Why does a popular article get shared by the target audience?

Think more about whether your article can get the user's sense of social participation? If so, the copy you write will be more likely to impress the group of people you want to impress. Otherwise, your article will just be a "self-congratulatory article" written for yourself.

Everything is marketing , and marketing is everything! From birth until now, we have been in contact with marketing. Introducing yourself is marketing, promoting products is marketing, and the words you write in the articles are just to let others know you and understand what kind of person you are, what kind of strengths you have, what kind of hobbies you have, and so on.

And if you accidentally fall into the pit of self-media now, you must still be worrying about how to write a popular article! You are trying your best to imitate other people's popular articles, but unfortunately, no matter how hard you try, you still cannot write your own popular article. In fact, in the final analysis, it is because you are just imitating the appearance of others. You don’t know why other people’s articles are shared by the target audience and become a popular article.

What you need to study is what triggers users' motivation to share and what kind of content can impress your users. When we ask “Why do users share?”, we are actually asking “Why do users express?”

Expressions can be divided into two types. One is direct benefits , getting paid for doing things, such as rewards for forwarding. The higher the benefits, the better the effect. The other is hidden motives , which is the focus of this article.

1. People are more willing to share resource-based articles that are useful to themselves and beneficial to others (i.e., useful articles)

People often read content while also judging whether it might be useful or interesting to others. Many people seem to always be looking for content that can help and entertain others. When people are first exposed to new information, they quickly make decisions in their minds about whether it would be interesting to others. We are driven to share useful and interesting information with others; it is a very natural social behavior.

This kind of dry goods resource article can mainly be manifested as:

(1) In-depth tutorials, articles, videos, etc.

Typical examples include the live broadcasts on Zhihu, as well as practical answers, logical thinking , etc.

(2) Various gadgets and apps

Such as browser plug-ins, online gadgets such as calculators, clocks, etc.

For example, I used to like to write various resource APP recommendation articles, because APP was not so developed before, and people were more willing to download various APPs. Then I started to organize some tool APPs for my study and life. At that time, I sorted out the free education websites that I visited frequently. Then this article received more than 100,000 views on platforms such as Jianshu and Zhihu. Many website platform managers recommended by me also came to me directly to thank me and helped them get a big exposure for free!

(3) List of links to other resources

This is relatively simple, just list the above resources, typical examples are open directory websites (such as portal websites).

How to write a useful article?

Step 1: Before writing your content, you must first think clearly about what topic you want to write about. You can consider the following points:

1. What topics are you interested in?
2. What subject matter are you interested in?
3. What is your area of ​​expertise?
4. Do you have this experience in your life?
5. Do you have any relevant knowledge and information collection?

You have to know what you are good at and what topics you are interested in so that you can write useful content in your own style. Otherwise, you will not be able to use the information you have collected, and in serious cases it will become plagiarism. Regarding the fifth point of information collection, when writing an argumentative essay, you should search for it in one go. However, when writing practical articles, you can collect inspiration and information anytime and anywhere in your life, so that when you want to write, you don’t have to spend time collecting information.

In the second step of planning, you need to have three clear goals. Clarify the theme, thesis, and goal

(1) Clarify the theme

Before you start writing, make sure you have decided on the topic. Are you sure you want to write about this? Can you really write it? A practical article is equivalent to writing an argumentative essay, which analyzes and comments on a certain issue or event, and expresses one's own views, positions, and attitudes.

(2) Clarify the argument

Regarding arguments, the pyramid principle can be applied. You need to clarify what the central argument of the article is? What sub-arguments support the central argument of the article? Is each argument independent of the others and are they progressive?

In addition to expressing your own argument clearly, you also need to explain any opposing opinions or doubts. Do you have enough points to refute or even resolve the readers' doubts?

(3) Clarify your goals

When we write articles with practical information, we must know that there is only one purpose, which is to help readers solve problems. In the book "The Art of Communication", a model called the Johari Window is mentioned.

The Johari Window is divided into 4 parts:

• Development Zone: You know it and others know it too.
• Blind spot: what you don’t know but others do.
• Hidden area: Information that you know but are unwilling to tell others.
• Unknown area: Maybe you, I and he don’t know. For example, are there aliens in the world and what unknown secrets there are on Mars?

When you write an article with useful information, you know something that others may not know, or it may even be a blind spot, and you want to share it with others so that they can also know it. At this time, you need to consider the following points:

• Who is this useful article written for?
• After reading your article, can they understand it?
• Does your article address the blind spot issue?

