The world is viewing the change in the content and so, is watching new content kings such as Buzzfeed, Upworthy and there are Indian websites like ScoopWhoop, Witty Feed and YourStory becoming viral content sharing platforms too.
These new platforms have integrated technology of social web and even the super blogs such as Forbes, Business Insider, Huffington Post or Mashable are under threat.
In mere months, these sites have managed to beat the early record numbers of some of the popular web’s most trafficked online publications.
A couple of stats telling the story-
- 7 billion is the average number of Buzzfeed monthly content views.
- Buzzfeed received 200+ million unique visitors globally.
- 70% of Buzzfeed traffic is coming from mobile.
- Buzzfeed’s traffic from social is 5X greater than its search traffic.
- Monthly video views 127 million on Upworthy.
- Upworthy received 28.4 million unique visitors worldwide.
- ScoopWhoop received 151,000 unique visitors and 255,190 (1.69 per visitor) page views per day.
Content Marketing Lessons
Here are some fantastic lessons revealed which tell you what make these platforms the fastest growing websites and what you can learn and apply their strategies to your content marketing efforts.
#1 Headline Matters
Headlines matters the most, they can make the difference between being read and being abandoned.
8 out of 10 readers will read your headlines and decide whether they want to read the article or not. This is the first step to all their content curators.
Buzzfeed’s titles are not exactly SEO-friendly; they surely make people want to click. Their headlines are written as click magnets.
Upworthy’s blog titles choose headlines from more than 25 headlines when someone shares their piece of content.
“You HAVE to crap out 25 headlines for every piece of content” it has written in their editorial process.
If you are making content marketing efforts this is one of the “giants”. Learn and keep learning to write the best headlines you can.
#2 Make it easy to share
It feels very frustrating when you find an inspiring article and find out that you can’t share it. Avoid frustrating your readers by creating your content super easy to share.
Aside from social media networks, don’t forget your dedicated email subscribers as well as forum followers.
BuzzFeed & Upworthy makes their content super shareable by including social buttons on top and again at the bottom of each post. Images also have their own social buttons for speedy sharing.
ScoopWhoop also makes their content shareable by including social buttons.
Making your blog post social media-friendly is easy with tools like GetResponse services. Their social share buttons feature can be added to your email in seconds, and so, boosts receivers to spread the word for you.
#3 Stack, Stack, Stack images
“A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.”
Stack images multiply the power of the content and can be a very helpful tool when trying to influence an audience.
Buzzfeed knows the art of stacking images. For example- 21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity is the most popular post on Buzzfeed. This article received more than 15 million views.
ScoopWhoop is also using stacking images in the post such as 9 Of The Weirdest Scorecards That Prove How Crazy Cricket Can Be.
This strategy is very effective, if you provide lots of images on the specific topic with an aim, it’s a definitely worth exploring.
#4 Interesting content rocks
Some Buzzfeed headline is-
- 18 Crazy Travel Hacks You Have To Try
- 25 Secrets Makeup Artists Will Never Tell You
- 15 Things Everyone Has Secretly Done At The Office
- 19 Snacks We’ll Probably Never Get To Eat Again
These all are interesting and thought-provoking. They stimulate your interest and intrigue you. People love it when you have something new to offer, or when you explore a different angle on a popular topic.
ScoopWhoop Example-
Make sure your content is clear, correct, and thoughtful. Double-check your sources. Interesting and thought-provoking content should be meaningful and offer people value for their time.
#5 Aim a niche, sources or problem
If you are content marketer then you are always trying to reach a broad audience to get the mass attention.
Buzzfeed & Upworthy is tapping into niches and reasons because these are frequently much more passionate about their crowd.
Here is an example of how Buzzfeed uses this method-
Here is an example of how Upworthy uses this method-
Here is an example of how ScoopWhoop uses this method-
#6 Use Strong Emotional Triggers
Buzzfeed’s most popular posts are intentionally emotionally reminiscent. For example- the most successful post from Buzzfeed “40 Of The Most Powerful Photographs Ever Taken” was deliberately created to make the readers feel highly emotional.
Upworthy and ScoopWhoop also put the same emphasis on emotion. They make sure to value the emotional responses they have when decision making.
Upworthy Example-
SccopWhoop Example-
It’s important to analyze data, but you can’t underrate the significance of human emotion.
#7 Originality is Exaggerated
Sometimes, content can be repurposed, updated or presented from a new angle, creating a new twist on an already published post.
For Example- Just search a keyword “What kind of” in Buzzfeed search, you will get a snapshot of how niche some of the surveys are (“What kind of Grandma will you be?”), but it’s because it’s been predicted that they work.
When you know an audience replies to a certain setup, see what other ways you can use that setup with diverse content.
You don’t always have to start with the blank page. It’s ok to work with what’s out there as long as you deliver some kind of value. It’s always important what audience is looking for.
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