A recent article showed in detail how the New York Times was losing home page views, as how consumers surf the web continues to evolve. That article, and my blog post about it, also pointed out that total page views for the Times did not decline. The reason was the amount of traffic coming to their site through social media.
Creating content that goes viral use to be a nice plus for media. Now as thing change, it needs to become a core competency for every content generator. Unfortunately, too many newsrooms are still not thinking about audience growth.
The June issue of Editor and Publisher featured a very good article by Rob Tornoe. Tornoe's feature discusses BuzzSumo, which analyzes trends in social media, tracking influencers and sharers.
http://buzzsumo.com
This website allows you to search by topic, and will show you the social media buzz. This is a site that content editors should be reviewing on a daily basis, as they decide what stories to assign to reporters. For the first time ever, a newsroom can get a true sense for how much interest there is on a potential story before it is produced. And if the story is touching a nerve with its audience, then the likelihood the content will be shared and go viral is greatly enhanced.
In the article, Tornoe gives five key suggestions for editor to consider when it comes to sharing content on social media:
1. Long-form content is actually shared more than short-form content.
2. Images are vital to success in social media sharing
3. Invoke an emotion, whether it's awe, laugher, or amusement.
4. The beginning of the week is important for social media, with Monday and Tuesday being the best days to see social media shares.
5. Re-promote your evergreen content
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