Grabbing attention. Giving someone a jolt, like those silly devices some of us had as kids that gave your new acquaintance or a friend a tickling sting when you shook their hand. Zap! What gets your blog initiallynoticed? It’s your title! When you tweet a blog, you’re at a disadvantage. There's nowhere to include a brief summary to inspire tweeps to read further. It HAS to be the title that does it. So it has to be a really good one! I admit that I struggle with titles at times though now that I’ve written a couple hundred blogs they come to me a lot easier than they did at the beginning! Here are a few ideas. Try the ones that apply to your style of writing. A twist that ties in another subject. I love doing this. Recently (blushing) I read 50 Shades of Grey and saw some themes in the book relating to the marketing realm. So I called my blog Fifty Shades of Social Media. For anyone who has read this book I’m hoping they are curious enough to click on the link and see how far an imagination can really stretch. Shock them! Make them say “What????” It can be a little scandalous or suggestive in nature. 50 Shades of Social Media also applies to this approach. Zing them! Another example: Stripping on Facebook: Do You "Like"? This one WAS about stripping and was a “dare” of sorts from a clothing company. How far would the campaign and the model go to sell garments? Make it humorous. We all need humor. We all crave humor. It lets us let go for a moment. Why not add a chuckle right in your blog? If people are grinning from the title they’ll assume there’s more laughter to be had and click on that link. For this blog I used examples from my Groovy Reflections Facebook page to drive home a point. Toasters, Cooties, Gas Prices, and You. By throwing things together that wouldn’t necessarily be together, the idea was to bring a smile to your face. And it really was a post about the game Cooties! Speak directly to your readers. There’s nothing like the word YOU. What? You’re writing this to ME? I must find out why so I’ll click on the link. Example: Boomers, Brains, and You. While this post was more about me and a discovery I made about myself, rest assured that I’m not the only one that has had this particular revelation. Anyone can relate to it. Ask a question in your title. Folks will want to know what the answer is. Is There an App for That? is a recent blog post that marvels at the dizzy array of what's available to us and pokes fun at what isn't (yet). Make sure that your title is relevant and on subject. Don’t let your reader down. There has to be a tie-in to what you’re saying in the blog. If there isn’t, you may alienate the reader. Barclay James Harvest sang about titles in the 1970’s (see below). You are entitled to stop by and say hello! Twitter,Facebook,Google+, or thewebsite.
Subtitle: The Little Toaster That Could Heat Up Shares and Amplify.
As the number of fans on my Facebook Groovy Reflections page grows, I continue to be amazed by some of the stats there. My east coast admins were messaging with excitement about a particular post back in June and the number of shares it had since the original posting.
I had to take a look.
What the HECK? Was this little toaster the cause of the sudden leaps and bounds in new fans over the past few days? How in the word can something be shared over 1,700 times? Hey, I’m not complaining, but I question whether or not this number is correct.
Taking a quick review of posts over the past few days, I DID notice high share numbers that were more realistic, but very high for the page, like this one which at 124 may have been a record for the page in mid-June (if you don't count the toaster post):
And believe it or not, Cooties have been very good to us! I happened to spot the game at a flea market recently and took a quick pic with my phone:
135 shares! So what’s up, Facebook?
Ah...the power of amplification via sharing is spreading the news.
Dedicated fans share the posts with friends, they like what they see, and they check out your page. What’s the basis of all that? Content. Content. CONTENT. You need to understand who your audience is and what they expect from you. Do you need to survey them to find out?
No.
But there is research involved. Observe them. Pay attention to which posts they enjoy. Note of caution: There are a lot of factors involved as far as how successful a post is. Here are just a few things to think about:
Content. Number one. The post has got to be good. Engaging. Entertaining. Clever. Even mind blowing!
Time of day. Before work. After work. In the evening.
Weather. If the weather’s bad, people are indoors and possibly on the internet. Sundays in Winter are great for engaging with fans!
Boredom. Don’t know what to do with your time? Oh, I’ll just pop into Facebook for a few minutes. Two hours later, you’re still there and making the rounds of your favorite pages again and again.
Whether or not Facebook shares your post on fan's newsfeeds.
You get the idea.
Meanwhile the pages “talking about this” numbers have plummeted from a high of 745,000 to just under 100,000. Still a healthy number. Where’s the next toaster? The Viewmaster post yesterday may be the start of a climb up again:
Can I tell you what makes a post viral? No. Again, I'll just stress the importance of getting to know your audience. Pay attention to them. And be patient. And my observations of putting the word share directly on a photo are inconclusive at this point.
In celebration of posts gone viral and toast, here's a classic tune where the bread was tanned and hopefully not burned. I'll take mine with jelly please.
