Content Marketing - Why Your Content Has No Afterlife

You work your tail off getting your content to a place where you feel as though the Pope himself will be in awe, however when you post it, it has all the impact of a bowl of soggy cereal.

Of course there are no guarantees that everything we write is going to hit it big, there are times when we feel as though we’ve actually created terrific content that for whatever reason fails to catch the fancy of our audience.

No one hits it big every single time, but if this appears to be a pattern with your content, let’s consider some of the reasons your content may not be hitting on all cylinders.

3 Reasons why your content isn’t going viral

Lack of emotional appeal – This is actually the big one. Sharing content that strikes a chord on a gut level is something we all do. Be sure to appeal to your readers emotion by addressing the pain points of whatever it is your content is covering, and showing them a way to handle that. Writing in a more conversational, personal tone might help foster this kind of connection, versus a dry, overly technical or jargon-laden piece.

Lousy distribution of your content – And here is where a lot of us miss the boat. There are many more places than ever to share your content, and the ease of doing this is surpassed only by the time and effort it requires to do so, but hey, you wanted to have it reach far and wide, right? Make sure you announce your content on social media channels, via your email list, and anywhere else you have your voice. Work at making connections larger than yours, and exploiting your social media contacts. Consider using paid traffic to boost your content, as in a Facebook or Twitter ad.

It’s not worth sharing – If your content is not positive, or lacks elements that others would find valuable, you’ll discover that most people won’t want to share it. Humor and a great story will always end up getting shared. Creating emotional content that addresses practical concerns in a useful way is a recipe for getting your content shared all over the place.