With all that exists on the Internet for people to consume, it’s not easy to create content that spreads like wildfire and grabs people’s attention. But whether you’re a marketer or a small business owner, if the people you are trying to reach spend time online, then understanding how to create signal with content (Valeria Maltoni defines “signal” as the ability to convert traffic to a website) is really important.
So, how does one successfully create the type of online content that people want to share? What we discovered during this week’s Tweetea chat is there are some core reasons why people are motivated and inspired to spread content online.
We have the Detroit in Ruins photo gallery on the Guardian’s website to thank for this lively discussion. As of today, it has been tweeted 7,234 times and shared on Facebook more than 71,000 times. Those are mind-boggling numbers! Here’s the key question this example prompted:
What motivates people to share online content?
I was feverishly taking notes of my suggestions and those of the Tweetea participators this week because I didn’t want these great suggestions to only stay within the Twitter chat. So, here are 22 reasons why online content spreads:
- It helps people improve/become better at something.
- It’s community-oriented.
- It’s innovative and unique.
- It’s all about an emotion. Thoughtful, inspiring, sad, funny, etc. Evoke emotion through content and people will share it.
- It deals with unexpected experiences. Surprise the viewer/reader/listener.
- It’s inspiring.
- It’s current and relevant.
- It’s beautifully crafted.
- It’s something people have never seen/heard of before.
- There’s a compelling message, whether positive or negative.
- It tells a good story.
- The timing is right.
- It’s something impossible to contrive.
- The site is clean and simple to navigate, so it’s easy to share the content.
- The content or site it’s hosted on has strong SEO.
- It’s a component of a well executed marketing plan.
- It tugs at the heart strings and is heartwearming.
- There’s a newsworthy angle.
- There’s humor.
- The quality is great (poor audio turns people away from your content).
- It’s accessible via mobile devices (you can’t watch Vimeo videos on an iPhone).
- People with a large community spread it.
One piece of advice kept making it’s way back into the conversation – You can’t ever guarantee that content will go viral. And if it does, that content better be part of a bigger plan to help sustain interest in the product/service/company/person long after the shiny object syndrome dies down.
What are your thoughts on online content? What’s missing from this list?
** Shameless Tweetea plug – Join us every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. either in person or on Twitter using the #tweetea hashtag for more fun and interesting convos like the one that inspired this post!