Communications, Media & Strategy Gavel

We all love to post stuff online and gain traction. Nobody wants to be a failure. We all cherish being appreciated,  followed  and ‘liked’ online. For those who work hard on their content , they know this is a hard task. We all know people claim content is king, but in most cases content may  not gain any status above that of a Palace servant if its quality and effectiveness does not serve any useful purpose or it aims at ‘me too’ syndrome.

We need to know not every content is king in this day where we have over hundreds thousands of blog posts daily,  Millions of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter content sharing among many other digital sharing platforms. Holding on to ‘any content is king’ is a great fallacy that may not hold water in this age where online consumers have little time at their disposal and are even  mean with what they share If it does not appeal to their emotion. Today’s piece is not going to be long. But it will aptly capture what you need to do to ensure most of your shared contents online gain right traction. There is a whole lot of benefits in this.

1.Timeliness: No matter how great your content is, if the Information is outdated it will suffer from ‘sharing fatigue’, a disease common to content online. Strike when the iron is hot is a good balance here. Nobody wants to be seen as outdated in this age of ‘instant this, instant that’. If they must help you share your content, you also need to make them feel cool and great for sharing highly effective, relevant and timely information with their friends. So check the blood level of the content you want to share before you share them except if you just want to add something new or feel a space in your platform.

2. Photo/Visuals:  The trend is this age is favouring visuals over text even though Google is still giving preference to text. It is a proven fact that any great content with right photo and other forms of visuals engage the audience better. So learn to get right photos which can speak volume more than the text you are putting up. Those who can add video today will go  several miles ahead with benefits of viral sharing than those who do not consider this as very important. We have been considering this for a long while on this platform too.

3.Influencers’ support:  A great relationship with online influencers in your industry and outside will also pay off. As online content provider,  a good relationship building, alliance with online influencers will help help push up your content visibility. For instance, a little push or re tweet from global influencers like Jeremiah Owang, Helen Clark, Lady Gaga,, Oprah winfrey as well as the likes of Omojuwa, ALIBABAGCFR, Kenyanpundit, ToluOgunlesi, Dele Momodu or any of our strong political office holders in Africa or across the globe can spur further discussion.

4. Target affected: one other reason a content will go viral is the level of audience it will affect or has likely impact on. Take for instance, a bomb explosion  in any busy international Airport, such content will carry a lot of weight based on likely impact. People want to check everyone they know is not  there or  are safe or at least things are under control. Unfortunately because many want to be the first, they often go ahead with unverified fact. What this does is that such individuals can only gain notoriety just for once. The effect  may harm negatively  further  content you share in the future. So be sure your facts are  always correct. It is better to wait than to be seen as ‘fake alarm blower’.

5.Creativity involved : everyone shares content but not everyone puts in extra energy into the creative feel the content they are sharing has. Take time to  add a little creativity to your content. Creativity is not just one way. It can be anything that adds a little beauty and thought to your own content because many think of creativity as something out of this world. You do not always need to add something out of this world all the time.

6. Build up emotions:   people can feel emotions in any content. Let your content show your emotion. It can be that of love, anger, anxiety among many other. In whatever you do you need to be positive though if that is possible. But a content that appears blank without any feeling or emotional connection will not move a step up the ladder.

Photo credit: fuzeseo