Why do you share a post? Do you share mostly because it is a great piece of content? Or do you share it because the content tells something about you?
OK, lets face it when you share a post, it's not really about the content but it's about you! The content tells something about you, and you want others to know
People find ways to express themselves, we subconsciously do it all the time throughout our daily life. Think about it. The cloth that you choose to wear tells the world something about you. The restaurants that you choose to dine at tells the world something about you. The music that you choose to hear tells the world something about you...
Take car as an example. The purpose of a car is to transport you from point A to point B within a reasonable amount of time. However, why are there so many different car brands, within a brand why are there are so many different models? Well, because each brand, each model tells a different story about the car owner. A car is more than a four wheel transportation. The car represents your status, it represents the image that you would like to display to others. For instance, Germany cars like BMW and Mercedes Benz represents social status, wealth, success. Four wheel drives from Subaru and Land Rover represent adventurous, outgoing, young, passionate. Japanese cars like Toyota, Honda represents economical, realistic, middle class...
If you think about it, people are willing to go a long way to create and express images about themselves. Think about the cost difference between a BMW and a Toyota. The cost of a BMW could be four times as much as a Toyota. Yes, a BMW runs faster, is equipped with better technology, has more gadgets equipped into it. However, could the BMW run four times faster? Does it cost four times as much to build a BMW than to build a Toyota? No, I don't think so. But you buy a BMW anyways because it gives you the image that you want others to see.
Content marketing is no new marketing strategy. It has been around for a long time. In fact, businesses use content marketing all the time nowadays to get to their customers. However, why does some good content never get shared? On the other hand, some mediocre content goes viral.
Often, I have encountered cliche' statements going viral on social medias. For instance, "when performing a presentation, don't look at the slides, look at the audiences!", "you need to be passionate about your job", "don't worry about how others perceive you, be yourself". These statements are not original, and certainly not creative. You have probably heard it many times. Why is it worth sharing? well, because it tells something about you.
Therefore, the next time when you are up to writing a content. If your goal is to get the content viral, to be shared among the communities like crazy. Then you need to think about the content from the reader's perspective. Is the content cool for the readers to share? If the reader shares the content does it make them seem knowledgeable? Does it make them seem successful, does it make to them look good?