Lucy Perry explains five simple things to keep in mind for how to create content that gets shared.

If marketers knew what was going to create viral content we’d all be doing it every day. It’s often a combination of good timing and good content. Keep the shareability of your content in mind always.

1. Don’t try to outsmart the algorithm

Just create good content. People will share posts that make them look good. This might include making them look funny, smart, politically correct, compassionate or even rich and famous. Milk this tendency.

2. Humour is Queen

The most shared emotion across all social media platforms is humour. As long as the content endorses your brand personality then humour should be a significant part of your content creation. The least shared emotion is guilt. Charities are often the worst for trying to guilt people into supporting the cause instead of inspiring them to be part of a tribe. Never be one of those people that say, ‘Will you put this cause in your status update for the next hour?’

3. Outrage pulls a crowd

Outrage taps into both sides of an argument so you double your reach. I recently took a photo of a shop window featuring a beautifully styled luxurious bed, but on the pavement in front of the store was the sleeping bag of a homeless person. I posted that image to my LucyPerryCEO Facebook page and it fired up a heated conversation about issues facing the homeless.

Some people expressed sympathy while others scoffed at a lifestyle they believe is chosen. That image was shared 2500 times and reached more than 750,000 people. That’s remarkable given my page at the time only had about 6,000 Facebook followers. It was outrage that fuelled the shareability of that post.

4. Eye candy is crucial

Your content needs to attract the attention of an audience with fast scrolling thumbs. It’s got to look good. Friends don’t let friends use Comic Sans and a good graphic is better than an ordinary image. Posts with good supporting images have a much higher engagement rate. Posts with peoples’ faces also have a higher engagement rate than those without.

5. Ride on the coat tails of the six o’clock news

When you create content that is topical you propel your brand along with the public consciousness. This works to your advantage in two ways; people are more likely to share content that relates to their lives and content algorithms favour trending topics. When the Superbowl was on in the USA and there was a blackout, Oreo quickly created a post that generated more exposure than any multimillion-dollar TVC would have achieved.

It was timely, topical, funny and super fast.

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Lucy Perry is CEO of Sunrise Cambodia. On 2 September she is teaming up with renowned futurist, Bernard Salt to create a fundraising event that will teach attendees to communicate #LIKEABOSS while raising much-needed funds for poor Cambodians. Visit likeaboss.org.au.