How to Create Contagious Content for Your Company

We all know that sharing content is a great way to connect with your audience, but writing boring blog posts and cookie-cutter direct-mail campaigns isn't going to cut it. In an oversaturated marketplace, readers crave content that is useful, interesting, and, above all, share-worthy.

While not everything can be viral, having contagious content is one of the best - and cheapest -ways to reach both current and potential customers. Read on for tips on creating content that will take on a life of its own.

Create a catchy headline. Plenty of high-quality content has tragically been ignored because it was paired with a boring headline. At the same time, I've seen so-so posts go viral because they had catchy, funny, or provocative headlines. Don't wait until the last minute to write a headline - it's arguably the most important part of your post, both in terms of driving traffic to your site and SEO value. Write the headline early on, and let it guide your content.

Keep it short and sweet. Most people have short attention spans, especially when they're online. It depends on the audience, but studies have shown that the most effective videos are less than a minute long, while blog posts should be less than 1500 words and broken down into easily digestible sections. Nobody wants to watch a 20-minute video or read a 5,000-word chronicle when they're casually surfing the web.

Emphasize quality over quantity. Some brands are so focused on regularly posting content that they sacrifice quality in exchange for quantity. While consistent posting is a valuable habit to get into and can encourage repeat traffic, if a post is poor quality, it probably won't get shared. If your goal is to create truly valuable content that people will want to share, it's worth it to devote a little extra time to your efforts. This will help you build trust with your audience and create a more invested community.

Be original. This can be a tough rule to follow considering the insane amount of content that gets added to the web every single day. But try your best to add something new to the conversation, whether it be practical how-to advice or a fresh perspective.

Get listy. No surprise here: People love lists. They tend to be easy to read, entertaining, and informative. It may seem gimmicky, but advertisers and journalists have always used lists to reel readers in. Just be sure not to force a list into a format where it doesn't work, and always deliver on the promise made in your headline if you want to avoid annoying your audience.

Appeal to your audience's emotions. People are much more likely to share content that engages their emotions, whether it makes them feel joy, surprise, fear, or even anger. A post that makes them laugh or makes them stop and think for a second will motivate them to pass it along. Unsurprisingly, posts that tap into positive feelings tend to perform better than those that are negative.

Make it easy to share. Add social share buttons to your site so your audience can quickly and easily share your posts via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other social channels.

Has your company created any contagious posts? What are your secrets? Please share them in the comments!