Marketers dream about creating marketing content which go viral and spreads the name of their brand all over the market. Viral is magic, and most viral content is a result by chance. Something clicks, and people begin to share it. No one really knows why.

You can’t create marketing content that guaranteed will go viral, but what you can do is to create shareable content, that has the opportunity to go viral.

Make Your Marketing Content Available

What you should do is to make your marketing content available for different persons and different situations by crafting and tweaking it into different types of shareable media. Doing this, you can share the very same piece of marketing content over different platforms, social networks and communities – all linking back to your website or campaign.

1. Blog posts

Blogs are often the media hub that all your social media content links back to. The goal with your business blog is to position you as a go-to source or thought-leader in your industry. To be shareable, your blog posts should have shareable and key-word related headlines, consist of really great content and be scannable (because people don’t read on the web, they scan).

Have a look at this example: The A to Z guide to content marketing.

2. Lists

People love lists. This entire blog post is a list. And the exampel blog post in #1 above is a list. Since people don’t read but scan on the web, lists are very useful when you want your audience’ attention.

3. Images

Images are the mother of shareable marketing content. If you’re lucky, people will share a good pic, (like this from [grow] blog), over social media networks hundreds of thousands of times, and will lead a huge amount of people back to your site.

4. Videos

Video is the newest big thing online. With 700 YouTube clips shared on Twitter every minute and 500 YEARS of video shown everyday on Facebook, video is huge. David Murdico writes about the psychology behind sharing in the post Why People Share Online Videos – And Why Marketers Should Care on Online Video Insider. He argues:

“People have a built-in need to share experiences. Although we often watch video content by ourselves, we still feel that need to laugh, cry or be outraged with someone else. As cavemen, we sat around the campfire and shared stories, then we listened around the radio, then we watched TV together. Now, as we become socially fragmented in our entertainment consumption, we still have that need to share stories — so we forward videos, leave comments, write and read posts and interact online. Sharing gives people that sense of community and explains why social networks are so popular.”

5. Surveys

Journalists and bloggers like to quote surveys. Write a report or conduct a mini-survey, and your marketing content suddenly appear much more credible. (For an example of what you can do, have a look at the report below about the Psychology of Sharing by The New York Times).

Clipped from: nytmarketing.whsites.net (share this clip)

6. Slide-shows and e-books

Just like surveys, good curated content about your business in the form of an e-book or stand-alone slide-show, make you appear trustworthy and reliable. People can and will download it as well as share it with their online communities.

Content Marketing Institute does it all the time. Their channel at slideshare.com is a great source for content marketing. Take a look at this presentation:

7. Facts & figures

People are fascinated by facts and numbers. Sort them nicely, put them in a graph and they’re terrific shareable content. (The chart below from imittcopy.com illustrates what kind of marketing content marketeers use in their marketing mix).

8. Infographics

We’ve seen them everywhere during the last couple of years. Infographics are here to stay. Combining art and facts they help us explain complicated data in an easy digestive and fun way. People love them because they understand them. And they love to share them. Here’s one on how to make your content go viral by infographicdesignteam.

What kind of content do you love to share? Please tell in the comment box below!

Dig Deeper: 50 Shades of Content to Create This Year

What readers say about the article:

More top-notch tips, chaps! How to Make Your Marketing Content Shareable tinyurl.com/crv3ebr via @coskills

— Marketing Chap (@Marketing_Chap) December 3, 2012

Want Help? Here’s Help! RT @coskills: How to Make Your Marketing Content Shareable is.gd/YWpwTs

— Christopher de Mers (@ChristopherinHR) December 17, 2012

About the author

Anna Rydne is a communications specialist, a mother and a small business owner. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, she's determined to uncover the secrets of how successful people and companies communicate. Anna has a special interest in social media marketing and personal branding and she believes the road to success is trying. She tweets about all things comms, social media and marketing @CoSkills and writes for SteamFeed.com twice a month. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology. Contact her at anna@communicateskills.com.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•