Any time you open your Facebook Newsfeed, you’re bound to see an emotional headline that makes you want to learn more. Rest assured that when you’re pressed to click on an article titled, “You Won’t Believe What Happens to This Sweet Dog,” it’s not by accident, but by design. It’s a fact: emotional headlines get more shares on social media.
Why do people share? Everyone has their different reasons, but most fall somewhere along this grid by Upworthy, the experts in creating shareable posts, balanced somewhere between anger, happiness, sadness, and relaxation.
The Advanced Marketing Institute studied headlines to see what drove people to click and share certain articles more than others before coming to this conclusion. The result? The Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer.Marketers can plug in a potential article headline to measure exactly how emotional it is, meaning how much intellectual, empathetic, and spiritual language is used.
Does that mean all your blog titles need to be oozing raw emotion? Of course not! Some articles aren’t meant to make you drool over your computer like you’re watching a litter of puppies trip over one another in a puddle, and that’s okay. You can still create a succinct, catchy headline that will encourage people to click, without the happy tears.
At BG Digital Group, we love the resources at CoSchedule. They have created an amazing tool where you can type in your potential blog title and measure how much more powerful your headline could be. Here’s how it works:
The idea is to use a good balance of word types to attract your widest audience. This headline uses common, uncommon, emotional, and powerful words all in one.
You’ll get to see how your headline looks in Google Search Results, an email subject line, and more.
What kind of sentiment does your headline bring to mind? Of course, this headline shows positive sentiment. It holds the promise of a puppy!
Of course, all of this is for nothing if you don’t have some amazing content behind that headline. Remember, don’t clickbait your audience. Deliver what you promise and readers will keep coming back for more. Happy blogging!
