Over the years, marketers have come to realize that Google’s algorithm updates have been trying to build an Internet in its own image, especially true in the Google Phantom update. (Not a bad thing at all—keep reading.)
Yes, Google is trying to doctor the Internet so that it conforms to what it sees as ideal. To this end, many of Google’s updates have been based around increasing the value of sites to the user.
This user-centric approach has the positive effect of winnowing out the sites that create poor quality content, leaving high quality sites for users top consume.
With summer 2015 bringing with it another potential important update, known as the Google Phantom, and hints of more updates on the way, now is the time for you to contemplate where your content is and how it can be improved.
Yes, welcome to the 1925 Phantom of the Opera.
Google Phantom & Defining How To Create “Good Content”
Everyone who does content creation should know by now what constitutes good content. Good content adds value to users’ lives.
According to SearchEngineLand, good content either helps your audience understand a topic, displays unique expertise on the topic in question, compels people to revisit it or to link to it externally and encourages your audience to do something.
Although there are many different other factors that affect whether content is considered good, the end result is that your content should be doing one or more of these things at its core.
Why Filler Content Is Bad Business
Now that we know what constitutes good content, we’ll look at the things that Google updates frown upon such as filler content.
Remember, Google’s aim is to create an Internet environment that is conducive to users clicking, reading and empowering themselves. It can’t happen if the content that Google has to work with is insubstantial.
3 Common Errors To Avoid That Will Help You Steer Clear of Filler Content
To avoid creating filler content, you should keep an eye on these common errors that can sneak in: 1. Duplicate/Redundant Posting
It’s common knowledge that duplicate posting can cost you more than just a little SEO traffic. It can hit your search rank value pretty hard if you deal almost solely in duplicate traffic.
While most sites avoid duplicating pages 100% they still fall prey to the misconception that they can have content that is almost similar (to a major degree) on multiple pages with only changing a few lines of the original content. This is also a problem in Google’s eyes, and can lead to a hit in the relevancy scores of these pages. A simple rewrite of the content on these pages is a good place to start, and a number of different online content production companies are skilled in page rewriting. 2. Ad Ratios
The volume of ads on the page in relation to the actual content to the page is also a telling factor in how substantial the content on a particular page is. Affiliate pages that deal solely in ads are not seen as desirable by the Google algorithm.
If you have one or more of these pages it might be a good idea to scale back on the sheer volume of the ads on the page or maybe include some more text-based or image-based content to balance out the amount of ads present. SearchEngineWatch has already stated that Google may penalize your site for having too many ads. 3. Poorly Written Articles or Posts
In keeping with the ideal of good content, Google demands that your articles and posts be well written.
Improving the quality of your content is a multi-layered task. You may be doing all you can within your power to increase the quality of your posts or articles and still getting back content that is insubstantial. Dealing with this problem requires you to raise the content value of your writing and your overall content production skills.
How Do You Raise the Value of your Content? 3 Key Ways
Ah, here’s the crux of the matter! Your content might follow all the mechanical necessities of Google’s algorithm, but does it really benefit anyone? It might be exactly what Google is looking for but it’s nothing like what your users are looking for, and Google knows it. Your aim is not to create content that looks good and conforms to the mechanical requirement of the search algorithm. To keep your content on the focus of the users, you should consider the following: 1. Repackaging
Many content producers tend to fall into the trap of developing content along a singular line. The content they develop is of one type only and it can lead their users into boredom. Repackaging your content allows you to revamp the content into a different style. Instead of a top-ten list article, maybe you should develop one on a particular topic that allows you to expand in a more prose-like fashion. Relating to your audience is key and if you need to change your content type in order to successfully do so, then you must. 2. Build Great Topics
A topic is where you catch the attention of your audience. Your topics should incorporate your proposed keywords in ways that make it easy fort Search Engines to index. More importantly, your topics should reflect what the piece is about in a fun, upbeat and relatable manner. Crafting great topics can be a difficult prospect but they are among the most important parts of your article or blog post. 3. Standardize your Layout
One of the major pet peeves of many Internet Denizens is having to deal with a page that has inconsistent styles on its page layout. Both Google and your core audience will appreciate having a layout that is easy to read and to follow, as well as having that layout kept constant throughout your entire page.
