A Data-Driven Guide To Creating Viral Content

A DATA-DRIVEN GUIDE TO CREATING VIRAL CONTENT 21 SIMPLE WAYS TO BOOST YOUR CONTENT'S VIRAL POTENTIAL (BACKED BY RESEARCH) Use Numbers Use Brackets Headlines with numbers are In an analysis of over 3 million 36% more likely to generate headlines, Outbrain found using [brackets] in a headline clicks, according to research by Conductor. And a study of bumped up CTR by 38%. 150,000 headlines revealed that odd-numbered headlines have a 20% better CTR than headlines with even numbers. Add New Post Use Short URLS 7 Steps to 'Going Viral' [infographic] Marketing Sherpa found that short URLS are 2.5x more www.viral-content.com/go-viral likely to attract a click. B I ABE Descriptive URLS Microsoft study found trusted domains get 25% more clicks. v example.com/awesome-post x example.com/blog/post?id%3D54 Use a Colorful Image Above the Fold Xerox found that colorful visuals made people 80% more likely to read a product guide. Put Share Buttons Above the Fold A Google study found that elements above the fold are SHARE ON FACEBOOK seen by 63% more people than those further down the page. Lead with Short Sentences People only read 28% of a blog post, so you need to hook them fast. How? Short sentences. Dr. John Morkes found short sentences boosted content readability by 58%. Images Add Credibility A Claremont Graduate University study found an image - any image - boosts content credibility by 75%. Make Text Easy to Scan Like short paragraphs, subheadings and bulleted lists. Dr. Jakob Nielson discovered that "scannable" online content boosted readability by 57%. STEP #1 STEP #2 Be Insanely STEP #3 Practical Dr. Jonah Berger found that highly-practical articles are 34% more likely to go viral. Use Pro Images Image quality makes a huge difference. An internal Marketing Sherpa study found that pro images received 45% more Facebook shares than "semi- professional" photos. Get Emotional WOW! A study published in the Journal of Marketing Research found NEVER! content that elicits the emotions 'awe', 'surprise' or 'anger' was 28.6% more likely to go viral. COOL! Use Infographics Data from BuzzSumo found that infographics generate 2.3x more social shares than how-to posts. 58% - Images Increase Shares Skyword research found that text content with at least one image generated 94% more views on social media. Mention Influencers Joey Influencer Link to influential people in your post (and let them know about it). A Columbia University study found that for your content to go viral, influencer shares were "critical". Ask People to Share your Post Include a CTA at the end of your post and make it personalized. Hubspot found that targeted CTAS (“Share these weight loss tips") outperformed generic CTAS (“share this post") by 42%. SHARE THESE VIRAL TIPS! Publish Long Word count: 3,167 Content Professor Dr. Jonah Berger Featured Image found that longer content was 52% more likely to be heavily shared. Aim for at least 2,000 words per post. Always Set a Featured Image Setting a featured image ensures your social shares include an image. Social shares with images get 150% more Wordpress SEO by Yoast retweets on Twitter and 53% more Likes on Facebook. General SEO Title: SEO Tag Copy = Adword Ads Step by step guide to going viral Adwords ads are designed to maximize clicks. Base your SEO Meta description: title and description tags on guide, step-by-step, viral, simple, infographic Adwords ads to maximize traffic from search engines. Include Hashtags Publish Dan Zarrella analyzed 1.2 million tweets and found that Facebook: Backlinko hashtag-containing tweets boosted retweets by 55%. Twitter: @Backlinko Custom Message: 64 7 Steps to 'Going Viral' [infographic] Publish Between #blog #infographic #viral 8am & 12pm Shareaholic found that 27% of m Publish between all social shares occur between 8am and 12pm EST. 08 : 00 and 12 : 00 Publish Brought to you by BACKLINKO Visit our website for more goodies, tips and insight! www.backlinko.com References 1st ed. HubSpot, Outbrain. 'Data Driven Nielsen, Jakob. 'How Users Read On The Web'. Strategies for Writing Effective Titles & Headlines'. Web. 8 July 2015. Nngroup.com. N.p., 1997. Web. 8 July 2015. 20 Ways To Share The Color Knowledge. 1st ed. Xerox, 2014. Web. 8 July 2015. Kagan, Noah. 'Why Content Goes Viral: What Analyzing 100 Million Articles Taught Us. I Okdork.Com'. OkDork.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 8 July 2015. Berger, Jonah, and Katherine L Milkman. 'What Makes Online Content Viral?'. Journal of Keath, Jason. 'When Is The Best Time Of The Day To Blog?'. Social Fresh. N.p., 2012. Web. 8 July 2015. Marketing Research 49.2 (2012): 192-205. Web. 8 July 2015. Cooper, Belle Beth. 'How Twitter's Expanded Nielsen, Jakob, and John Morkes. 'Concise, Images Increase Clicks, Retweets And SCANNABLE, And Objective: How To Write For Favorites [New Data]'. BufferSocial. N.p., 2013. Web. 8 July 2015. The Web'. Nngroup.com. N.p., 1997. Web. 8 July 2015. Fenn, Elise et al. 'The Effect Of Nonprobative Photographs On Truthiness Persists Over Time'. Reeves, Kelly. '5 Tips to Improve Your Headline Click-through Rate'. Content Marketing Institute. Acta Psychologica 144.1 (2013): 207-211. Web. N.p., 2011. Web. 8 July 2015. Gonsalves, Caleb. 'Skyword Study: Add Images Safran, Nathan. '5 Data Insights Into The To Improve Content Performance'. The Content Headlines Readers Click'. Moz: N.p., 2013. Web. Standard by Skyword. N.p., 2012. Web. 8 July 8 July 2015. 2015. Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008. 1st Greene, Jonathan. 'Informal Study: Professional ed. Warren: MarketingSherpa, 2007. Web. 8 Image Content Generates 121% More Facebook July 2015. Shares Marketingsherpa Blog'. Thinkwithgoogle.com, 'The Importance Of Sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com. N.p., 2012. Being Seen: Viewability Insights For Digital Web. 8 July 2015. Marketers And Publishers'. N.p., 2014. Web. 8 Hussain, Anum. 'Personalized Calls-To-Action July 2015. Convert 42% Better [New Data]'. Watts, D. J. 'A Simple Model Of Global Cascades On Random Networks'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99.9 Blog.hubspot.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 8 July 2015. Nen, Jakob. 'How Little Do Users Read?'. Nngroup.com (2008): n. pag. Web. 8 July 2015.8 July 2015. (2002): 5766-5771. Web. Zarrella, Dan. '[New Data] Use “Quotes" Nielsleong, Samuel et al. Domain Bias In Web And #Hashtags To Get More Retweets | Dan Zarrella'. Danzarrella.com. Web. Search. 1st ed. Seattle: WSDM, 2012. Web. 8 July 2015.