you acknowledge their effort and validate their views.
You can do this by encouraging comments, asking your readers to complete surveys, and looking at which questions they’re asking most. Great relationships drive great businesses, so get your followers involved.
People are more likely to share content if they’ve made a contribution to it. Help your readers feel a sense of belonging to your world, and you’ll see them hitting the “share” button more and more.
6. Add Value
Who doesn’t like to share something funny or useful? It feels good to know you’ve helped someone, or simply brightened their day. Add value to your readers by giving them something shareable that they just know other people are going to love as much as they do.
You could record a tutorial on how to fix a leaky tap, or bake cookies, or style your own hair. Create hilarious memes, draw cartoons, or curate some witty quotes. Add them to your blog, ideally every hundred words or so, and your followers will be more likely to share your work.
7. Make Sharing Easy
Make your content easy to share, and people will be more likely to do so.
Position your “share” buttons prominently, use eye-catching colors, and make sure the buttons are big enough to be clicked in one easy motion. You could also have share buttons follow your users as they scroll so they don’t have to keep looking for them when they decide to share your content.
Here’s an example of how to make share buttons in WordPress.
8. Use Video and Images
According to research by Hubspot, 33% of all internet activity is watching videos. Videos and images are also the most effective media format, and drive the most return on investment – so it makes sense to add them to your blog!
Short videos and eye-catching images add variety to your written posts, breaking up long blocks of text and making them much easier to read. They also make the content more engaging and immersive, helping keep people’s attention on your work. Just make sure you choose relevant, high-quality visuals (check out our blog post: Choosing Blog Post Images: The Dos and the Don’ts for more on this!).
You can link images and videos to and from your Instagram and other socials, which will help draw in more readers.
9. Keep it Topical
Research what’s trending in your niche, and join the conversation. You can do this by checking out the competition (see our second point), reading industry news and blogs, and seeing what is being discussed on social media. Keyword research tools can also help you find out what people are searching for online.
Keeping your blog topical and fresh will encourage your followers to keep coming back to see what you have to say on popular topics.
10. Make it Evergreen
Almost the opposite of trending content, evergreen content is content that has longevity. It stays relevant, valuable, and useful long after it has been published.
Some blogs are best suited to discussing trending topics, for example styling and fashion tips, or celebrity news. Others explore topics that change only gradually, if at all. For example, gardening or history.
To create shareable evergreen content, you first need to research the subjects that have interested your readers over the long term. For example:
- Identify the questions that people in your niche ask repeatedly, such as “how do I change my car tyre?”
- Look at keyword traffic over, say, 12 months, for particular queries, e.g. “best cookie recipe”
- Investigate which hashtags have been constantly around for several months, e.g. “#fitnesstips”
Once you’ve found the topics that keep appearing, make sure you refresh your content at least monthly with updated links, new photos, and new data.
Becoming A Freelance Writer
Starting a blog is a great way to build a portfolio of your writing. And it could help kickstart a great new career as a freelance writer! Check out our course, Becoming A Freelance Writer to see how we can help you do just that!
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