When looking at your layout you should take into account things like:
Word Size & Formatting: A well-formatted page goes a long way towards establishing credence to an audience. No user wants to have to deal with a page where the headers are several orders of magnitude above the body text or where the sub header text is either italicized or bolded, but not both. It can be frustrating to have to read through all of these formatting changes. Google is well aware of this as well and will penalize you for a page that looks as though it was formatted by someone who didn’t have a web-browser handy to check their work.
Grammar and Spelling: The Internet today is a place where a slip up in your grammar or your spelling can lead you to be the subject of ridicule quite easily. Many users base their opinions of pages on how articulate that page is. To say that grammar and spelling are the hallmarks of a trustworthy site is not an understatement. To truly impress your reader your site should have a properly proof-read version available to users.
The Idea Behind Google Changing So Much in Their Algorithms
It comes back to the ideal of creating an Internet that users will be able to find things that are relevant to them when they perform a search. For many years prior to this, site owners could get their sites to the top of search rankings easily, without any great amount of effort. However, these sites that the search engine directed users to weren’t very good at giving the user information and, indeed, their aim was not to do so. All they wanted was the user to click into the page and from there present them with ads that they could click on to generate revenue for the site owner.
Breaking The Carousel
When the first major Google algorithm updates came out in the form of Panda and Penguin, they literally broke the internet.
Sites that had sat atop their keyword page for a long time were suddenly displaced, showing up as far as twenty pages down in the search results.
What had happened? Google, realizing that the future of the Internet and the relevancy of their search technology depended upon sites being relevant to users changed the game up on the people producing low quality content and profiting from it. A new era was born in content creation.
Google’s “Phantom Update” & What It Means For Summer 2015
In keeping with their trend of regular updates, Google slipped in an algorithm update around April or May of 2015 and didn’t actually come out and state what it was to users. The results, however, were felt by a number of big sites, most prominently Hubpages with a massive decrease in traffic of 22%. The algorithm changes refined how Google saw “good content” and penalized those sites that didn’t produce good content along the lines of what Google dictated. As summer 2015 slowly comes around, we’re only liable to see more changes on the algorithm that will affect those not prepared for it.
So How Do We Prepare?
Get a grasp of what your audience wants. At the end of the day, their opinion is what matters above all others. Google’s search algorithm has a certain number of stipulations you must follow, but under no circumstances should you let those rules get in the way of developing content that is valuable to your audience.
Most importantly, build content that is substantial and that attracts your desired readers. Algorithm changes will continue, but as long as you are dedicated to your audience you won’t have to worry about being hit by the backlash of Google’s future algorithm updates.
Understanding how powerful copywriting, and in a bigger picture, all of content marketing is doesn’t require you to look any further than the sheer amount of content that is produced on a daily basis.
Content marketing has long been considered a mainstay of digital marketing and marketers.
Considered a cornerstone of the industry, content marketing allows businesses to attract and keep a customer base.
And a fundamental part of content marketing is copywriting. It’s like the ham to the eggs.
Think about it: if your content marketing is a good blog, than your ham to that egg is the written blog. Design, SEO optimization with your plugins, correct categorization, etc. all tie in.
Let’s think back to the overall picture. Now as most marketers can tell you, saying something without showing what it looks like in cold, hard facts is simply spouting hot air.
The statistics of the matter bear out our original hypothesis: content marketing makes a major impact in the world today.
Content Marketing by the Numbers
There has been a constant reminder by content marketers that content is king, but only until you realize the statistics that exist behind the statement do you realize how powerful a king content really is.
On average per minute—
Nearly 2.5 million pieces of content are shared by users on Facebook
Instagram has 220,000 new photos posted to its servers
YouTube gets over 72 hours of new video uploaded
Twitter is used around 300,000 times
Over 200 million emails are sent
Over $80,000 worth of sales is generated by Amazon
And that is only PER MINUTE.
Every sixty seconds for the whole day this kind of change happens.
And it’s appreciating these massive movements of data that make us realize exactly how powerful social media is to the production and distribution of content.
How Has Copywriting & Content Marketing Contributed to These Numbers?
It is estimated, according to Content Marketing Institute, that nine out of every ten businesses today utilize content marketing in tandem with their sales force to generate awareness and increase their profits.
And you know what the foundation of content marketing is? Good copywriting.
Based on what we understand about the interplay between marketing and sales it’s not a stretch to see why these companies have adopted digital content marketing as an aid to raising their sales. The expenditure in advertising compared to the return on investment makes it a no-brainer to use content marketing.
