Download - 8 Ways to Write Viral Headlines
8 WAY S T O W R I T E
V I RA L H E A D L I N E S
( A N D , Y O U W O N ’ T B E L I E V E # 6 ! )
P a tti D a l e s s i o
R e i n v e n t I n t e r a c ti v e , I n c .4/16/16
ABOUT ME
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• SEM – PPC (Search Engine Marketing – Pay Per Click)
• Conversion Optimization (Make your digital channels drive new business)
Patti Dalessio
SAILING
AGENDA
1. What’s Viral ?2. Common Elements of Viral Headlines 3. Differences Across Social Platforms
(Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)4. 8 Ways to Create your Own Viral Headline
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “GO VIRAL?”
MATH IS HARDEssentially, the average “distance” between each person that spreads a piece of content, from the creator to each person that clicks
The formula for “going viral”
“BROADCAST” VS. “VIRAL”
Broadcasting:
A message is sent to people directly - one source, many recipients.
“BROADCAST” VS. “VIRAL” Viral:
Messages spread exponentially, propagating (spreading) via sharing and re-sharing from multiple sources – Like a biological virus!
OTHER PEOPLE NEED TO SHARE CONTENT FOR IT TO BECOME VIRAL
WHAT’S THE SECRET TO MAKING A PIECE OF CONTENT GO VIRAL?
THERE’S NO SECRET
BUT...
THERE IS THE HEADLINE
LET’S LOOK AT THE DATA:
EXPLORING COMMONALITIES OF VIRAL HEADLINES
STRUCTURE OF A VIRAL HEADLINEEmotion
al Element
AmusingSurprising
Heart Warming BeautifulInspiring WarningShocking
Content Element
ImagesFacts
ChartsQuotesVideo
Interaction
Topic Element
Trending Topic Health
Cats & DogsBabies
Long Life Love
Format Element
List PostsQuizStory
Curated Research Report
Promise Element
How to...Complete Guide to...Practical
Tips..Improve
you..
21 Clothing Hacks That Will Save You From Embarrassing Mishaps
Format Promise
TopicEmotion Superlative
Content Type
H O W D O V I RA L H E A D L I N E S DIFFER A M O N G S O C I A L P L AT F O R M S ?
RESEARCH BY STEVE
Source:
Steve Rayson of BuzzSumo
“Researching the headlines of the most shared posts in the BuzzSumo database”
BUZZSUMO.COM
NOTES ABOUT THE RESEARCH• Extracted trigrams and bigrams from the headlines of 1 million
random articles from top publishers• Looked at trigrams that are present in at least 150 of the article
headlines• Sorted them by shares across social networks to identify the top
performing trigrams in terms of social shares
3-word phrase 2-word phrase
THE WORDS AND PHRASES THAT RESONATE WITH PEOPLE VARY (A LOT) ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
TOP HEADLINE TRIGRAM (3 WORD PHRASES) SHARED ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
TOP HEADLINE TRIGRAM (3 WORD PHRASES) SHARED ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
CONTENT ELEMENTS
FORMAT ELEMENTS
TOPIC ELEMENTS
SUPERLATIVE WORDS
WORDS/PHRASES
TAKE-AWAYS
Two Elements that Perform BestAcross Platforms
List PostsHow To Posts
8 WAYS TO WRITE A VIRAL HEADLINE
(1) STRUCTUREUse a viral headline structure with at least three of the key elements
Emotional Element
AmusingSurprising
Heart Warming BeautifulInspiring WarningShocking
Content Element
ImagesFacts
ChartsQuotesVideo
Interaction
Topic Element
Trending Topic HealthCats & Dogs
Babies Long Life
Love
Format Element
List PostsQuizStory
Curated Research Report
Promise Element
How to...Complete Guide to...Practical
Tips..Improve
you..
(2) FORMAT ELEMENT
Research the formats that work best with your audiences and use that format in your headline!
(3) CONTENT ELEMENT
Check the content types that resonate with your audience and include these in your headline
(4) TOPIC ELEMENT
Choose topics that resonate with your audience. Research trending topics (tool like BuzzSumo) and leverage these topics, or a permanently popular topic.
Like:
“Content Marketing: Every Time You Mention Your Product A Kitten Dies”.
(5) SUPERLATIVE OR EMOTIONAL WORDSResearch the emotional words that resonate with your audience.
The research shows that words like ‘Amazing’ work well on Facebook whereas ‘Successful’ has more appeal on LinkedIn. What is important is the words that resonate with your audience.
(6) TRIGRAMSResearch the bigrams and trigrams that work best in your area/niche and on your social networks.
NERD ALERT:
A way to do this with BuzzSumo is to search for the most shared of your topic, export the results, sort by network shares.
e.g. Facebook, copy the headlines of say the top few thousand posts and paste them into a text analyzer (such as http://www.online-utility.org/text/analyzer.jsp) which will show you the most popular two and three word phrases. Use the trigrams that work best with your audience.
(7) HAVE A CLEAR PROMISE
What does your headline promise the reader?
Is it explicit what they can expect if they click through to your article. Are you promising to improve their performance, to reveal a secret, show them something amazing or surprising or are you promising to unravel a story.
(8) TAILOR PROMOTIONAL CONTENT FOR EACH SOCIAL NETWORK
Draft different content for social posts and ads on the different networks.
Use the words and phrases that work best on that network.
MORE TIPS FOR VIRAL HEADLINES• LENGTH: 8 words or less than 70 characters (there’s always exceptions)
• Inject your titles with a high dose of curiosity and back it up with great content
• Address Readers in 2nd Person– It’s awkward, but it’s the perfect form for headline writing, grabbing the attention
of readers by calling them out.
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CONTACT ME
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: ReinventInteractive.com
• @SEOPatti (Twitter & Instagram)
Patti Dalessio
