Do you ever wonder who writes those listicles on Buzzfeed? It seems like such a fun job. And the writers often seem like they’re living the dream, being able to set their hours and work from home.
If you’re sick of your commute, your boss, and wasting away in an office from 9 to 5, this article is for you. Here’s how to become one of those famous Buzzfeed writers:
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Identify trending topics that resonate with BuzzFeed’s audience. |
| 2. Craft attention-grabbing headlines and thumbnails. |
| 3. Create content that evokes strong emotions or reactions. |
| 4. Utilize lists, quizzes, and interactive content formats. |
| 5. Leverage user-generated content and participation. |
| 6. Collaborate with influencers and thought leaders. |
| 7. Tailor content for social media platforms and shareability. |
| 8. Engage with BuzzFeed’s existing content and audience. |
| 9. Stay up-to-date with BuzzFeed’s content preferences. |
| 10. Incorporate humor and lightheartedness into your content. |
1. Buzzfeed Is Great For Traffic!
Buzzfeed is great for traffic. If you want to get more people to your blog, Buzzfeed is the best way to do it. Just think about it – if you can get featured on Buzzfeed, that’s thousands of people who will see your content within a few days!
BuzzFeed is also a great branding opportunity because they have an active community that loves sharing viral content on Facebook and Twitter.
By being featured in one of their articles, you’ll be exposed to an entirely new audience who may not have seen anything else from you before now (and maybe even become a customer!).
BuzzFeed has also proven itself as an excellent platform for affiliate marketing: many bloggers use these viral posts as another way to make money off their site by selling products or services through links in their posts (or even just using them as call-to-action buttons).
In the world of marketing, capturing attention without being overly intrusive is an art. Discover some effective techniques in our article on getting attention without being annoying that can elevate your content’s reach.
2. Buzzfeed Works Well For Affiliate Marketing
There is a lot of traffic on Buzzfeed, and it’s one of the most popular websites in the world. There are a lot of people on Buzzfeed who are looking for products to buy, so if you promote something that they want or need, your chances of going viral are higher than with other sites.
Also, there are a lot of products that you can use to promote on Buzzfeed; this means that you can easily find something relevant and make money off some awesome content! It may be easier than ever before:
3. Buzzfeed Is Great For Branding
Buzzfeed is a great place to build your brand. It’s also a great place to build your portfolio, audience, email list, and social media following.
Over the past few years, I’ve been trying different ways of getting featured on Buzzfeed and my most successful strategy was writing articles that would be published in the “50 Things” series (as well as other types of articles).
In this article, I’ll explain why I think it’s important for you to create content for Buzzfeed, how you can create content for them, and how you can get featured on their website!
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4. Time Your Post To Go Viral
If you want to get noticed by BuzzFeed, time it so that it’s posted on a Friday, Monday, or Tuesday in the morning between 8 am and noon (EST). This will give you the best chance of gaining their attention and going viral.
A few other good times include 1 pm to 3 pm EST or 5 pm-7 pm EST (anytime after 2:45 pm PST if you live on the west coast). The weekends are usually pretty slow for traffic, but if your content is fun enough people will still share it but don’t expect much more than 1k shares at most!
5. Make Sure Your Title Is Perfect
It’s important to give your post a good title. You want to make it short, sweet, catchy, and relevant to the post. The best way of doing this is by using keywords that are relevant to your post.
Don’t just write something random in the hope that it will get picked up by Buzzfeed or go viral – you’ll get more traffic if people can find what they’re looking for on Google!
6. Chain Titles Work Well On Buzzfeed
Use the word “you” or “you’ll” in at least one bullet point. This is a no-brainer, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s so effective at grabbing the reader’s attention.
Use the number 18 in your title. People love lists! Give them what they want!
Use the number 24 in your title. Again, this is straight out of Buzzfeed 101: If you can’t have an actual listicle (because that would just be too easy).
Use numbers instead to evoke a sense of completion and satisfy readers’ cravings for the content they know they can consume quickly and easily.
A nice bonus here is that if you’re going to write multiple pieces about this same topic or theme anyway, then linking them together will make them even more valuable for people searching for related content online and help improve SEO as well!
