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Top 5 ways to create interesting content for social networks
Posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 under SEO, social networking by Dustin Brewer.There are a lot of ways to get the attention of various social networks, none of which involve gaming the system. You may get a little temporary attention from some of the social networks if you try to game the system. But that is missing the point of social networking which is to spread interesting content and images of cats. Some of the ways you can create compelling content for the digestion of social networks are going to be straight forward. It is important to note these methods so if you can spin an article in a certain direction— you are going to get more attention from social networks which will significantly boost the readership of the article.
#1 Write a list (of lists?)
It is well known that writing a list is going to be easy for people to scan through quickly and get the jest of the article without reading too much. Just about any relevant list is going to get some major attention if written well on any social network. You don’t want to just copy a list, you have to create creative content just the same. Like writing about digg-like social networks for designers.
#2 Write a “How to…†article
I have seen endless amounts of articles teaching someone how to do something become very popular on every social network from delicious to digg to reddit. For the best results you want to include “How to†or “Guide to†in the article. Make sure that you are actually teaching something that would interest someone on a social network. Most people on social networks aren’t going to be interested in “How to use Microsoft Word†or some other trivial and simple task.
#3 Write about a social network
If you want to do really well you can talk about a specific social network and know that you are instantly going to get the attention of that social network. If you write about several social networks you are upping the chances of people being interested in your topic. You can get a lot of traffic by criticizing social networks. A great example is watching digg and the endless amounts of articles that go popular criticizing the comment system, design or any changes made to the system. It is always important that you have something good to say just like with any article; regurgitators need not apply.
#4 Write about something in the news
When you write about something that is popular in the news (see: Google Trends) you are nearly guaranteed to get some attention from the social networks. I monitor Google Trends constantly to see what people are talking about throughout the day. This can help you to create some compelling content that will interest people that may be outside of your niche. You don’t even necessarily have to write about the topic that is popular, even referencing it can interest people to no end.
#5 Take an opposing view
Monitor the popular stories on Digg or your favorite social network and if you oppose the topic in some way, write about it. I’m not saying oppose something just because, but find something that you don’t see the same view as on a social network and write your opinion on the subject. Chances are that both sides of the fence are going to be interested in your article, especially the latter side of the people.
More methods to create quality content for social networks?
There are a lot of other ways to make interesting content for social networks but using one of these methods will almost guarantee you to get good traffic from social networks (as long as you are writing quality stuff). Combining some of these together can increase your chances of generating some serious interest in your article and blog (or website).
What other ways have you seen work in creating quality content for social networks?
Whats Next?
13 Responses to “Top 5 ways to create interesting content for social networks”
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About Dustin Brewer
Dustin Brewer is a freelance web designer based out of Oklahoma City, OK passionate about web standards, and beautiful web design. Dustin Brewer has been in the web design industry for over 8 years through freelance and professional experience. If you are interested in hiring Dustin Brewer please visit the web design services page to find out more information. You can also checkout the web design portfolio.
Great and simple article, easy-to-follow steps that can help anyone do well on mixx or stumbleupon social networks. Thanks mate!
If you succeed in understanding and decoding the pattern of a social network, then you can also manage its attentiveness.
I agree with your points, one way to do it is to write specific type of content.
Still I would like to add:
// choose the social network that passes with your content
// make friends in this network.
// make influential friends in this network.
// participate.
Writing a great list or a how-to article does not necessarily mean that you will get attention to the content.
I’m a very active member in SU and a normal not-so-active member in digg. When I submit the same content in both networks, the likes/diggs are completely different. I think it lies on the fact, that I don’t have any friends in digg and many in SU.
robo, the articel wasnt about using social networks it was about writing great content for social networks. rtfa
Great article, Dustin. All your points ring true.
@Ryan, Matthew: I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
@robojiannis: I agree, being an active member of a social network is important if you are going to get your article popular.
It is also important to choose the right social network you submit your content to. You can’t just submit them to all of the social networks you can think of, you need to look and see (if you don’t know) what kind of content gets made popular on each social network you are considering and make sure your article matches closely to those topics. Thanks for your input robojiannis!
[...] Top 5 Ways to Create Interesting Content for Social Networks at Dustin Brewer. [...]
[...] might have the answers you’re looking for. Dustin just penned a post on his blog titled Top 5 ways to create interesting content for social networks which details the methods that he feels will get your content moved from social networking obscurity [...]
This steps can help me on writing articles for my blogs. Now i know how to get the readers attention and i agree that a right choosing of social network will surely help in getting more readers.
Yeah I realised that people likes to read titles like “5 Ways To Make Instant Money” something like that. So I should start writing something like that. Haha.
Well, money always attracts people. everyone wants to get lots of money fast so its not wonder that those kind of topics are popular
Who don’t want fast money? That’s why many topic talking about this. As conclusion, money really can do everything XD
Excellent article! Great tips. I agree about choosing the right social networks. Sometimes going with a smaller niche network is going to get you a lot more attention than the catch all social networking giants.
Excellent Article!
But, you forgot to mention re-tweeting/posting it.
So, I just did it to ALL of my networks.
Idea for next article? Who can and will take on Twitter?
Plaxo? High Five? Bebo? FriendFeed? Orkut? ????
Kirk Nickey