One of the goals of any purposeful marketing initiative is to create content that is deemed sharable by your target audience. In a matter of moments, sharable content stands to be shared with millions of other individuals through a few clicks.

What Types of Content are Considered Sharable?

Sharable content often establishes brand authority; it is one of the most important components to building successful brand engagement.

Here are the top 4 types of sharable content:

1. Numbered/Bullet Point Lists or How-To’s– Concepts organized into list form are easy for individuals to read online. Lists are one of the most commonly bookmarked items as they can be quickly referenced at a later point. Consumers search for how-to guides as potential solutions to current problems, or when they are seeking guidance for particular projects. Consider what information relevant to your business you could organize into either or both of these potentially sharable formats.
2. Visually Stimulating Posts– Not all readers fall in love with traditional content; many are more drawn to visually stimulating posts; those that contain imagery or videos. Consider including videos, photographs, infographics and other visual content as posts on your website, blogs, social media profiles and if in video form, on YouTube for the greatest amount of potential consumer exposure.
3. Infograhpics– Present interesting or important data in pictoral form. Information is often digested easily when presented in this type of format. When creating this form of content, be sure to research and properly document all claims, statistics and information as credibility is always important to your business’s brand. Once you have organized the actual verbiage to include in your infographic, partner with a graphic designer for the final layout.
4. Controversial Topics– Any opportunity your business has to engage followers/friends/customers/prospects by presenting topics that encourage two sided discussions is great. Controversial topics are frequently shared amongst friends. For the best results, select topics that are not only controversial or debatable, but relevant to your business or industry. Search for industry news regularly and set up Google Alerts for selected keywords to keep yourself up-to-date on what’s going on in your industry. When something newsworthy that fits this bill comes along, create a post around it and see what happens.

Once you have selected the type of content to create, work on the body of the piece; the ‘meat’ so to speak. Then, return to the piece’s title and work to create something that will grab the reader’s attention. Your title should be catchy enough to make someone stop and take the time to read further.

Sharable content is one of the most efficient methods of reaching a broad audience online. Take proactive steps to create the type of content that is most likely to be shared online. While not every piece will receive the same amount of attention, focusing your efforts in the right areas is most likely to result in pieces that see a tremendous amount of attention online.