August 6

0 comments

How to Write “How To” Guides that Can Socially Go Viral

As bloggers and online marketers, one of our biggest dreams is to write an article that eventually goes viral. With over 2 billion users across all of the major social networks, it seems like this would be easier said than done — but it’s not.

How to Get the Most Out Of Your “How To” Blog Post

In this post we are going to cover some of the key elements to creating content that can potentially not only go viral, but will also provide value in the process. At the very least, by implementing these tips into your existing blog content, you will definitely see an increase in overall social shares and traffic to your site.

Before jumping into the article, I first want to make it clear that we aren’t trying to create funny or entertainment based articles… as those are a lot easier to make go viral. Instead we want to focus on a “how to” guide or “review” that provides value.

Creating Better and Higher Quality Content

First thing first, you are going to want to make sure you put in the time and research before you even start with writing your how to guide. This should entail looking at how many people are already searching for the content you are writing about, what type of content is already out there and how you can make it better.

A good example of this would be my how to make money blogging post, which is over 1,000 words, goes into great detail in every aspect and even had an infographic created for the post as well.

How_to_Make_Money_Blogging_-_From_Start_to_Business___

While I went into great detail to provide as much content in the post as possible, this same method works when creating an advanced infographic for your site as well (without a ton of text to go along with it).

If you were to search for “how to setup your own payroll” on Google (which is a highly sought after term), you will find QuickBooks’ infographic ranking right at the top of the results.

Set_Up_Your_Small_Business_Payroll__Infographic__-_Intuit_Payroll

In addition to the great content on the site, you will also notice the prominent social sharing buttons as well. My “make money blogging guide” already has over 500+ social shares, while the QuickBooks infographic likely has a few thousand social shares as well.

Using Experts within Your Guides and Blog Posts

Another great way to bring a boost of awareness and social sharing activity to your blog posts, is by including industry experts as examples or to provide quotes to back up your statements.

An example of this can be seen on Search Engine Journal, where real life examples were being used on how to explode social shares for your next blog post. The end result was not only having amazing content within the post, but also nearly 6,000 social shares to go along with it!

7_Proven_Methods_to_Explode_Your_Social_Shares___SEJ

Once again, the easy to use social sharing buttons was a nice contributor to the post’s success, but it was also about being able to feature well known industry experts like Brian Dean, Ian Cleary and other authority sites in there as well.

Not only was the post getting shared by visitors of Search Engine Journal, but it was also shared by each of the experts featured within the post as well.

Have a Content and Social Media Marketing Plan

Way too many bloggers think that if you ‘create great content’, that’s enough to open up the flood gates of traffic to your site. This simply isn’t the case at all.

Instead of focusing all of your effort on just your content, you also need to focus on your content promotion and outreach just as much.

After your blog post goes live, then you need to share it with all of your social followers, reach out to any sites or experts who were featured in your post and maybe even some friends in the industry who can help spread awareness as well.

Additionally, a service like JustRetweet.com doesn’t hurt to have either!

Submit_Retweet_-_JustRetweet

Every time I go live with a new blog post, I always make sure to add it within my account so all of the members of the site can start promoting it for me as well. This is one of the best ways to bring a nice boost of traffic to your blog posts within the first 24 hours.

Action Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Blog Content

Not all of your blog content is going to go viral, or even get many social shares at all! However, there are many tactics that you can implement when trying to create your next killer blog post. A great resource for coming up with new and creative ways to spin your content in different directions can be seen through these “8 content marketing ideas” from IMCreator. A few of their recommendations include how to effectively use Facebook advertising to boost social traffic back to your site, using content creation to grown your brand loyalty over time and also the value in referencing and providing cold hard facts and resources within your content.

In addition to the ideas mentioned through the article above, you can also implement the following tactics into your content marketing efforts.

  • Content that is better than what is out there
  • Social sharing buttons that are easy to use
  • A killer headline / title that grabs attention
  • Using an infographic to bring your content to life
  • Adding in a few resources and industry expert
  • Have a content and social media marketing plan in place

By throwing all of these components together, you are greatly increasing your chances to find success with your next blog post.


Tags


You may also like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked

CommentLuv badge
{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Direct Your Visitors to a Clear Action at the Bottom of the Page