Mention-Worthy Business Blogging

“Remarkable things are defined as unusual, extraordinary, or worthy of notice or attention, Jonah Berger observes in his book Contagious. Something can be remarkable, he says, because it is:

• novel
• surprising
• extreme
• just plain interesting

But the most important aspect of remarkable things is that they are worthy of remark. If something is just so noteworthy, you just have to mention it, Berger explains.

With the desire for social approval a fundamental human motivation, the author continues, if we tell someone a cool fact, a novel story, or a secret, that makes us seem more engaging. And, because I work at creating blog content for Indianapolis businesses and professional practices,
getting those clients more “shares” is one of my fundamental motivations.

A 16-country global survey by Social@Ogilby and SurveyMonkey revealed reasons for sharing content via social media, with the most frequent motive being to stay in touch and bring attention to issues they care about. Another study conducted by Ipsos showed that 61% of online shares share interesting things, 43% funny things, and 29% content that is unique.

But novelty and humor are not quite enough, Berger reminds his readers, if your intent is to generate social sharing. He found that articles most shared with not only humorous, interesting, novel, extreme, or surprising, but also informative. “People like to help others, so if we can show them how our products or ideas will save time, improve health, or save money, they’ll spread the word.”

Whether a business owner is composing his/her own blog posts or collaborating with a professional “ghost blogger”, it’s simply not enough to provide even very potentially valuable information to online searchers who’ve landed on the company’s blog page. The information need to be “translated” into relational, emotional terms that are so noteworthy, visitors will simply have to mention it to others!