According to Brian Dean in this article:
When a piece of content you write goes viral, there’s no skill or commitment involved in content marketing.
In fact:
According to new research, viral content tends to contain specific elements that push people to share.
Before we get into tools you can use for content marketing, let’s look at the basic to-do checklist for your content to ensure it is ready for inbound marketing.
Checklist:
Use numbers – Headlines that use numbers have been shown to increase click through rates up to 24%.
Use Short URL’s on your post – Short URL’s with your focus keyword will increase the chances of ranking for that keyword in the search engines.
Use a colorful leading image – A leading image which describes your post has been shown to increase the interaction with your article and entice users to read it.
Start off with short sentences – Start your article with a short, well-structured sentence and use your target keyword in the first paragraph.
Be practical – Articles that are pragmatic are 38% more likely to go viral.
Get emotional – Play on people’s emotions with words that produce a reaction for the reader.
Use infographics – Use or create an infographic for your post. It will keep the user on your blog post for a longer period, increasing your organic CTR.
Mention influencers – Finding the right influencers and placing their tweets in your article creates credibility. Get some feedback from leading industry names.
Include hash tags – Search Instagram for hashtags related to your post and embed them in your article. This has been known to increase tweets and shares by 53%.
Now that we have a few tips for your article, we will take a look at the tools you can use to promote your content.
Scoop.it
With this social sharing and content management system you can research your target audience through popular keywords and content that has performed well with other industry leaders.
Scoop.it provides a calendar to visualize your content marketing schedule and helps you setup a content marketing plan for your business.
Let’s start with how you can use this software to increase traffic to your content
Head over to Scoop.It and create a free account.
Enter some keywords related to your content.
Use the search bar to search for content that is similar to the content on your website or in the same business niche you are targeting.
Double check that your target in Scoop.it has a high amount of views and shares.
Find the users that are sharing that content, then reach out to them for your blog post ideas.
Focus on users that have a large Twitter following.
Now it is time to suggest your content to the same users that have previously shared the same type of content.
Find the suggest button, enter your URL for the appropriate Scoop.it page from the drop down and click suggest.
From here, get in contact with the user on their social media profile, send them a tweet and share some of their previous content.
Give the impression you are involved and interested in them and they just might post your content on their Scoop.it feed.
Outbrain: the content delivery and marketing networks
Outbrain is a content marketing agency which places your content posts on websites. It is similar to PPC, though it is targeted for content marketing.
This tool allows you to understand the audiences you are reaching so you can compare your performance against similar posts in the industry.
This is a great way to gauge the quality of your content and how it resonates with a worldwide audience.
It gives you the exact insight into how an audience will react to your writing.
Some more information:
Pricing – This is based on a daily budget and PPC. You only pay for the visits you receive.
Business goals – Set your goals for conversion and work with a monthly target that works for your clients or business.
Article network – Your article can be placed anywhere from The Huffington Post to a high traffic-targeted blog focused on your niche.
Taboola content recommendations
Using this platform for content marketing for your initial growth hacking efforts can significantly boost user retention and social shares.
Why?
Actually, for a few reasons:
First, sharing your content on an advertising network with a summary of your post is a great way to start off with a traffic boost.
Second, it gives you a quick win for social signals. If you prefer to work with a social media agency they will most likely use the same viral tactics.
Third, writing a post that is ready for a higher search engine ranking with your target keyword and using promotion can rank your content faster.
Taboola allows you to reach specific target audiences by placing your post on relevant sites sharing the same theme to a large user base.
It provides a platform to share not only articles, but videos & apps in direct marketing channels and search friendly platforms.
Taboola provides an easy to measure platform for content marketing. What this means is you can choose between a performance metric such as CTR, CPA, etc.
It’s important that you try for your content along with any other sharing methods you are using at the same time.
Content marketing tools: Reddit
Reddit is a well-known platform where users can share ideas and ask for help in places called “subreddits”.
Open up a Reddit account and install the app. Before you can really promote your content on this platform, you need to build up your Karma points.
Karma points can be earned by posting something that is up voted by the community or by providing comments that are helpful or liked by the community.
Once you have accumulated over 1000 Karma join some Reddit communities that have a high amount of subscribers and get involved.
Post content, read other people’s posts and ask for help.
Some subreddits that often make it to the front page include:
r/aww
r/gifs
r/Art
r/midlyinteresting
r/funny
r/dataisbeautiful
r/todayilearned
r/EarthPorn
Find some subreddits in your niche then post something from your business. Use a title which will get people involved. Don’t solely promote your business.
If you are looking for some quick ways to build up your Karma without posting on 100 Reddit posts, we have a solution for you.
Download the app called “imgur” to your phone.
When you have time, scroll through all of the pics posted by the community when you are sitting on the bus to work or traveling.
When you find something you think is inspirational or extremely funny, save it to your phone.
Tip: Most of the funny content that makes it to the first page of Reddit goes through Imgur first.
Once you have a set of images you like, get to Reddit and start posting in r/aww or r/funny.
Give it a catchy title relevant to the image and keep posting.
You will be guaranteed to gain over 500 karma in no time. Who doesn’t up-vote a cat with no legs trying to scratch its ear?
Conclusion
With these tools as your arsenal, you can start to promote your content to the right audience.
At the end of the day, it is about gaining some inbound traffic to your website and using other platforms with high traffic engagement to your advantage.
About the Author
Beginning his practice in 2003, Ben’s continuing studies in online marketing, web development and growth hacking have expanded his scope to include focusing on WordPress, Magento, Joomla and Converstion Rate optimization.
Featured image:
Image source: Author-owned