Case Study: Express Writers (We Call Ourselves a Content Agency, Right?)
Hey – if we sell blogging and content, we better be good at it, right?
Yes. But you’d be surprised how many writing agencies don’t care about maintaining their blog.
Here at Express Writers, we’ve truly utilized content marketing to a degree of success. We adopted the idea in an effort to increase lead generation and sales through a targeted strategy incorporating guest blogging and SEO to a massive extent.
The results we got were far better than many of the competitors in our very industry – we outrank 95% of them – and proves the potency of content marketing in the framework of a modern developing company.
I would recommend any business that wants to see significant growth over time to consider content marketing as the vehicle to achieve that goal. You could say we’re among the 89% of companies that use content marketing and testify to its effectiveness.
The development of our content marketing plan is:
Four 2000-word pieces per week for our own blog, along with 4-6 more pieces per week for major guest blogs including such high-authority sites as Search Engine Journal, Site Pro News, SEM Rush and Content Marketing Institute.
We also have over 80 site pages, 50 of which are our main service pages (one for each of our writing services) and are about 500 words or more each.
I could tell you all day long how well our content does, how great our team does at compiling it, how we research the topics and develop the concepts, but here’s some cold hard stats for you to digest.
We average 500-700 visitors in organic traffic daily, from Google keywords.
We have 165 keywords indexed in SEO, 100 of which are in the top ten positions (screenshot from SEMRush):
Also from SEMRush, a screenshot of some of our keyword positions as of June 2015:
Many of our individual blogs are doing very well in search.
For example, this blog written in 2013, “Website Copywriting for Dummies”, ranks #4 in organic search (screenshots via SEMRush):
When we take into account the amount of growth our own company has seen over a single year, it’s not impossible to imagine how much content moves per day and how it can affect a company’s exposure and generate leads based off its content marketing strategy. It’s a testament to the kinds of things that we can expect from content marketing in the coming years.
Now that we’ve disclosed how much content marketing has helped us, let’s delve into…
The Cost of Content Marketing
As an industry, content marketing is responsible for a massive amount of expenditure.
In 2013, brand management site Brafton estimated that the total expenditure for new content creation for the year would reach about $118.4 billion. That’s billion, with a B.
Although based on the amount of new content is produced daily and factoring in a cost like this into it, you can see why content creation itself can cost very little but the sheer volume of its production can add up to so much. Mashable approximates that as much as twenty seven million pieces of content are shared on social media per day. That’s a LOT of outreach for something that could cost you a couple bucks to make.
Why Content Marketing Has Such An Impact
With twenty seven million shares a day you’re probably starting to see how content can influence consumers to such a level that a message can go viral. As much as 58% of consumers trust editorial content, according to Nielsen.
If you could tap into at least half the people that make up your core audience and have them share your content it can go a long way towards making your brand or company a household name.
Taking this into account, your aim should be to build your base of dedicated users and play the numbers game to get your content out there. Social Media B2B states that as much as 61% of US marketers utilize social media to increase the amount of leads they get. Using it correctly is as important as using it at all. Stephen Fairley writes that companies that blog 15 or more times a month see as much as five times as much traffic as those that don’t. It’s the perfect strategy for getting the word out.
3 Success Stories of Content Marketing
We know that content marketing has the power to reach out to the masses and raise awareness. We know that it guarantees sales increases after an extended content campaign. All of these things have been told to us time and time again, but short of doing it ourselves, how do we know that content marketing works? We can’t just take the word of the people who are trying to sell it to us. If you need proof of how well content marketing has managed to work for some companies, here’s a few of the more successful content marketing successes and how it’s managed to enhance their business. 1. Influence & Co. – Influence & Co. utilize knowledge-based tactics in order to help companies achieve their branding objectives. It has managed to place itself as the largest provider of thought leadership content that is shareable and relatable. This stemmed from an aim to empower companies and thought leaders to control the message they send to the masses, something fresh and new in the field of public relations. The company growth is palpable, expanding rapidly from a two-person operation to employing as much as seventy five people on its payroll. 2. NewsCred – Content marketers should at least heard of NewsCred, even if you haven’t had anything to do with them expressly. They are one of the most influential up and coming content production companies, employing over two hundred people currently. What started off as a news wire service has shifted gears and gone into full content marketing giant mode. They offer content strategy solutions to companies based on their level of service, including access to images from Getty and premium articles to help their clients along. Their analytical system also allows for them to aid their clients in suggesting content creation and distribution options in line with the company’s target demographic. 3. Express Writers – Yes, at Express Writers, we’re a great success story of content marketing. Our Content Shop receives about 700 visits a day, and we supply content writing, planning, and strategizing services for clients like Bank of America, PayPal, Shopify, GAP, just to name a few. On average, we’re writing close to 500 pages a week; our team of 60+ includes trained copywriters, marketing writers, PR writers, content strategists, social media managers, copyeditors, and our content managers and client account managers. Think you need great content? We can provide! Talk to one of our Content Specialists.