Use the number 41 in your title. Yes, it’s true: People love lists almost as much as they love numbers!
Giving readers exactly what they crave (or think they crave) will not only attract their attention but also keep them engaged with your piece long enough so that some might even consider sharing it on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.”
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7. Use The Magic Number In Your Title (18, 24, 41)
Let’s get one thing straight: the magic number is 18, 24, or 41. That is the number of words in your headline. For example, “How to Write a Headline for Content Marketing” has 18 words it’s perfect!
The magic number also means the number of letters in your headline. For example, my blog post title has 17 letters so close! You can use that to pick out competitors who don’t have enough variety in their headlines (e.g., “How To Make A Headline,” “How To Write A Headline”).
Finally, if you want to be extra cheeky with Buzzfeed’s algorithm (or just create an awesome piece of content), use the magic number as a unit of measurement when selecting images and links within your piece (e.g., “17 Times You Were Right About Cats”).
8. Think Of A Really Unique Angle
The first step to getting featured in Buzzfeed is coming up with a unique angle. If you can think of something that hasn’t been done before, it has a higher chance of going viral.
To put it simply, the more unique your content is, the better chances you have of getting featured on Buzzfeed.
A great example of this is an article about how people reacted when their favorite cereal mascots died by suicide. It got over 4 million views and over 6 thousand shares on Facebook alone!
9. Keep People Guessing With Your Title
Use a question in the title. I’m going to say this again: use a question in the title. Questions are engaging and keep people guessing, so they’ll want to read more of your post. If you’re worried about giving too much away, don’t be!
You can always answer your question or add more information than you originally intended once people have clicked through.
If you want to go all out on this trip, there are also some other fun things you can do with questions in titles like using numbers or adding punctuation marks like exclamation points or periods after them just make sure your final result makes sense!
For example: “How To Make Cucumber Sandwiches?” doesn’t work so well since there’s no way that cucumbers could ever be sandwiches…
But maybe “How To Make Cucumber Sandwiches?” isn’t what you’re looking for either because then it will just sound like something else has been left off! It’s not always easy making these decisions but the right choice will help ensure readers have no idea what comes next!”
10. Write An Opening Line That Will Grab Attention Right Away
When it comes to writing the first line of your post, you want to make sure that it gets people’s attention right away. One of the best ways to do this is? You guessed it: ask a question.
This can be anything from “do you know what this is?” to “will this pair with my denim jacket?” or even just a simple statement like “I ate at McDonald’s today.”
Whatever you decide on will depend on your style and what type of article you’re writing. But no matter what opening line you choose, just remember that it should be short and sweet (you don’t want people clicking away too early).
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11. The Opening Line Doesn’t Have To Be A Question
In case you’re unfamiliar, Buzzfeed is the world’s largest social news website. It has millions of visitors every month, so it’s a good idea to try to get featured there.
The easiest way is by writing something that will make them want to share it with their readership. This can be difficult if you don’t have any experience as a writer or have never done this before, but here are some tips:
- Interestingly introduce the topic by drawing the reader in right away
- Make sure it’s personal or relatable to someone who may read your article (especially if it’s funny)
- Make sure there aren’t any spelling errors (this should go without saying)
- Finally, don’t forget about making sure that your opening line draws the reader into reading more!
12. Use Funny One-Liners Throughout The Post
Make sure you are funny. This is the most important part of creating a viral content piece. If it’s not funny, people will not share it and no one will see your amazing work. It has to make you laugh, or at least make them laugh enough that they want to share it with their friends.
Make sure it’s relevant to the topic at hand (and if possible, make sure that the topic relates to an easy-to-remember keyword).
You can do this by using a lot of humor throughout your post or just one quick line at the end whatever works best for you as long as it relates in some way!
Relate everything to what makes sense for each specific article/video/blog post etcetera;
Don’t go overboard trying too hard here because nothing turns people off faster than when something doesn’t seem genuine or consistent with itself within its context (them… I’m looking at YOU Buzzfeed!).
