How to Create Blog Content That Actually Gets Shared

Great content is a valuable piece of your overall marketing strategy. It can be used to drive leads, establish your brand, and improve your SEO. However, most content on the web rarely gets read. According to a survey by BrightEdge of 252 digital marketers, 71 percent said less than half of their content gets consumed.

One way to ensure your content is consumed is to make sure it’s share-worthy. This means that people have not only read it, but they liked it enough to tell their audience about it.

The good news is, you don’t have to go viral to get your content shared – nor do you need to write the perfect blog post every time. With these small tweaks and strategy shifts, you can start creating content people want to share, boosting traffic, SEO, and even leads.

1. Invest in Video

Blog posts can no longer be static, filled with large blocks of text, minimal images, and stuffy writing. They need to be dynamic and leverage other forms of media and content to drive the shares you want to see. One important media format to consider is video.

Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2021 found that people are 2x as likely to share video content with friends than social media posts, blog posts and articles, and product pages. If you want to drive shares and reach more people with your content, you can’t ignore video.

The good news is, video can be repurposed in dozens of ways – and you don’t need to build a massive YouTube following to reap the benefits. For example, Wyzowl found that 96 percent of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service. Plus, native video advertising consistently demonstrates good results among customers. In this native video case study, the advertiser achieved a 49% completion rate, compared to the industry benchmark of under 30% for desktop and under 15% for mobile.

Don’t forget to repurpose your video. If you develop an explainer video, embed it into a blog post to drive more shares, in addition to sharing it on social media, in newsletters, and sending it directly to customers or clients via email.

2. Leverage Client Data to Create Case Studies

You might not realize it, but you have the makings of highly-shareable content right at your fingertips: customer and client data. The benefit of this data is that it’s unique to your brand and can tell a story or act as a guide. This type of content is sharable on both social and via backlinks because it can’t be found anywhere else.

“Facts and statistics are essential for earning backlinks. Case studies are a worthy inclusion to your content calendar, as they provide relevant information targeted to your audience that’s both shareable and linkable,” explains Tracy Ring, digital marketer, in 6 Proven Link Building Tactics.

Not only are reporters and writers looking for great data to source in their content, but consumers want fresh content as well. This is especially valuable for B2B brands, where the target audience is looking for proof of success and unique industry-specific content to share with their network.

3. Create an Experience Consumers Enjoy

If you want your content to get shared, you have to create an experience that the reader would want their friends or network to experience as well. In other words, if it’s difficult to consume your content, you’re less likely to get those shares – and today’s consumers are picky about having a great experience.

Adobe’s 2019 Brand Content Survey found that slow page speed was the number one cause of a frustrating experience and 32 percent of consumers would leave a site altogether if the content and images don’t load. 

To create content that actually gets shared, start with the foundational site elements, like:

• Page speed
• Navigation
• Image loading
• Media accessibility
• Ease of sharing

4. Don’t Ignore the Details

While you always want to create content that’s high-quality, provides unique data, and truly solves a problem, you can’t ignore the small details that lead to more shares. In 2019, SEMRush analyzed 1,200,000+ articles from domains with blog content whose traffic ranged from 30,000 up to 500,000 sessions. Their findings show that the details can make all the difference:

• Your headline matters: 10- to 13-word headlines drive 2x as much traffic and 1.5x more shares than those with 7 or fewer words.
• Images matter: Blog posts with at least one image get 30 percent more shares and 25 percent more backlinks than posts with no images at all.
• Length matters: 7,000+ word articles drive almost 4x more traffic and 43% more shares than those with 900 to 1,200 words. 

While it may not be possible to write 7,000-word posts every time, focusing on length for your most important content can give you a boost in shares and traffic, allowing you to have a greater impact.

5. Invite Leaders as Contributors

If your content meets Google’s quality standards but you don’t have a large enough audience to grow your traffic, ask leaders in your industry to contribute to your site. The value in this is two-fold: you get free content with a fresh perspective and you can leverage their network to get more shares. Authors are likely to share with their audience, which allows you to cast a wider net of potential readers.

To make sure contributors are providing as much value to you as they’re getting, keep these five guest posting program guidelines in mind:

• Have a strong editorial plan in place.
• Develop high-value qualifiers for the sites you link back to.
• Be picky about who you allow in as a contributor.
• Set clear guidelines up-front.
• Find editorial balance – let the author’s voice shine while maintaining your brand voice.

Create Content That Actually Gets Shared

With a seemingly endless amount of content in our digital space, how do you stand out and get your content shared? It’s not necessarily about going viral or writing the perfect content. It’s about looking at the small details, like page speed, considering adjacent factors like images and headline length, and leveraging the resources you already have to create fresh, authentic content that resonates. Use these strategies to start developing content that actually gets shared.