Engagement

#contenthacks: How to Craft a Perfectly Shareable Headline

Posted On August 16th, 2017 | 6:10pm EST

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but the same rule doesn’t apply to articles.

Unfortunately, if you don’t have an attention-grabbing headline, nobody is going to read it. No matter how much effort you put into a thousand words, the handful at the top will determine a story’s success.

Tease the story, but be specific.

You don’t want to spoil the surprise of the story right away, but you need to be specific enough to entice someone to read. Always think of headlines that would make you want to click on something. Ask yourself: why should I care about this?

The New York Times recently revealed the science behind their headline decisions by conducting tests to see which would perform better. For example, “$2 Billion Worth of Free Media for Trump” had three times as many readers as “Measuring Trump’s Media Dominance.” The first headline was more specific with a whopping numerical figure, coaxing readers into clicking to find out just how that number came into play. Another example: “Is Everything Wrestling?” was paired against “It’s Not Just Wrestling That’s Fake. It’s the World.” The second headline saw a tenfold increase in readers. The first was too vague and didn’t explain exactly what the reader would hope to find in the story; the second headline was engaging and conversational, allowing more insight into what the article was truly about.

Numbers and listicles are helpful.

Numbers are “brain candy.” In this day and age of shorter attention spans, readers want to know just how long they should expect to be reading. Instead of “Reasons You Should Invest in Crocs,” try “7 Reasons You Should Invest in Crocs.” The reader knows the total number of reasons and will be encouraged to read through to the end. Even if the article has the same number of words as a listicle, the traditional article may look lengthier in comparison. (Bonus: the most effective numbers in terms of reader engagement are 5 and 10. After that, go with odd numbers.) 

Start your headline with a few of these buzzwords.

According to Buzzsumo.com, the top three-word phrase to start a business-to-business article is “X Ways to…” This utilizes the listicle format and presents a number of ways in which the user can do something to their benefit, directly profiting a consumer. The top two-word phrase to begin an article is “How to…” Again, this engages the consumer by demonstrating knowledge about a subject that the article will teach to the reader. (See above. It worked for us, didn’t it?) And the top single word to start an article is simply “The…” As insignificant as it may seem, “the” is authoritative. Instead of “Things You Need to Know,” make it “The Things You Need to Know,” implying that these things are the most essential of all. Don’t overthink it!

Know your audience and target them.

If you’re writing traditional B2B content, don’t cater to the Buzzfeed crowd. Just because their clickbait content is successful doesn’t mean it will translate to your brand. “27 Vintage Taylor Swift Tweets You Won’t Believe She Actually Tweeted” is catchy for the entertainment world, but it isn’t the kind of headline that will help attract buyers and sellers to your real estate company. Know who you want to reach and what kind of reader you want to engage. Once you’ve set your target demographic, it’s much easier to form the right kind of headline.

For more information on how City/Studio can help you craft winning headlines for your B2B content, click here.