EXCLUSIVE: 10 Ways to Win the Internet Through Sexier Sharing and Epic Graphics

e.shor

Guest Blogger

Reporting from Netroots Nation in Providence, Rhode Island

The title of this blog post embodies everything that the training was about…getting people’s attention as a way to promote your story, your call to action, your video…whatever…this is about getting clicks and and getting people to notice YOU.

So…y’all have issues, campaigns, videos, pictures, petitions and all these online tools to use to get people involved and aware of what you are doing, but with all the other folks out there doing similar online advocacy you are competing for air time. Here are some tips of how to get your stuff VISIBLE on the big interwebs…

• Headlines and Titles are super important said these social media wizards from UpWorthy. Write loads of them, whether its for a video you are posting, an oped piece, or whatever…your headline needs to pop because most social media users only read the headline and the first couple sentences of any piece of media.
• Lead sentences: If you are writing an oped or written media spend most of your time on the first TWO sentences. If you have not communicated the MOST IMPORTANT things in those two sentences most readers will not get the message.
• Visuals are one of the best ways to get people involved in progressive issues.
  • Photos get 3-4x more engagement
  • Links on your photos to your content will get 10-30% increase in clicks
  • If you want to increase interaction with your materials…Facebook is King/Queer and you should use it.
• Test your work: So you have some headlines or ideas, well see which one gets the most response from your viewers. Here are some ways to do this:
  • Bit.ly is a website that helps you count clicks on your URL. So if you post one of your hott headlines with your new video on Facebook you can use Bit.ly to see how  many people clicked on headline 1 in 15 minutes, headline 2 in 15 minutes and then you know which one resonates most with your audience.
  • Optimize.ly  :  Same idea as Bit.ly
  • Google and Twitter Analytics: whoa a lot to learn hear. Check out Daniella’s Tweets from yesterday for more on this!
  • A/B Testing: Check out Scout’s post on this for more info!
  • Intuition: yes you should still use this in the digital age, because if your gut tells you that something stinks, it probably does.
• Getting people to share things: so sharing is important to spread your good messages, but to do so you need to tap into something human in the online world…feelings. Most people share things and pass information when they feel angry or happy about something. So get your headline or title to illicit some of those feelings to get it to go viral.