Exponential Growth
What these case studies of content production companies have in common is the demonstration that content is a juggernaut, unstoppable and uncontainable. As companies around the world switch over to digital content, it only promotes the growth of the industry many times over. It’s a self-fueling process as fresh content is what forces companies to update their content in order to stay relevant in the eyes of the search engines and the users they cater to.
The Battle Between Content Marketing and Old Media Style
Once upon a time, not so long ago, marketing was focused on fitting ads into media in order to encourage users to click.
While there is no shortage of these sites on the Internet, the truth of the matter is that they are slowly being phased out in favor of the new kid on the block, content marketing.
Old media depends upon a different type of revenue stream and their metrics for success vary vastly from content publishers. Some of the bigger content publishers around can do a number on the heads of old media.
The crux of the matter here is that content production and marketing leverages something that slips through traditional marketing media’s fingertips – that of human loyalty.
Content marketing is based on the idea that good content will attract and keep an audience because that audience starts trusting the brand and makes decisions based on that brand’s suggestions.
Old media never considered the idea of owning customer loyalty, rather “borrowing” it through an extended media campaign, meaning they would have to reinvent the wheel every time they had a new product to get the word out on.
The onus, therefore, in this case is on the publishers that promote this content rather than the brands themselves to monitor branded messages and keep the positive message going.
There have been situations where marketers have been less-than-stellar with their management of brands and possible negative fallout. The Atlantic is a good example of this poor brand management and a good example for companies where the faults of content marketing can lie.
The Future Looks Bright
Content marketing, and the bottom line of copywriting, has come to mean a lot to businesses.
It gives smaller businesses the ability to compete (and in some cases surpass) much larger brands by giving them an equal platform where their content is judged on its relevancy, not how much money has gone into its production.
Visual content has managed to boost the visibility of many sites, with The B2B marketing Mentor stating that images and photos make up the most effective way of optimizing social media posts to raise levels of interaction. This only underlines the fact that content marketing is a great way to raise levels of engagement with an audience and grow a company’s capital in the new currency of the Internet, user loyalty.
Over time the demand for content that is relevant and importantto different demographics will rise.
More and more brands are noticing how well content marketing is helping their business grow.
Economic giants such as Burger King and Coke have already dipped their toes into the water of the content marketing ocean and have found great returns on their investment.
Although it may take some time before such massive brands come to embrace content marketing as a viable method of their marketing strategy, they will continually add content that keeps them in the game although not at the top of it.
Content marketing is the true leveler, a meritocracy where your content determines how well you do as a company. Check out our Content Shop and start shopping for your online content today!
You all know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, right?
Well, I’m about to tell you a little bit of a different version, to help represent how to create copywriting for businesses in an understandable way.
Copywriting for Businesses: The Start of the Story
So, in our content fable, Goldilocks is the copywriter who wanted to write the perfect copy that was really going to sell her clients. But she didn’t know how to do it. So she looked at the options in front of her. There was a large company, a medium company, and a small company that wanted her to write for them.
She knew what she had to do. Let’s look at her thought process and go through what type of copywriting best suits which company.
Finding On That is Just Right Is The Heart of the Story
When you are writing for people, you, just like Goldilocks, have to find the one that is just right.
What do people want?
Do they want edgy, bare bones, etc.?
How long do they want it to be?
Goldilocks is ready to find her perfect fit. Are you?
No matter who you are writing for, you have to make it fit them.
Think of it this way: when the fairy tale character Goldilocks sat in the papa’s chair and the mama’s chair, they were not just right for her. However, they were perfect for mama and papa bear.
Similarly, specific types of writing, especially when copywriting for businesses, are not right for everyone. You have to find the one that fits – I suppose I could have gone with Cinderella here.
