The Complete Guide
to Making Content go Viral
Drawing from studies of over 100 million
pieces of shared content and five different
respected academic and professional sources,
this presentation gives you everything we
know about making content go viral.
10k
7.5k
5k
2.5k
0k0-1000 Words
1000-2000 Words
2000-3000 Words
3000+ Words
Average Shares by Content Length
Other Platforms
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
64.9
28
No Image in Article At least one Image in article
Average Facebook Shares of Articles with Images
20.36
9.67
22.5
20
17.5
15
12.5
10
7.5
5
2.5
0
Average Twitter Shares of Articles with Thumbnail vs No Thumbnail
No Thumbnail Has a Thumbnail
AseAs
Awe-inspiring(25)
Anger(6%)
Humorous(17%)
Entertained(15%)
Joy(14%)
Empathy(6%)
Other (Sadness,
Surprise, etc)(18%)
The Top 10,000 Most-shared Articles Across the Web, by Relevant Emotion
Shares by Content Type
IndustryAverage
List InfographicHow-to Article
What Post
Why Post
Video
20k
15k
10k
5k
0k
10 item lists on average received the most social shares.
Four times as many social shares on average than
the 2nd most popular list number: 23.
Runner-ups were 23, 16, and 24.
List-Articles?
142
100
123
100
121
100100 100.1
No Author Bio Has Author Bio
Average Shares of Articles with Author Bio vs No Bio
150
100
50
0Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+
3000
2000
1000
00 1 2 3 4 5
706930
1,2101,405
1,588
2,776
Average Shares Based on Number of Influencers who Shared it
199%
393%
60m
50m
40m
30m
20m
10m
0m
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Total Number of Content Shares by Day of Week
60
55
50
45
40
35
20
15
Number of Retweets by Length of Tweet
Number of Characters in Tweet
0-40 41-70 71-100 101-140
0.000% 0.005% 0.010% 0.015% 0.020% 0.025%
Questions
Non Questions
Num
ber
of C
hara
cter
s in
Pos
t
160-179
140-159
120-139
100-119
80-99
60-79
Facebook Post Length and Style
Engagement
Optimal length of Blog Posts
Aver
age
Tota
l Sec
onds
Spe
nt P
er P
ost
10,000,000
1,000,000
100,000
10,000
1,000
100
10
1
7 Min
Post Length, in Reading Time
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
A blog article that takes 7 minutes to read
translates to anywhere between 1500 and
2000 words, depending on images and
reading speed.
2600
2450
2300
2150
2000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Spot in Google Search Results
Average Content Length of Top 10 Results on Google (By # of Words)
Number of Self-Referential Words
.06%
.04%
.02%
0.0%1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Facebook Post Like % by # of “You’s”, “I’s”, and “Me’s”
Everyone wants to be taught. Use “Introduction”, “The beginners guide”, “In 5
minutes” and “DIY”
How to Make a Viral Headline
Smart Surprising
Science
HistoryCritical Hacks
Huge/Big
The Most Popular 3-Word Phrases
This is the (22 uses)Will make you (20 uses)
When you see (16 uses)‘Til you see (15 uses)
What happens when (15 uses)
Here are the (13 uses)
You see what (12 uses)
You need to (12 uses)
This is what (12 uses)
That will make (12 uses)
The Most Retweeted Words
#1. You
#5. Post
#8. Free
#12. Great
#16. How To
#2. Twitter
#6. Blog
#9. Media
#14. 10
#18. Blog Post
#3. Please
#7. Social
#10. Help
#13. Social Media
#17. Top
#4. Retweet
#11. Please Retweet
#15. Follow
#20. New
#19. Check Out
Sources:
http://okdork.com/2014/04/21/why-content-goes-viral-what-analyzing-100-millions-articles-taught-us/
http://corp.wishpond.com/blog/2013/01/10/infographic-the-impact-of-photos-on-facebook-engagement/
http://blog.bufferapp.com/the-ideal-length-of-everything-online-according-to-science
http://blog.bufferapp.com/a-scientific-guide-to-writing-great-headlines-on-twitter-facebook-and-your-blog
http://www.startupmoon.com/the-dark-science-of-naming-your-post-based-on-studying-100-blogs/
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