The 3 Types of Content People Love to Share [Data-Packed Infographic]

What do “Charlie Bit My Finger”, Buzzfeed quizzes, and #BringBackOurGirls all have in common?

They are all viral sensations -- pieces of content that were so good, they’ve been shared by millions of people across social media.

They are pieces that pushed all the right buttons.

They were appealing, helpful, or entertaining enough that people wanted, no needed, to share it with their friends, who then shared it with their friends, and so on.

Sounds easy enough to replicate, but in order for your own content to have the makings of a viral hit, it too needs to appeal to a wide audience, evoke emotions, be positive, and useful in some way to your audience.

Just keep in mind, virality is in the eye of the beholder. Each piece of content you write isn’t necessarily right for the entire world to engage with. (I mean, we can’t all create adorable baby videos.)

Getting Your Content to Go Viral:

Now that you understand viral content a bit better, how can you get yours to actually go viral? Besides crossing your fingers.

• Know where your audience is: First things first, you need to determine where your audience is sharing information. Pushing your content on platforms where your audience doesn’t frequent is a waste of your resources and time. It will also determine the type of content to create. A quiz doesn’t translate as well on LinkedIn as it does on Twitter.
• Know what your audience likes to share: Now that you’ve determined the platform, check out what your audience is sharing. Look for trends across a wide variety of audience members. If you see a heavy sharing presence of say, infographics, it’s safe to assume that similar content will have similar sharing results.
• Create your viral hit: Now it’s time to create content that will resonate with your audience. Keep in mind that it needs to be just as intellectually stimulating as aesthetically pleasing. One without the other won’t result in a viral anything.

So, What Types of Content Go Viral?

Your audience is unique to you, so make sure you do research of your own, but in the meantime, check out this infographic Buzzsumo and Uberflip created.

After researching different social platforms, they determined the top 3 pieces of content that get the most engagement and shares from active users.They are:

1. How-To Posts
2. Quizzes
3. Picture Lists

These types of content are easily shared and consumed, making them ideal to recreate for yourself. Check out the full infographic below and give them a shot. Good luck!