7 Incredible Ways to Get People to Flock to a Company’s Content

Writing excellent content on a website is essential, but how does one drive traffic to it? And what’s the best way to amplify the content’s reach? As a new online business owner who is just starting to create content, whether it’s social media posts, on a blog, or e-books, it’s hard to get a lot of interaction right away. But with a little bit of hard work and a couple of free webinar training sessions getting people to visit a site and share the content is possible. Attend our free webinar training for all of the details and in the meantime check out 7 ways for people to flock to your content below:

#1: Focus on a specific industry topic

Content Marketing Institute recommends focusing on a specific industry topic. If you narrow it down and have a niche topic you specialize in it’ll be easier to target a particular audience. If your topics are too widespread, it could be more challenging getting a niche audience to check out your site.

David Fallarme, head of marketing at HubSpot, advocates doubling down on a singular topic. Which topic? “Let your personas drive your target ‘topic clusters’ based on search volume estimates and competitiveness of those clusters,” he says.

TIP: Make sure your personas are up to date. And pick the most desirable persona based on your brand’s operational or content marketing goals.

Focus your time on a topic where you can add the most value to the largest relevant audience.

For example, HubSpot, which targets marketing and sales professionals, partnered with Facebook to create a Four Days of Facebook content campaign. A digital summit acted as the central hub:

The summit hub’s reach was expanded not only through promotion by the influencers, but also a HubSpot promotion through Facebook Messenger bots. The Messenger content led subscribers and other readers through the event’s content.

#2: Add social sharing buttons

Whether you have a website with products or a blog with regular content that you’re pushing out daily or weekly, SEO Hacker says adding social sharing buttons can really help. Think about it — if a visitor sees your social sharing buttons on a blog post, they’ll be more likely to share it if they like it. If there aren’t any sharing buttons, it’ll be more work for them to share it and they won’t want to take the time!

This is very easy to do.

Don’t make it so hard for your audience to share your content. You need to put social sharing buttons if you want them to easily share your post after they finish reading it. You can code it yourself, or you can use plug-ins to help you.

You can check out Blogging Wizard’s post on Social Sharing Plug-ins for WordPress 2015 to help you choose the right plug-in for your site.

Now, where should you place it?

While placing your social sharing buttons at the top of the article can be used as a form of social proof – because the audience will more likely read your post if they see high share numbers – natural readers usually share posts once they are finished reading it, so social sharing buttons should be placed at the bottom.

The best way to understand this is through testing which one works for you.

#3: Grow your content’s reach

Content Marketing Institute recommends growing your content’s reach by focusing on what your audience wants to see. On #1 we mentioned deciding on a specific industry topic and assuming that goes well you should continue to think of ways to target your audience.

As you expand your view of how to get more from your content – and how to get more people to see or view your content – think about your content as an agency does its clients. What can you do to make sure your client gets the recognition it deserves from the right audiences?

Your solution can involve thinking more about how to use public relations and advertising, but it also can include identifying a topic to own, automating triggers, and using the content in multiple formats.

The key to amplifying your content’s reach is to make sure the audience’s needs always come first.

#4: Effectively share content

Entrepreneur says a call to action is a good idea and even though adding social buttons (see #2) is a good idea you can take it one step further. Point out to your audience why they should share your content and how their friends and family can benefit from it.

When you're sharing others' content, be creative and put some thought into it. If you're hoping to get someone with a lot of followers to share your stuff, you need to stand out. Don't just put the title of their post as your lead comment. Take a line from the post or tell how it was beneficial to you or will benefit your audience. You're much more likely to get noticed this way, and you might even develop a mentoring relationship with someone you admire.

#5: Hook readers using conversation

Instead of making your content sound bland and robotic, Quick Sprout mentions using conversational type articles to hook a reader. Similar to a novel, conversing with your audience helps them identify with you and your brand.

Here’s the first paragraph of the original blog post…

When it comes to split testing, ideas might sound like one of the last things you need. But there comes a point when you start running out of meaningful things to test, and start micromanaging your split tests only to make meager gains, if any.

With that being said, here are 50 different testing ideas that you can implement today that can help you get real, actionable results. The 50 are broken down into 10 categories:

And here’s the variation…

When it comes to split testing, ideas might sound like one of the last things you need, right? But I bet there has been a time when you started to run out of meaningful tests to run, which is why you are seeing little to no gains.

To help you solve this problem, I’ve created 50 different testing ideas that you can implement today. These tests will get you real, actionable results. And to make it easy, I’ve broken the 50 tests down into 10 categories:

Can you see the difference? The original reads more like an essay – formal and dull. It probably reminds you of your high school days when the teacher would ramble on for an hour and you would fall asleep.

The variation, on the other hand, has a much more conversational tone. There is some banter going back and forth with you, the reader, and the post hooks you in with a question.

#6: Create alliances with other online business owners

To continue growing your online business, it’s a smart idea to create partnerships with other business owners. If you’re unsure how to reach out to people in your industry, there are several ways to get in touch with them. LinkedIn works as does Facebook groups. You can also privately message people on sites like Twitter and Instagram! Don’t be afraid to reach out and discuss how you both can help one another succeed. Entrepreneur further explains how networking and creating relationships with other business owners can benefit your company.  

Chances are good that there are other entrepreneurs out there who share a target audience but don't compete with you. Build relationships with these people to get in front of their community while introducing them to yours. It's a great way to help each other find success, and it just might result in a lasting friendship.

#7: Use images

Though it may sound simple, images can make a difference in a blog post and other aspects of your site. SEO Hacker recommends taking the time to implement pictures in your post and making sure they’ll get a reader’s attention. It can make a difference both on a website and on social media!

People love images, in fact posts that include pictures on Facebook get 104% more comments, 84% better click through rate, and 54% more likes. Also, in a study conducted by Buffer where they analyzed tweets, they discovered that tweets with pictures get 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites, and 150% more retweets.

To help you with creating images that will fit in your social media accounts, you can try out Canva, or follow this 2015 Social Media Image Size Cheat Sheet.

Follow these tips, and there’s no doubt your content will get shared more frequently. Do you want additional ideas on how to get your website out there and your content to spread? Share your thoughts in the comments below and join us for our next free webinar training.

Sources: Content Marketing Institute, SEO Hacker, Quick Sprout, Entrepreneur