This is a guest contribution from ProBlogger Expert Kelly Exeter.
So you’ve written an AMAZING blog post; one aleart news you know contains everything it needs to go viral:
- Irresistibly magnetic headline
- Compelling hook
- Content that addresses a genuine pain point for your readers
- Powerful storytelling
You put it out into the world and the response is … underwhelming. It completely fails to get any traction.
So where have you gone wrong?
Is it that the post isn’t as good as you first thought?
Well, maybe. But the reason is more likely to be this: distribution.
Or rather, lack of distribution.
What is distribution?
Distribution is your ability to get your amazing post in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
Why is distribution important if you want your post to go viral?
(And please note, when I say ‘viral’, I don’t necessarily mean millions of views. I simply mean a post that gets great traction and lots of shares – much more than the average post on your site.)
It’s because the more eyeballs you get on your post, the more likely that either:
1. A very influential person is going to see it and share it with their followers and/or
2. You’ll reach that magical ‘tipping point’ where your share count suddenly starts to tick over at a mad rate.
So how DO we get more eyeballs on our posts?
Glad you asked. These eight strategies are a great place to start!
1. Share it many times across your social media properties
We tend to share a blog post only once on updated 2024 mobile phone number data social media because we don’t want to ‘bombard’ our followers. The problem with this is, if you get the timing wrong it will quickly fade into oblivion and no one will see it. The other reason for posting the same post several times is that followers of yours might see it at a time where they’re not able to engage with it … but the second or third time, they might be in a better position to do so. Also, posting several times allows you to experiment with different hooks and headlines as some will work better than others in driving traffic.
Take this Copyblogger post by Brian Clark. It was shared on the Copyblogger Twitter account eight times over the course of three days (using different hooks and headlines as you can see below). The first time it was tweeted, it got three retweets and one like. By the time it was shared eight times, the retweet number was up to 44. The difference in eyeballs between three re-tweets and 44? Thousands.
ACTION ITEM: If you’ve written a post you know is really solid, make sure you share it several times across all your social media properties over the course of 2-3 days.
2. Give the post an initial boost on Facebook
Sometimes you share your post on Facebook and, because the timing is ever so slightly wrong, it fails to gain immediate traction. (We all know how crucial it is to get immediate engagement on Facebook otherwise it quickly disappears from the newsfeed.) If you have a post that you KNOW is killer, keep a close eye on it when you first post it on Facebook. If it doesn’t get immediate engagement (and you know you’ve posted it at a time that usually does), then Boost the post to your followers.
Sam Jockel did just that when she shared Korkean lämpötilan mukautettu teurastajapaperi teolliseen käyttöön this article to the School Mum Facebook page. She knew the article was both good, and carried an important message – one that would (and should) be shared widely. But when first posted it didn’t get traction. So she boosted it and only a few dollars were spent before the article took off as expected. As you can see from the image below, the post reached 197,000 people and the paid reach (the dark yellow part of the line) was a tiny fraction of the organic reach.
ACTION ITEM: Share your post to Facebook in a timeslot you know usually allows for immediate traction – but keep an eye on it. If it doesn’t take off, boost it … and then keep a further eye on it for a few hours. You should only need to spend a few dollars to determine if the post is as good as you think it is.