The topic was clarified and relevant information was collected. Now it’s time to start writing. When writing your essay, you need to consider the following points:

(1) Organize all materials and form your own style

For example, if you want to write an article on how to write a book review, before you start writing, you can read related books and articles and select relevant quotations and paragraphs. When we write articles, we need to learn from others. But reference is not plagiarism. Even if the meaning you want to express is similar to that written by others, you still need to organize it and form your own style, and write useful articles in your own style. There are many useful articles on the same topic, but the writing style and form are completely different. This is because each author has a different style.

(2) Shuffle all the materials and paraphrase them into your own ideas

For example, if you want to write about knowledge management, you may see that the framework of other people’s articles is: first tell a joke, then write about why knowledge management is important, list the relevant data, and finally how to conduct knowledge management and provide their own knowledge management skills. After reading the article, you feel that some of the content is what you want.

Yes, but you have to learn to paraphrase. Paraphrasing is a way to borrow someone else's ideas while acknowledging the original author's opinion. You need to express other people's opinions in your own words, because the words are your own and the opinions are other people's, so you still need to pay attention to marking the source.

Finally, some real-life examples need to be added:

An argumentative essay is not an academic paper. It should be rigorous but not dry. When you express your own argument, you can also cite experts and data. You can also cite real-life examples. For example, when writing a book review about a movie , if I use only professional movie terms, non-professionals will definitely not want to read it. So I add popular movies as cases and use these popular movies to express: what are movies all about and what do you need to pay attention to when watching a movie? People are lazy and unwilling to change easily. At the beginning, no one is willing to accept new knowledge and skills. Only if you start with the most common ones and resonate with readers, will they be willing to learn your written ideas.

2. People are more willing to share articles that can shape their self-image

Let me tell you a story first. In 1986, two psychologists discovered a gap between a person's "real self" and "possible self." They further refined and proposed the concept of "possible self": "Possible self" includes the ideal self we want to be, the real self we can become in reality, and the self we are afraid of becoming. The first ideal self is the image that people usually create by sharing content on social networking sites.

This means that the image we deliberately create on social networking sites is actually not related to our true self. The key is that in people's imagination, this created social image should be our true representation, or people hope that one day they can become the person they have created. That is why people share some information that conforms to this ideal self on social networking sites to strengthen the impression . When we are in this mode of thinking, what we usually share is a projection of our ideal self, which represents the kind of person we desire to be. This is why some people share humor and comedy, while others like to share non-mainstream information such as hip-hop. These are all eloquent speeches on specific issues and chicken soup stories about how they want to be the winners in life.

For example, in the circle of friends , there is a specific group of people who like to share humorous and funny information content. Among all self-media platforms , humorous and funny articles and information occupy an absolute position in the minds of many users, so many self-media people who join the platform will choose to write funny articles.

So is there any routine for writing humorous and funny articles?

First, let's classify this humorous form:

• Crosstalk - Are there any Chinese people who don't know the name of Guo Degang? The fact that a program like this one has remained popular for so many years shows the power of humor and comedy.
• Talk show - such as the recently popular Tucao Conference and other programs.
• Text jokes - such as jokes.
• Video - Nowadays, it would be abnormal if there is no humor in variety shows, movies, TV series, etc.
• Emojis - Emojis have become a part of modern people's lives. I often see people staring at emojis and laughing...

Therefore, when you write a humorous article, remember to apply the methodology, see what form the article you want to write belongs to, and then start with the specific writing method. In fact, today's funny articles are very similar to today's skit performances. We all know that in today's skit performances, actors like to tell jokes. A punchline is a joke, which is the same as the punchlines in traditional folk art such as crosstalk and Errenzhuan. The purpose of adding a punchline to a work is to increase the comedic effect of the work. This process is called "shaking the punchline". However, it is possible that the person who tells the punchline does not achieve the expected effect after he has finished telling it. The person next to him (that is, the person who plays the supporting role in crosstalk) has to make supplementary remarks to make the punchline work, which is called "flipping the punchline". So sometimes when we watch skits or crosstalk performances, if an actor accidentally drops a joke, we will say “this joke is so well hidden.” Another one is telling dirty jokes, and these dirty jokes also have a deep meaning and are relatively "hidden", so some people may not even realize it before they've passed it.

So how do you write a good funny article? First, you have to be funny, or you have to have a reasonable sense of humor. The question then is whether this level of humor can make people laugh.

