February 27, 2015: The Web provides content creators unbridled freedom to create new forms of content, but certain forms naturally dominate because they share special properties conducive to social sharing.
What are these special properties? Here’s Kevin Lee:
Creating link-worthy, share-worthy content at scale can be a major challenge, even for content marketing teams where writing, editing, and Web production talent isn’t in short supply. Using standard content templates for the articles can speed up your production cycle; here are five that I’ve seen perform very well on the web and social media:
1. The List (or “Listicle” – a Concatenation of the Terms “Article” and “List”)
Because users have short attentions and tend to scan, not read content pages, the listicle remains an effective (although not universally beloved) way to convey information. A typical listicle will consist of a short introduction defining the topic, followed by a list of items (typically between five and ten, but often longer) that are often hyperlinked to the sources cited, and then a short “outro” or closing paragraph summing things up. Listicles travel very well on social networks, which is why you see so many of them today. Although listicles are an inadequate substitute for content that attacks a problem in depth, they’re a great way to highlight key points and direct users to any longer-format content you’ve created on that same topic. The biggest problem with the listicle-style article is oversaturation. To make your listicle stand out, use humor, surprise, and perhaps an unconventional approach.
2. The Tool Kit
This template is similar to the listicle in form, but instead of containing a list of sources, a list of tools is supplied. People love tools, have grown accustomed to reaching to the web first for answers, and the one of best ways to build loyalty with your content marketing is to use your own knowledge of specific tools to empower your readers. When you identify a tool worth discussing (and linking to), you also have an opportunity to surface — in a low-key way — how you or your firm has used the tool, giving you a chance to put the idea in the reader’s mind that your solution might be superior to a pure DIY-approach. I love tool-based articles; their main problem (at least with digital tools) is that they have a short shelf life because new tools are always emerging.
3. The Yearbook
As I’ve discussed before on ClickZ, creating articles using the Yearbook Approach lets you “socialize” articles in a way that maximizes the likelihood that these articles will be passed along by each “yearbook member” to his/her social tribe. When this happens, the reach of your article can be multiplied tenfold or more. The reason that yearbook-style articles work so well is very simple: few of us can resist opening an email or social media message announcing “you’ve been mentioned in the press,” (even if “the press” in this case only means your own blog).
4. Quotable Quotes
The quote-based article is probably the fastest kind of effective article you can make. Whatever your topic is, you can often find people on the Web who’ve thought long and hard about it and committed their observations to Twitter, Facebook, their own blog, or to a reporter. Of course if these people are simply “talking loud and saying nothing,” your quotes won’t be very interesting. But if you can curate them so that your list of quotes includes only the most penetrating, outrageous, or funny observances, your article can be a winner. After you publish, make sure you Tweet (using the “@xyx” string) to everyone who’s been quoted, and you can enjoy reach multiplication, just like with the Yearbook.
5. The Invitation.
This template invites your audience to weigh in on an issue that you’ve taken a stand on. In so doing, you function as a “crowd-sourcing host” (or “MC). If the blog on which your article appears is set up to take comments, you can host your interactivity there, but doing this has its risks. If nobody takes your invitation, and the comment count equals zero, you’ll seem unpopular. If the answers are idiotic, nothing of value is developed. I prefer to make my invitation-articles email based (e.g. “What do you think of x? Send me some email and I might use your quote in a future article.”).
You shouldn’t feel bound by these templates. They’re there to serve you, not to function as a straightjacket. Feel free to change up the kind of content you serve at any time to avoid boring your audience. But if you’re charged with the task of creating a lot of content in a short time and need to hit your numbers, the five templates I’ve cited above can help you meet your objectives.