Here’s a video of a Chihuahua chasing bubbles in slow motion.

Here’s a mock George Lucas Special Edition of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer. 

Here are some cool mugs that Buzzfeed reckons “you need to drink out of right now”.

What have these topics got in common? They’re all powerful examples of great online content. Engaging, easy to digest, and deeply social, these pieces have racked up over 600,000 shares between them and will probably continue attracting shares and views for many months, if not years, to come.

The ‘secret sauce’ of these pieces is hardly a secret any more. In the years since Buzzfeed first LOL’ed its way onto the internet, online content has changed significantly. Consumers are not just looking for enlightenment any more; they want entertainment, and they want it quickly and easily. It’s become a very simple equation:

Demand + ease (x entertainment)

Nothing lasts forever though, especially not online, and in 2015 it’s likely we’ll see the content landscape change again as readers start seeing through such formulaic content, and Google legislates against it. The first to go may well be the syndicated content you see at the bottom of articles recommending similar articles for readers. In theory useful, these pieces have devolved into cynical clickbait and their stock will only continue to fall in 2015.

Headlines too will come under scrutiny. Howls of “You won’t believe what Celebrity X said about Celebrity Y!” could become a thing of the past next year. Such headlines are formula and formula can be detected, analysed, and ignored, both by search engines and humans. That ‘demand + ease (x entertainment)’ equation is a good start, but it’ll only get you so far.

Buzzfeed has recognised this and in 2014 started creating long-form content to accompany its short-form pieces. There’s no particular demand for content like this, it’s not entertaining in the way Buzzfeed has become known for, and its length means it’s hardly easy to read. So what’s the secret?

“[It’s the] human factor, tugging on the heartstrings,” creative director Philip Byrne told The Drum earlier this year. “Nostalgia is a huge driver. As everyone knows, there are dozens and dozens of nostalgia pages on Facebook – I remember the 90s or I remember the 80s. Nostalgia is like giving people a sort of perspective on their own past through sharing; things that reflect the person you are and the person you want to be seen to be by your friends. It’s part of the story you’re telling about yourself through your social presence.”

Emotion and social value come into the picture then, and it’s no surprise that 75% of Buzzfeed’s monthly traffic comes from social sites. But that doesn’t mean that social is the key to good content. Buzzfeed’s success comes from the integrated way it approaches site and social; its social feed is a content platform and its site is a social platform. It’s not about mastering both; it’s about mastering the link between both.

As this link becomes more important, alternate social networks will see a rise in their significance. Reddit and Tumblr, as discussed in our previous blog posts, have both enjoyed huge gains in 2014, and Instagram remains a key player too. With Yahoo owning Tumblr and Facebook at the helm of Instagram, it’s unthinkable that one or both wouldn’t undergo some serious monetisation efforts in 2015. Tumblr at least, with its 98 billion posts, is low hanging fruit ripe for plucking.

The final piece of the puzzle is analysis. Working out what your readers are responding to is nothing new of course but as content develops it takes on an even greater significance. Drawing insights from your content will help the content itself, improve tone of voice on social, and hone search strategy.

It’s a holistic, integrated approach and when you put the three together and you have a new equation for 2015: Demand + Ease (x Entertainment) is both outdated and ineffective. Instead, think about:

Site + Social (x Search)


By Fast Web Media. 

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