If you keep up with our blog here at GreenVineMarketing, you are probably well aware of the importance of publishing high-quality content to your website on a regular basis. Fresh content will drive tons of new visitors to your site while encouraging higher search rankings in the process. But if you really want to go the extra mile with your content marketing strategy, you should focus on viral content.
What is Viral Content?
In case this is your first time hearing about viral content, let me explain: the term “viral content” is used to describe any piece of web-based content that’s shared among many users. Assuming it’s an interesting and engaging piece of content, the first group of readers may share it with their friends, many of whom then share it with their friends — and the process repeats, much like a virus.
Google Trends
Arguably, one of the most powerful tools for creating viral web content is Google Trends. As the name suggests, Google Trends reveals trending keywords, which means they currently have a high search volume. And conventional wisdom should lead you to believe that topics with a high search volume are more likely to go viral. Rather than creating content about any trending topic, however, it’s recommended that you stick to topics that are in some way related to your niche. Just search for a top-level keyword in Google Trends, and then look below for a list of “related searches.”
BuzzSumo
What is BuzzSumo and how it can help you create viral web content? BuzzSumo is an online service that provides “insights” on search terms and webpages. Using this service, you can identify webpages associated with your niche that have a high number of shares on social media. Just enter a keyword and it will reveal relevant webpages with the most social media shares. With this information in hand, you can craft similar articles for your website. Since you already know that people are sharing this type of content, there’s a greater risk of it going viral.
Keep in mind there are both free and paid accounts for BuzzSumo. Even with the free membership, however, you can still access social share data, although results are limited to 10 listings.
Sometimes the best tool for uncovering viral topics is Facebook. With more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, it’s the world’s largest and most widely used social media network. Assuming you are following a decent number of users, you can check your feed every once in a while for content ideas. Are multiple users posting the same story? Which stories have received a lot of likes, comments and shares? These are just a few indications of a hot topic that could go viral.