For example:

• "He fell down." This is the original joke.
• "The almanac said it was not suitable to travel today, so he fell down." This is correct logic and makes the joke a little more funny.
• "At the moment when the bride and groom exchanged rings, the air in the whole place seemed to have begun to condense with people's tears. Finally, the bride couldn't help sobbing loudly: "It hurts so much when I fell..."

This is incorrect logic and is unexpectedly funny.

However, it is better to write jokes to make people laugh than to write funny articles. If the articles are too long, people will not want to continue reading. At this time, it is better to hold a very long manuscript, stand in front of the reader with full preparation, clear your throat, get ready, leave a few seconds blank, and then look sad.

3. People are more willing to share articles that can make people feel socially engaged (i.e. social currency)

Let’s use some examples to illustrate this “social currency”: Social currency is something that can build or enhance (purchase) social relationships. For example, a soft article that can convey your thoughts, or a soft article that can become a topic of conversation, reflects the luxury of status, and can increase the influence of the event. The value composition of these social currencies is divided into two parts: actual use value and virtual value. For example, the use value of fitness soft articles is the knowledge contained in the content itself, and the virtual value is to shape a healthy image of oneself. The use value of LV bags is to hold things, and the virtual value is to reflect one's identity. The use value of big Vs in activities is the content of conversation, and the virtual value is to gather popularity.

These social behaviors have always existed and have not changed. What has changed is the channels . For example, blogs, Kaixin, Renren , Weibo, WeChat ... sharing platforms are constantly updated and replaced, but the feature of sharing runs through our lives, and people tend to share things they see that are beneficial to themselves. We used to call this behavior "showing off", but it is now a social topic of conversation.

However, if social currency is reflected in content information, the main form of articles will probably be product promotion articles or event promotion articles. When writing this type of article, we can analyze it according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. The first thing we need to do is to understand the social psychology and consumption psychology of the target consumer groups. Only in this way can we be targeted. So what kind of user psychology should product promotion articles follow?

1. Achievement Psychology

This is a psychological feeling that arises from a balance between desire and reality, meaning a sense of accomplishment. It refers to the feeling of happiness or success that a person has when he finishes a task or does something. This wonderful psychological feeling is usually easy to share, thereby expressing the psychological appeal of "I am really good at it". The recently popular game Honor of Kings makes full use of this psychology of people to design products and do marketing, such as promoting triple kills, quintuple kills, MVP, and super god achievements, and encourages users to share.

2. Herd mentality

Driven by curiosity and anxiety, one will easily be driven to participate in anything that everyone else is doing, to try something new, to explore something new, or to join in the fun, as if one would be at a disadvantage if one does not follow suit. Moreover, the craze caused by the herd mentality itself has attracted enough attention and topics of conversation. For example, the extremely popular Heytea has people queuing for hours to buy a cup of milk tea. Is it really just to satisfy the basic need of drinking a cup of tea? Of course not.

3. Show off mentality

Nowadays, many products bring consumers psychological elements far more than practical elements. The psychology of showing off originates from consumers' consumption experience. The reasons for sharing can be novelty, beauty, fun, scarcity, expensiveness, eye-catching, etc., in exchange for the envy, attention, recognition of others, and to gain satisfaction from vanity. For example, some very wealthy people often choose world-famous brand handbags worth thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in order to show off their strong purchasing power; many brands launch "limited edition" or limited-number activities, and consumers who are fortunate enough to become "lucky ones" will inevitably share and show off on social platforms.

4. Comparative psychology

Consumers' comparison psychology is based on their identification with their own class, identity and status, and thus they choose to use people in their class as a reference and thus exhibit consumption behavior. What consumers want to express in their hearts is: "I am no worse than you, I am on par with you, I may even be better than you." At its core, it is the inner desire to be recognized by friends, family and oneself, and aspects of recognition include social images such as work achievements, family status, and quality of life. Therefore, products, brands, and ideas can demonstrate a person's level and endorse his or her competitive mentality. For example, when it comes to treating the next generation, many parents will buy a certain item for their own children just because other children have it. Compared with the mentality of showing off, the mentality of comparison focuses more on emphasizing "what you own".

Therefore, when you are writing product copy, you can study the user's psychological needs more and think more about whether your article can get the user's sense of social participation, so that he will feel instantly proud after reading your article! If so, the copy you write will be more likely to impress the group of people you want to impress. Otherwise, your article will just be a "self-congratulatory article" written for yourself.

Today’s self-media platforms are springing up like mushrooms after a rain, and each one is investing a lot of money. So many people have already joined this big wave. There are tens of thousands of people doing self-media, so why can’t you become the “leader”? I think the difference is not time, but insight!

The author of this article @艺林小宇 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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