Content Hacking: Supercharge Your Content Marketing

An increasingly popular industry buzzword, growth hacking is an out-of-the-box approach to increasing the growth rate of a product. The usual goal of content hacking is to increase users and drive traffic, with growth hackers being more focused on these objectives than how they are achieved. Most professionals are already familiar with content marketing, or the creation and distribution of relevant and consistent content to acquire an audience. However, the question here is how content hacking can supplement your content marketing strategy to skyrocket your readership. Essentially, content hacking is a new word describing an old concept. It’s all about taking advantage of user behavior and content sharing to drive growth. There are a variety of so-called advanced “content hacks” out there, but here are 5 simple things you can start doing right now to improve the effectiveness of your content marketing.

Content Hacking: Write Longer, More Concise Content

Longer content ranks higher in Google. Longer content also has a higher share rate on social. But the caveat to writing longer content is you can’t just ramble. You can’t force content to be longer and hope it will read just as naturally if it doesn’t require length. The key is to be concise in your content so you can tell as much of the story as is relevant.

Write Direct Headlines that Tease Your Audience

The title of your content is often more important than your content itself. Your content doesn’t matter if no one gets hooked into reading it. To spark interest, write a headline that your ideal reader would be able to relate to, or that addresses a question you know they want an answer to. While writing a strong headline can be challenging, there are a variety of terms that tend to attract readership more than others. Try incorporating some of the following into your headlines:

• Easy
• Advanced
• Boost
• Become
• How To
• Why
• Powerful
• Short
• Funny
• See

“About Writing Great Headlines that can Increase Website Visits” vs. “How to Write a Powerful Headline that Guarantees a Boost in Traffic” Which would you click to read?

Use Negative Psychology When Writing Calls to Action

Sometimes, negative psychology is more effective. Many CTA tips and tricks relate to words that are direct, influential and compelling, but rarely do you hear of telling users to do the opposite of what you want them to do. Instead of focusing on what you want your audience to do, try giving them the negative option that pokes them where it hurts.

Repurpose Your Aging Content

Your old content doesn’t have to go to waste. In fact, it can easily be used to help propel your new content forward. Turn your content into a free online course or eBook. Send your posts to email subscribers over time, reminding them of the subject matter and linking to your newest information on the subject. Regardless of what you do, the point is to infuse some “new life” into your old content, making it seem more new than it actually is.

Make Sharing Your Content Easier

If your content is difficult to share on social media or through email, or doesn’t display well once shared, it probably isn’t likely to travel far. Incorporating social sharing buttons throughout the site allows people to more easily do what they love – be lazy! Buttons also make for easier event tracking, so you can accumulate behavioral data related to whether your content is primarily shared directly or by referral. The social sharing buttons below are just one example of how to make your content easily shareable. See how they work by sharing this article with your online community.