No cats or clickbait. How to create content that will collect likes

1. Respond to audience requests

Readers can come to the blog to learn something, learn new things, have fun or listen to expert opinion. Understand what your subscribers are waiting for and tailor your content to their needs.

An analysis of your page or blogs with similar topics will help here. See what posts are viewed, liked and commented more often, find out what people who read your posts are addicted to. And then draw up a portrait of the target audience and prepare a plan for publications on topics that are interesting to subscribers.

2. Structure your text

Useful information should not be lost in the flow of thoughts, otherwise readers may close the post without reaching the end. Even at the stage of preparing the publication, remove the “water”, divide the text into paragraphs, use lists and other visual delimiters so that key thoughts will be noticeable.

With the video, the same story: so that the audience does not get confused about what it is all about, add interruptions or dice with titles between semantic blocks. If the video is long, use time codes. Arrange them directly in the player, if the platform allows, or add them to the description.

3. Use catchy (but not flashy) headlines

Clickbait entry like “SHOCK! Scientists hide it from the whole world!” or “Well, tin! I haven't seen anything like this before…” may force the reader to open the publication, but it is unlikely to like it or subscribe to the blog. Therefore, in the header of the post or the title of the video, it is better to address the readers directly: to say what they will see in the publication and why it will be useful or interesting to them.

For an extra hook, add an emphasis on simplicity, personal experience, or numbers. You can even use all of these tricks together, like "5 easy ways to travel for free: tested on yourself."

4. evoke emotion

If a post or video made a person laugh or be touched, he will surely show the post to his friends - as a result, there will be more views and reactions. Therefore, accompanying the content with memes and jokes is a good idea. But only if it's appropriate.

But to provoke negative feelings like anger or sadness is not worth it. So subscribers may be in a stupor and not understand what to put on a post - like or dislike. There are exceptions: you can add a light horror story to the title, and calm the audience in the text. For example, name the publication “How to become a victim of cybercriminals: bad advice” and use examples to tell what not to do on the Internet.

5. Illustrate beautifully

Pictures should not only attract attention, but also correspond to the topic of the post. It’s good if they evoke an emotional response – for readers, this is an additional reason to share the publication.

If you're looking for photos or drawings online, look for ones that don't seem too stock. For example, don't use the picture of a happy family that you've already seen on dozens of blogs or online publications. Also, make sure you don't violate copyright.

6. Initiate communication

Motivate subscribers to leave comments - this will increase the activity of the blog and help you get into the recommendations. Sometimes it’s enough just to leave a call at the end: “Tell me what you think.” But if the blog audience is not very active, try more engaging wording - of course, when the topic of the post allows. Offer to choose one of the two, such as "cats or dogs", or share your opinion and ask if subscribers agree with it. This will spark discussion and help the comment thread grow into a whole tree.