Ha! Made ya switch!
Trust me, I hate those stupid, provocative clickbaity titles too. How the hell do I know what you’re doing or not doing?
But that’s the thing.
You just gotta play the game! That’s:
#1: Don’t Just Drop a Headline.
Think about your audience; past, present, future.
Who enjoys your work?
Who might find it useful in future?
It only takes a minute, or few, to…
Stop and think.
#2: Treat Your Social Media Posts as Potential Clickbait
Even if you have a good headline, it may not be obvious from the link embedded in your Facebook post or tweet.
Good, clickbaity social media shares include some of the following elements.
- An air of mystery. Why should I even care? Make some kind of riddle.
- Color and spirit. No dullness here!
- Engagement. How will you actually address your audience? It’s not just about the article or other piece of writing, as an object; it’s about the communication between two individual subjects. Think of their emotions, aspirations, fears, desires, anxieties, loves, hates.
- A mini ‘call to action.’ E.g. ‘click here,’ ‘find out more.’
#3 A General Call to Action
It’s good to have a full-size call to action. One good example is SF Ali on Medium.
You can drop your full-size call to action at the end of each article.
A call to action can include the following:
- An appeal to the reader’s reaction, e.g. ‘If you found this inspiring/funny/thought-provoking…’
- An appeal to one or more actual actions; e.g. liking, sharing, following your Medium or your journals, following your social media or multimedia channels, buying your wares, sponsoring you on Patreon.
- A dash of humor or some other emotionally potent effect. Depends on you! Self-deprecating wit, good-humored joshing, edgy provocation… It’s all about whatever makes you feel good, and will also attract readers like clever honeybees to high-grade honey!
# 4 Have an Actual Social Media Strategy
This is quite a lot to talk about here. You can do your own research! One important point is ‘key times’ for online engagement.
If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, you need to start thinking about it!
See also the next point.
#5 Don’t Just Drop Articles… Schedule ’Em Intelligently!
This, like point 4, deserves an IT Emperor article in itself (please follow!) Quick spoiler:
Mondays and Tuesdays, despite what you might easily assume, are very good days.
#6 Anticipate, Anticipate, Anticipate!
As far as possible, use your public social media profiles to state in advance what is coming soon. As well as public social media accounts, you can use your private ones (e.g. your Facebook, if you have a private FB account. But private accounts often have a lower reach; will you prioritize your public ones instead?)