This is especially true when you are writing for different size companies. Let’s look at the three major sizes: small, mid-size, and large, with details on how you can craft successful copywriting for businesses of all these sizes.
1. Copywriting For Small Businesses
When you are writing for a small business, you can’t write the same way you would for a big company. They just haven’t developed that swagger quite yet.
Nobody has heard of them yet, so you need to help them build their brand.
The things you should focus on when writing for a small company are different than what you would write for more established brands:
Help them create a voice.
Help them build a reputation and brand recognition.
Write about what makes them stand out from other companies. (Maybe you can play up the fact that they have the mom and pop feel. Or that they have great customer service because of a smaller client base.)
You also might want to be a little more on the edge here if it is alright with the client. They need to stand out from the rest even more than other size companies.
And while social media is important for everyone, it is especially important for the smaller business. This is one of the best ways to quickly get a name out there.
Small businesses might mean the writer has more room to be creative. After all, they don’t necessarily know much about the content marketing game yet. They might rely more on services and people who know what they are doing.
Another thing that small businesses need to know the importance of is the value of an email newsletter. This can be really helpful, and a lot of small businesses do not seem to realize it.
Small businesses tend to have smaller budgets, so they need to be more careful about the types of content they use. They want to get the most bang for their buck.
2. Copywriting For Medium Businesses
When you are writing for a medium-sized business you should incorporate various tactics from small and big companies. You should talk to the client and see what their goals and expectations are.
Why are they hiring you?
What do they want to accomplish with their content?
When do you want to start seeing results?
What kind of style should they be using?
What kind of budget do they have?
Which types of content do they want to use?
While all clients should be consulted no matter the size, with other sizes, there are general things you should hope to accomplish. (For example getting the name out there for a smaller company.)
Medium-sized companies can go either way as far as how much they are involved in the process. They might feel confident in where they are or they might want someone who can really revamp their content and give them more life.
3. Copywriting For Large Businesses
Large, well-known businesses have a lot more options. They are already known, so they have a little bit more freedom to do what they want.
What you should keep in mind when writing for a bigger company:
They already have an established voice. So you need to make sure all of your writings for them match that tone, style, and voice.
They have more of a reputation to sustain. Because of this, they might want you to be more constrained.
They don’t need to grab people’s attention as much, but that does not mean they do not want to grab their attention at all.
The benefit of working with a big company is that they likely have ideas of what they want in mind. They know the game, probably have some staff that is dedicated to content, and just want some outside help.
The work might just be practically done already. And as Scott Martin points out in Crazy Egg, large companies often have millions of dollars to spend on their marketing, which means the options are almost endless.
The Moral of the Story: Finding the Style That is Perfect For You
When you are copywriting for businesses and companies of different sizes, you have to find the style that is just right. There are some personality issues at play here, of course. How soft do you like your cushions (or how controversial do you like your writing as the case may be), etc.?
However, a big part of getting that perfect fit is looking at the size of the company. The biggest, papa-sized companies need a bigger, bolder piece. The smallest, baby companies need something a little smaller.
Similarly, the size of the company often determines the budget. Don’t try to give a small company a giant throne. It won’t fit them and they probably can’t afford it. It might work nicely for some people, but it needs to fit the company.
If you want to make sure your writing fits you, then think about using an experienced team to make your content just right. Photo Credits Courtesy kidzone.ws; movieboozer.com
Creating content that gets shared on different platforms at a fast pace can be a real challenge.
As social networking websites have developed into visual mediums par excellence, crafting eye-pleasing stories has become one of the most prominent conditions for entrepreneurial success on any market.
In a previous blog post, we introduced 10 foolproof methods to create strikingly beautiful content through storytelling and the most amazing visuals, proving that behind-the-scene photos, shareable pictures, DIY videos, infographics and small portions of reader-oriented, information-rich, clever written material represent the key ingredients of a winning formula for a memorable story.
These are the elements that make a good story truly great.
You may ask: why does it matter? Well, if you don’t like the idea of creating art for art’s sake, maybe you’ll choose to come up with a cohesive narrative after taking a closer look at recent statistics reflecting the importance of storytelling.
How Do You Actually Build Buzz? The Answer May Lie In Storytelling
Maybe you’re not an innate storyteller. Perhaps when you tell your jokes, people scratch their heads and laughter almost never comes easy. Maybe you always have a hard time staying focused.
