Author: Neil Patel / Source: Quick Sprout If you’re a content marketer of any type, you know how crucial it is for your blog posts to make
If you’re a content marketer of any type, you know how crucial it is for your blog posts to make a splash.
If you were to look over my shoulder any day of the week, you’d see me checking my social sharing metrics.
Just this morning, I logged in to Buzzsumo to take a look at these numbers:
(This image shows the social sharing metrics for QuickSprout.com over the past year. These are the four pieces of content that received the most social shares.)
Why?
Because social sharing matters!
This isn’t some sort of narcissistic kick. This is a data-driven way to see who’s sharing my content, how many shares I’m getting, what platform those shares are on, and why the articles are being shared.
Obviously, it doesn’t matter how much content you’re putting out if nobody’s reading it.
If nobody’s reading it, nobody’s sharing it.
Ultimately, your content must be shared if you want to increase site traffic.
Many marketers spend their days looking at Google Analytics. I do this too. But Google Analytics is only part of the picture.
There’s a fascinating story behind every social share you receive.
If you’re one of the millions of soloprenuers, entrepreneurs, content marketers, growth hackers, or startup marketers in the US struggling to put out engaging content, you’re not alone.
I get it more than anyone.
The web moves fast; trends come and go; and sometimes it’s hard to keep up.
You’ll be happy to learn, however, that there are a few tried-and-true content categories that everyone (your audience, my audience) loves to engage with and share.
In this post, I’m giving you a few of those content categories and diving into ways to discover more for a lasting result.
By the end of this post, you’ll understand why the content you’re sharing may not be getting the same results as other some content does.
You’ll also understand how all this affects share rate and what you can do to turn your situation around.
Here are your new go-to blog post topics. Read each thoroughly, and think about how they can be leveraged on your blog.
1. Productivity hacking
Time is one thing we’ll never have more of—for now, at least.
If I told you I could make your days longer and you’d be able to finish more work, make more calls, etc., you’d be interested, right?
Of course, you would. Time is important.
It makes sense then that we’re attracted to content focused on gaining more time.
In your upcoming blog posts, incorporate interesting productivity tips, whether showing how your product or service increases productivity or sharing which productivity tips and tricks are working for you.
If you’re familiar with Michael Hyatt’s blog, you’ve probably seen this work. Michael Hyatt is a leadership development expert, but he publishes a lot of productivity-related titles.
In fact, when I look back on his blog’s social sharing metrics over the past 12 months, two of his top five are on productivity:
People love sharing practical content that they can vouch for and others can use.
2. Travel
The travel industry is booming for a reason. We love to travel.
Travel is invigorating, relaxing, and educational, and it’s one of the reasons why content focused on travel is so widely shared.
It’s time for you to join the club. Start thinking about what you would want to read.
Depending on the season, you can write about physical locations your audience might search for, say, Jamaica.
If you’re a company that has this information on Jamaica on your blog, take advantage of that. Take control so your blog becomes a frequent destination.
What kind of blogs would benefit from travel-related articles? It might not be that hard to find a connection.
Take ToDoIst for example. They sell a…
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