3 Most Shared Types of Content – Infographic

Q: What do “how-to” posts, quizzes and picture lists have in common?

A: They are three types of content that people LOVE to share.

If you are like me – a lover of content that you can quickly view and absorb – this should have been an easy question to answer.

By incorporating these three types of content into your social media marketing mix, you have the best potential for going viral.

Here’s why, plus the infographic:

3 Types Of Content People Love To Share On Social Media

Content Type #1: How-to Posts

Why how-to posts? Seventy-five percent of people like learning online, which explains why how-to posts are so successful. They are most popular on Facebook and Pinterest, but they get a lot of shares on LinkedIn, too.

For example, the article “The Biggest Mistakes I See on Resumes, and How to Correct Them” got almost 2.3 Million views on LinkedIn.

Content Type #2: Quizzes

Why quizzes? (Per Noah Kagan): Because, sharing our quiz results fuels our identity and ego. Others will learn more about who we are, what we value, and our tastes. Think about the last time you shared a quiz. Do you think 90% of your Facebook friends care? No, but the few that do will know what a cool person you are. Similarly, sharing an opinionated piece about a hot issue, such as gay marriage, lets others know where we stand on the issue.

For example, take a look at BuzzFeed’s quiz on What Career Should You Actually Have? This quiz generated almost 19 Million views! I guess, “Do what you love, love what you do” speaks to many more people than just me (check out my blog bio).

Content Type #3: Picture Lists

Why picture lists? 

90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. (cited in Roman Gubern´s book “Metamorfosis de la lectura”. Dogwell, cited by Gubern 2007 : Loc 152 [ kindle version])

Picture lists work best when they tell a story, explain a process or draw contrasts. Despite being disproven on Snopes.com, a picture list that recently went viral compared U.S. school lunches with lunches from around the world. Internet users shared it more than 470,000 times.

The Infographic: 3 Types of Content That People LOVE TO SHARE

Take a look at the full infographic below, produced by Uberflip and BuzzSumo, to learn more about, what kind of content people love to share on social.

What kind of content do you share on your social media?