If the content on your website does not result in any shares, it is an epic failure. Well, this is not a too popular opinion but your content marketing success is the ability of your content to get shares. Let’s break it and understand how you can get more shares. 

Whether you love it or not, social media has become an integral part of content marketing. It allows users to share content without much effort. In a rapidly evolving digital world where people learn, shop, socialize and play online, it is estimated that by 2021 the total number of social media user will increase up to 3.02 billion – which is huge. Social media marketing company Orange County can help you drive shares via paid advertising. 

It is only a single slice of the content marketing pie. Marketers will also drive traffic and shares across relevant blogs, and strengthen the backlinking, which are thematically linked and contextually appropriate. 

Among all other factors which result in content shares, one of the critical factors is understanding the need of your target market and the kind of content they crave for. You can not create amazing content without knowing the purpose and a plan. Once you have a catchy title in your mind, how do you ensure the blog post or article is good enough to engage your audience till the end. And how do you create the kind of content that the visitors will climb over each other to share? So here is how you do it with ease and flow:

Understand your audience pain points 

As content developers, we all have ideas for the great blog posts that are tumbling and just burst onto the page. But does that mean the content fulfills audience needs and is aligned with what your target readership is looking for? Is it a topic that your audience cares about? 

No matter how appealing your content is if it does not address the audience needs, it will have zero engagement rate. A little research around your audience needs will save your time and money, and a lot of frustration later. 

Your goal is not to create content that will repel your audience but to create a content they want to consume. You can quickly figure out what your audience is interested in. Start by looking at trends in your niche. The three simple platforms which can help you find trending topics are Google Trends, Feedly, and BuzzSumo. 

BuzzSumo 

This tool analyzes content from across the web. BuzzSumo comes handy if you are particularly interested in finding content which has a significant number of shares over social media. Use it to see what kind of content is trending on social media. You can search using specific keywords, and you will have a great insight into the topics people are genuinely interested in. 

Feedly

Feedly is a fantastic tool that brings popular content together in one feed. It can help you to stay on the top of the content that is trending in your niche. You can get an overview of what is trending in your industry, as well as identify the gaps in popular topics which no one else is talking about. 

Google trends 

Google trends allow you to monitor what is popular in Google searches. It classifies most popular stories and the trending keywords while providing the overtime popularity of the specific topic. You can also identify topics even before they explode into the mainstream. 

If you are looking for creating compelling content, these three tools can give a great headstart, and they are the popular sources for market research. Apart from this, you can also use popular forums like Quora and Reddit to find out what people are looking for. 

Be original 

Once you find what your target audience is looking for, do not follow whatever everyone around is doing to engage them. You already have content in place, and if you write the same kind of content then why would the audience share it? 

Once you have a topic in your mind to write about, and you have researched it from multiple angles, you need to brainstorm around finding your hook. Think about:

• What do you offer which nobody else is talking about
• What new dimensions and perspectives you can add 
• What is your uniqueness that will have your audience captivated 

Being original is a confronting goal. However, there are so many ways which can help you create something out of nothing. A great way to create unique content is to counter argument something that someone else has already written in your niche. 

Whether you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur, chances are you are expert at something people are interested in. Use your knowledge and expertise as the basis of your original content. 

Add value 

Never try to trick your target audience into reading your content. Everyone is looking for free-lunch, but no one wants to be tricked. Create content that fulfills your audience expectations and always be upfront. 

Be open and honest about what you are providing to your audience. While there is no single creative way to guarantee shares, providing value to the target audience can turn your content from forgettable to fantastic. 

To ensure creation of a value-driven content, you can add a link to resources, infographics, add links to high DA links, and add related videos. 

Don’t just solve a problem – tell them what does the problem exist 

As the search engine policies are evolving, the aim is to provide a great user experience. Google is always looking for new ways to improve user experience. In such an ever changing environment, the old ‘solve a problem’ strategy isn’t enough to craft a great content strategy. 

Go one step further and let them know why does the problem even exist. Perhaps your audience did not consider doing things in a unique way, and maybe your perspective will transform their approach. 

Use the art of storytelling to bridge the gap between your content and the impact you are trying to create. Here is what you can do, start creating content with a short story to address the issue you are trying to solve, followed by the benefits they can reap using the information you are providing. 

Problem-solving is always more effective than traditional marketing strategies. People are not interested to know about you and your business, but they look for the solutions for their problems. 

Create an easy to read content 

Regardless of how helpful or relevant your content is, your target audience will never stay around if your content hard to read and not engaging. All you have are the first eight seconds to capture your reader’s attention. 

Always use interesting subheading to make your content engaging. Avoid writing longer paragraphs. Otherwise, your readers will get bored. Add powerful images to make your content appealing, and proper formatting is a must. 

Encourage your audience to share your content 

Once you have an article or blog post ready, add a call to action at the end to encourage your reader to share your content. Make sure the CTA is concise, clear, and obvious. 

If you are sharing your content on social media, add a concise CTA at the end of the post. Social media marketing company Orange County can help you increase shares of your content. 

With these essential points in your mind, you can create amazing, shareable and evergreen content. When creating content, always keep users’ intent in mind. Do that, and it will drive traffic and shares to your website. Reach out to the social media marketing company Orange County like Drive Traffic Media as we can advise you how you can get more shares via social media.