Creating Sharable Content

(photo: Melissa Prax)

"If the news is important, it will come to me" - that's how many people consumes news these days. They know that their friends are going to share what's important on social media, and see no need to go anywhere else for news.

Andrew @springer is Senior social media editor at ABC. He talked to us Kiplinger fellows on how to create shareble content wednesday 9 april. It's the first time ever I've had a lecturer not being there in person. He used Google hangouts, and it worked pretty well.

He started by asking what we, as media organisations, can contribute with? 

Content, obviously, since that's the business we're in. We give them news, entertainment, important information or investigations, online, in print or broadcast.

The problem is that content is king, everybody wants to sell content (even Red Bull), we're living in a content economy. That means that we have to package our content to make it as tasty as possible for the audience. That's is not pretending to be something you're not, but making the best of what you have.

So this is why media organisations should use social media. We are building our brand, and we do that in places where people hang out to look for content like ours.

This means that we might not be journalists when we market content in social media, but the content we market might very well be journalism.

About ABC on social media

ABC news has 7 million fans on Facebook and 7 million twitter followers, but they don't mainly use it to feed the online, but to make sure that everyone who is on social media knows that ABC news is a brand that produces great content.

They have a social team to run the accounts and a social desk that takes part in breaking news. They constantly examine content to maximize sharing

All major companies are now adapting responsive marketing, this means that you have to listen and answer to the consumers needs, in the context that suits him/her, in a way that fits the context. This is also the way to work social media.

So what drives social traffic?

• Branded sharing - what we put out there
• Organic sharing - what people share

How do we get people to share?

• It's all about emotions
• The "Hey Martha"-effect, what makes people look up from the newspaper to share a story by the breakfast table.
• Sometimes it's a slight change in angle - sometimes it's a whole new angle - it's rarely the same angle as in broadcast

5 stories that are inherently social:

• Breaking news
• Stories that touch the heart
• Outrage stories
• Listicles
• Long reads

How to package news for maximum reach:

• Mixing up links and pictures talks to the Facebook algorithm
• Create lists from news (i.e.list of top20 party schools, 22 jobs that men are payed more than women)
• Find the outrage
• Identify your market and you audience - and their interests
• Think about the social media packaging already before you go out in the field - than it's going to be easier to find the right angle.

Melissa Prax version of this seminar can be read on the Kiplinger website.