The ultimate objective of any communication is to influence action.
You will be judged by the quality of your content. Understanding the psychology of how we consume social media can help you create compelling posts that attract attention and encourage sharing.
What draws your attention? The Social Pilot Website shares ten content types that are most likely to generate viral interest.
- Puzzles and Riddles
- Infographics
- Motivational Content
- Personality Quizzes
- Lists
- Case Studies
- How-To Guides
- Top Posts (Top Ten Lists)
- Long Form Content (Google prioritizes articles with word counts exceeding 1500)
- Humanized Stories (real-life stories about struggle, kindness, determination and hope)
The high-performance consultants at Highspot distil powerful content this way.
Viral content… Understands its audience
- Has clear goals
- Is easy to digest
- Has great visuals
- Starts small
- Has a strong promotional plan behind it
- Author is actively engaged
- Is mobile friendly
Thrive, another company that specializes in maximizing social media effectiveness, says that all viral content offers entertainment value, is highly relatable and evokes an emotional response.
The Fractl search engine optimization company identifies admiration, happiness and love as the most common positive emotions connected with emotional images that go viral. And don’t forget the captions. Powerful captions amplify effectiveness.
So, the secret to creating a timeline of consistently compelling content is to stay positive
While negative posts have the capacity to go viral, they are most often associated with disgust. That’s not an emotion you want connected with your brand.
Google “The most viral positive posts,” to see what is ranking high at the time you are creating your content.
The people we stay with on social media balance their activity between selling their product and sharing tidbits about their lives. We are attracted to rock stars who seem to be a lot like us. Donny Osmond posts an Instagram of himself and his wife driving a U-Haul as part of a recent move. We’ve all done that at some point in our own adventures. Grandkids, cats, dogs and postcard shots of places we visit are all great ways to juxtapose life against product.
Variety is the spice of life.
An excellent content quality indicator is what you share. When you bracket the definition of positive, productive posts, what reflexively has you hitting the share button?
And think about people you follow who leave you feeling better about yourself and about life than before you read their messages. What are they writing about?
The old saying, “We buy from people we like,” still applies in the digital age. Build a personal brand that attracts and retains fellow travelers. Your tweets and posts can become the catalysts for mutually beneficial relationships that go beyond the sale.
And that’s what life is all about.
