As we’ve seen over the past couple of years, branded content can be an amazing marketing tool that any business can leverage. And while recent attention has focused primarily on micro content — such as tweets — you can’t ignore the impact social media has had on long-form content as well.
Crafting great content for your company blog often requires a substantial amount of time and energy. Obviously you don’t want to put in the effort only to have a minimal ROI, and simply clicking “publish” isn’t enough to drive traffic or leads. Just as with any other marketing asset, you need to promote your content.
One of the best ways to do this is to optimize your company blog for social sharing so your readers can promote it for you. And to do so successfully, you need to be familiar with how your content will appear across various social platforms. Here are some tips to get you started.
Use Captivating Headlines
Headlines, or titles, are arguably the most important part of your blog post when it comes to social sharing. In most cases, the headline is the first thing readers will see whether they’re browsing an RSS feed or their Twitter stream. And to put it in perspective, only 20 percent of people who see your headline will read past it.
A good headline will captivate and intrigue viewers so they want to click through and continue reading. As such, you’ll need to pique their curiosity. Use strong verbs to pull readers in. To really grip them, include an emotional element or promise something of value — like solving a problem, for example.
Consider how a shared article appears on Twitter or within Facebook’s News Feed. In addition to a photo and description, the article’s headline is prominently displayed. Considering that roughly …read more
Source: Sprout Social