The bad news is that you have a long road ahead of you.
The good news is that the art and science of storytelling can be mastered.
Here’s a great way to get started:
Discover and explore the unique particularities of your product.
Find out how people could profit from these one-of-a-kind features and benefits.
Think outside the box and tell your story from a different perspective.
A Simple Pattern
When in doubt, follow Pixar’s Andrew Stanton word of advice “don’t give them 4, give them 2+2.” Provide the bait, and let them come to you. Reveal a common problem as a part of the context, describe a struggle, add ounce of mystery, an “aha” moment, a revelation and a sense of accomplishment, and your job is pretty much done for the day.
This is the simplest pattern that you can follow to create buzz around your brand through a well-rounded story.
Five Key Strategies to Apply to Support Your Storytelling Efforts
Here’s how the human brain works: it is hard-wired to retain stories, rather than storing facts and figures for a long period of time.
A recent study mentioned by The Guardian indicates that 63% of the test subjects from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business remembered the story shared by one of their teachers, while only 5% of the respondents cited a statistic extracted from the presentation.
In this context, it’s safe to say that these days, you either have something interesting to say, or you stay silent and go home; this appears to be the unspoken rule that all company owners have to follow on their way to the top.
In this particular set of circumstances, storytelling represents the most effective strategy that brands can put to good use to grow rapidly, naturally and risk-free.
Carefully chosen strings of words can help you gain and maintain the attention, interest and loyalty of a highly selective audience.
Assuming that you are determined to give this approach a try, you may want to get inspired by checking out the five methods to weave premium storytelling in your content, listed below.
1. When Reality Isn’t All That Exciting, Rely on Fiction to Bond with Your Readers
Repeat Hakuna Matata a few times.
At this point, you are fully aware of the fact that storytelling is a safe bet for your marketing plan. Using the right narrative, you can highlight the realness of your brand, underline the remarkable benefits of your products and separate yourself from your competitors, while also informing, educating and entertaining your readers.
This is what stories do: they keep your prospects engaged and let them know who you are, without giving them the impression that you’re trying really hard to sell them something. This sounds like a lot of fun, but what can you do when you have very few things to brag about, simply because your business venture is fairly new and you have very little experience in your industry? In this case, let your imagination run free, push the creativity pedal through the floor and create a work of fiction reflecting your grand vision, values and purpose in business.
This approach will help you keep your readers on your side, even when you have no other ways to convince them that your product is worthy of their time and money. Stimulate your visitors to exercise their imagination and come up with scenarios that could bring them closer to your product or service. Here’s an example reflecting the style and type of hooks that you should recreate to bring (and keep) your public into your world. “Imagine that you’re a busy entrepreneur striving to cultivate his bond with his audience. What if someone whom you know and trust would tell you that quality content is the secret element that could fuel your support your communication with the people who matter to you the most?”
2. Explore the Enormous Power of Customer Testimonials
Fiction is a great option for startups, but as time goes by, you may get different other opportunities to perfect your storytelling skills and capture the attention of your potential clients.
Your products are literally flying off the shelves. People buy them on impulse, offer you positive feedback and recommend them in their circle of friends.
Why not use this favorable context to your best advantage?
Encourage feedback through the calls to action included in your captivating story.
Kindly ask your readers to craft their own short stories, revolving around their past experiences with your brand. This strategy can get you very far for two reasons. First of all, most people are self-centered and deeply in love with companies enabling them to step into the spotlight. Secondly, customer testimonials are a gold mine for any business, simply because they help their users build credibility and trust. Prospects don’t want to be the first ones to try a product (especially if it’s not free). By showing them that your goods have already been tested and vetted by a large segment of buyers, you give them another good reason to respond to your CTAs.
3. Use Firsthand Experienced As the Catalyst of Your Story
As a Forbes article points out, the ideal story has the power to get individuals in the right state. This trance represents the end result of a physical, emotional and mental process. Your tale emanates a mix of contagious energy and positive feelings, allowing you targeted audience to become a part of your story and pick up on your joy, values, beliefs and enthusiasm.
However, in order to make this work your written material has to display a strong sense of authenticity. In other words, you have to be able to convince your readers that the story happened as you tell it.
Turn yourself into a credible witness by achieving the perfect balance between facts and fiction.
