Creating good, shareable content can give you great exposure to put you and your county website on the map. There is an art to creating content that people are compelled to follow & share. Incorporate these tips into the next news article or post you write and watch your website activity increase.
The 5 Shareable Types of Content
Shareable content typically falls into one of five categories. Placing your content into one of these categories certainly won’t hurt your shareability.
- Vital information – Information your community of voters want to know about
- Humor – Tid bits to share that will make your community smile
- Video – Show yourself and officers out with the public
- Unbelievable – “Did you know” information
- Time Sensitive – Great way to get alerts out to your community
Write For Your Audience
If you want people to share what you write, you need to write for them, not for yourself. Identify your audience, get inside their head and write content geared toward them.
Keep It Professional
Professional content gets shared. Sloppy work that is riddled with typos, grammatical errors and is an unorganized mess gets passed over. Take your time and get it right.
Fill a Need
When you write for your audience, you fill a need for them. This goes far beyond information or education; although those certainly do apply. Other needs you may fill include:
- Provides entertainment
- Reinforces their beliefs
- Gives them social validation
- Speaks to their interests
- Offers useful information
Present Something New and Fresh
Take an old topic and present it in a new way. Put a fresh spin on something in the news, on a controversial topic or an established idea. If you are just repeating what others have been saying about something, no one is really going to notice. Present it from an angle that no one else has explored and you have shareable content.
Make It Easy to Digest
Keep your paragraphs short and your sentences shorter. Make sure the layout is clean and easy to read with sub headers where appropriate, bulleted lists and logical transitions. One huge block of text is NOT reader friendly (and not likely to be shared). Break it up!
Give It Visual Appeal
Bold headers and sub headers along with relevant photos or video appeal visually to the reader. If it attracts them, engages them and holds them, they will share it. The first impression is the visual appeal, so make it great.
Website Traffic
Always provide a link back to your county’s website. Social sites like Facebook and Twitter should be used as opportunities to get visitors to your site. Your county website should be their main source for the detailed information the users need.