13. Create A List Within A-List. This Is Called “Listception” And It’s Pretty Popular On Buzzfeed
The term “inception” is a portmanteau of list and inception that describes the technique of creating a list within a list.
Any time you see an article with multiple lists in it, they are probably doing this technique. For example, let’s say I am writing an article about what to do on New Year’s Eve and I want to create a separate list for each day leading up to the big night.
I could make one giant list (like most Buzzfeed articles do) but that would be pretty boring for readers who just want tips for New Year’s Eve itself. Instead, I’d break my ideas down into different categories:
On December 31st:
Party Venues – What bars/clubs are close by? What kind of music do they play? Who else will be there? Does this place offer bottle service? Do they have tables or booths available for reservation? How much does it cost per person or couple per hour (or whatever)?
Is there free parking nearby and how far away is it from where we’re going? How much space do we need at each venue based on how many people are coming with us (again)? Are there any other important details that we should know before making our reservation(s)?
14. Make Sure You Use The Word “You” Or “You’ll” In At Least One Bullet Point In Your Post
All of this is to say that, if you want your post to go viral, you should use the word “you” or “you’ll” in at least one bullet point.
We’ve said it before: using this word will make your post more personal and conversational and therefore, more engaging.
This is the key to getting featured on BuzzFeed because the site has a reputation for only sharing content that’s written in a friendly tone and speaks directly to its audience (or at least seems like it does).
15. Change Up Your Format Throughout The Post (Video, GIFs, Images)
As you’re writing your post, keep in mind that the format of your article will change depending on how long it is. You can switch up the format throughout the article to make things interesting. Here are some ideas:
- Use images and videos where appropriate.
- Include GIFs to help illustrate a point or give examples of how someone else feels about something (as long as you don’t steal them).
- Link out to external sites where applicable especially if they have great information that might complement what you’re saying!
- Link out to other posts on your site, especially if there’s more context for the topic at hand (e.g., if there’s an earlier post with more detail about a particular subject matter)
Sometimes knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do. Explore the pitfalls to avoid in our article on ineffective strategies for attracting customers, serving as a valuable counterpoint to your viral marketing pursuits.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you’ve picked up some good tips and tricks for creating amazing content that people will want to share. While this list is longer than most Buzzfeed posts, it’s still not exhaustive!
Take some time to peruse the site so that you can see what kind of content is getting shared and how people are responding to it.
Also, don’t forget about other social media sites like Twitter or Facebook where your post might be just as successful if not more so than on Buzzfeed itself.
As with any new endeavor, having patience will help ensure success! Best wishes as we continue our journey together toward viral fame!
Further Reading
Here Are 10 Tips from BuzzFeed to Make Your Content Go Viral Short Description: Explore BuzzFeed’s valuable insights and tips for creating content that has the potential to go viral.
BuzzFeed’s 3 Tricks for Making Things Go Viral Short Description: Delve into BuzzFeed’s three proven tricks for maximizing the viral potential of your content.
Go Viral with Content Marketing Short Description: Learn how to enhance your content marketing strategy and increase the likelihood of your content going viral.
And here’s the “FAQs” section based on semantic analysis of the titles:
FAQs
How can I make my content go viral according to BuzzFeed’s tips?
BuzzFeed offers 10 valuable tips that can help you increase the chances of your content going viral. These tips cover various aspects of content creation and promotion.
What are the three tricks BuzzFeed recommends for making things go viral?
BuzzFeed shares three specific tricks that have proven effective in increasing the virality of content. Understanding and implementing these tricks can help boost the reach of your content.
What strategies can I use to go viral with content marketing?
Discover strategies and techniques to enhance your content marketing efforts for increased virality. Learn how to create and distribute content that resonates with your target audience.
Are there any other resources that provide insights on creating viral content?
Yes, aside from BuzzFeed’s tips, there are additional resources available that offer insights and advice on crafting content with viral potential. These resources can provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.
How can I leverage BuzzFeed’s advice to improve my content’s chances of going viral?
BuzzFeed’s advice is backed by their experience in creating viral content. By implementing their tips and tricks, you can fine-tune your content strategy to align with the factors that contribute to virality.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.