Use hard numbers to support your claims and avoid hypes at all costs.
4. Organize a Brainstorming Session
Assuming that you’ve already crafted a few good stories based on fiction and the feedback that you’ve received from your past clients, what other option could you explore to become a more inspired storyteller?
Here’s an idea: why don’t you ask your team members to support your narrative?
Sometimes, some of the best content ideas come from the people who have already interacted with your brand; who know what you stand for and can resonate with the type of message that you’re trying to send to your clientele. Therefore, rely on the contribution of those who have learned the features and benefits of your products by heart and ask them to tell you how they feel about what you have to offer. How would they rate and recommend your services? What are the best attributes of your goods? What makes your business stand out from the crowd? This valuable input can help you refine your speech and create some of the most believable characters for your next stories.
5. Turn Yourself into the Leading Character That Your Audience Could Resonate With
Who wouldn’t want to be Christian Bale, billionaire, aka Batman… Amiright?
While establishing a dialog with the members of your team (and various other people in your circle who understand your struggle and are connected with your brand/products on a certain level) is always a good idea, it is extremely important to maintain your own voice.
Employ the “dine and dash” tactic when it comes to collecting and inventorying material for your next piece. Listen to what coworkers and past clients have to say about your merchandise, but don’t hesitate to create one or more alter egos, turn them into the ideal buying personas and convert them into the leading characters of your story.
You can elaborate the most accurate version of the buyer persona based on key elements (location, age, gender, interests, education level, job title and so on) and personalize it using your own experience, insight into your market and your clients’ product use.
The Key to an Interactive Experience through Storytelling Opens All Doors
Through storytelling, you can highlight the elements that you have in common with every other person on this planet.
We are all different, and yet we tend to respond to a wide range of stimuli in a similar manner.
We laugh when we’re happy.
We cry when we’re sad and we frown when we feel frustrated, confused or displeased.
And we trust, love, and appreciate stories and characters that we relate to… which means we’re more likely to buy.
Going beyond the mere act of communicating information, a good story creates creditable characters, sends a powerful message and feeds the empathy and interest of a grand audience.
There are several ways in which you could weave beautiful, compelling storytelling in your content, according to your aspirations, possibilities and creative vision. To make the best choice and come up with a cohesive narrative revolving around your authenticity, spotless reputation, popularity and overall greatness, let a team of professional content creators write and tell your success story.
Getting likes and shares on social content is a great way to see your business having an impact on clients. While you’re working on getting those likes and shares, you should take a look at why people like posts and why they end up sharing your content: the science behind social sharing.
Here’s a direct look at these reasons with some great tips on how to create excellent content that your customers will not only read but also like or share.
The Science Behind Social Sharing: Just Why Do We Like & Share Posts on Social Media?
Posting to social media has many aims, including getting likes and shares from your clients. You’ve read how to create excellent, shareable content, but just why do people like posts or share on social media? There are many reasons for this and I am going to look at different reasons from the latest post from QuickSprout, investigating just why people do what they do on social media.
3 Reasons Why We Like Posts on Social Media
Let’s take a look at a few reasons why your clients and even yourself, like to “like” things when it comes to Facebook and other social posts.
1. We Can Affirm What the Person Says. According to the QuickSprout post, one of the main reasons we like posts is we get the chance to affirm what the other person is saying. This doesn’t always mean we technically like something, but that we want to encourage the person. A like on our posts shows that our readers, friends, and families found something interesting or moving about our post. It also shows us that people are, in fact, listening to what we say. This is great when it comes to your business because that means that there are truly people reading your posts, even if you sometimes feel you are speaking into the social media void.
2. We Can Feel “Involved” With Something. As humans, we all have a need to feel involved in something. This is one reason why we look for groups to work with whether in the community or online. In the QuickSprout article mentioned earlier, one way we all work to feel involved is by liking something on Facebook. This goes for sharing, as well because it gets more people to see a post from a group or business you’re involved in. Remember this when you post social media content by posting things that will help your customers feel even more involved in your business.
3. We Can Express a Form of Empathy. A simple but deeply emotional reason in the science of social sharing. Have you ever noticed when someone says a family member or friend passes away, people update their Facebook and within minutes someone else likes it? Does that person really like that their friend’s loved one died? Are they really that callous? Actually, they aren’t. “Liking” doesn’t always mean you like a post, as I mentioned earlier. It can be a way to affirm, but it can also be a form of empathy. Many of us are separated from our friends, so a like on a sad update helps us feel like we are making them food or giving them a hug. Likes can be the emotional Heimlich of the Internet world, and help people feel a strong sense of community no matter what is happening.
Three Top Reasons Why We Share Social Media Posts
Now that I’ve looked at why people like posts, let’s take a look at why they share. Just what is the psychology behind a social share and what should your business do to get them? Take a look!
1. We Want to Share Interesting Things. Interesting things are important to us, and when it comes to our social media channels, we want to share interesting things. No one wants to share something that makes them look like a boring fuddy-duddy to their friend group. No matter how boring the topic is, if it is written in an interesting, unique way, people are more likely to share it because they found it, well, interesting. This is why you should share “how to” articles, lists, and other types of easy-to-read content because they can help you make some pretty interesting content no matter what.
2. We Want to Support Things We Care About. In addition to sharing interesting things, we also want to share posts to support things we care about, according to Shea Bennett from Ad Week. In fact, according to Shea, about 68 percent of people do this because it helps to show who we are while highlighting different areas we care for. This could be dumping a bucket of icy water over oneself to raise awareness and support for ALS or sharing a blog post from To Write Love on Her Arms. Whatever a person cares about, they will share. You can research your audience to learn what it is they care for, which can help you craft great content they will be willing to share with others.
3. To Develop and Nourish Our Online Relationships. Another reason people share, according to Garrett Moon from CoSchedule, is to help develop and nourish their online relationships. About 78 percent of users polled said this was the reason, and it is quite apparent by the way we all use our social channels and work to grow various relationships. These relationships can be with friends, family members, or even businesses, which is why your business should create content that focuses on the user, not your company.
4 Perfect Things You Can Share on Your Business’s Social Media Pages
Now that you can see a few of the reasons behind why your clients will be liking and sharing content, you are probably wondering how you can create it. I am going to look at a few ways to create content your clients will definitely want to share and like, helping you promote and grow engagement and relationships. Once you focus on that, you will begin to see an awesome boost to organic traffic, as well as to your revenue.
1. Share Your Blogs for More Engagement. Blogging is a fantastic way to get likes and shares from clients. There are many ways to write great, engaging blog copy that helps improve your social and site traffic. Some of these include writing on great, trendy content topics, writing news stories from within your industry and researching your audience to know what they want to read. Always make sure you are writing blogs on a wide variety of topics to help draw in more readers and reach different people in different places.
2. Share Great Visual Content. Visual marketing is a great way to create social content that receives likes and shares. It can help to grab the attention of your audience, which means they will read things such as an infographic. Always consider sharing your infographics on your blog, but also as individual photos on social media. This will help give your clients quick access to it without having to wait for your page to load. If they find it useful and interesting, then they will click on your link and check out more of your content.
Other visual content ideas are to share regular images that are high quality (you can create some great social share images by using things like Canva), as well as uploading videos. You can condense your written content down into a video, making it easier for your customers to consume the content quicker.
3. Share Related Industry Content. You also don’t always want to focus on your content and your content only. Give your clients more content from places within your industry, such as industry leaders, as well as content from related industries. For example, if you run a used bookstore, you can share content from websites like Abe Books, but you can also share things like grammar memes, posts from Grammarly, or anything else that could be related to reading, writing, and books. The sky really is the limit when it comes to related industry content – broaden your mind and you can broaden your social engagement.
4. Share User-Generated Content. As I mentioned earlier, people enjoy feeling involved in a company, which is often why they like or share. But, you don’t just need to sit around and wait for them to do that; you can encourage involvement through user-generated content. Have your clients upload images of your product or create something with your services. If you sell something like cleaning supplies, ask users to send in images or videos of how they used them. No matter the type of product you have, you can always find ways to encourage user-generated content to help make your clients feel even more involved. This can help you get more likes and shares, too.
Get Social and Receive All the Likes and Shares!
The science of social sharing is something that can help you grow your social following. Getting likes and shares isn’t something that will happen overnight, but if you work at it and encourage involvement, people are more likely to start engaging. Start by following a few of the tips listed above and see just how much engagement you receive.
If you are looking for excellent social media content to get you started, then look no further that Express Writers. Our social media team is well-trained in creating excellent social content for a multitude of clients. Check out our services to see how we can help you!
