It’s tough out there for content creators and marketers.
It’s getting harder and harder to convince audiences to click on your call to action. Plus, over half the Google searches end without a click, and social media algorithms clearly reward platform-native content and penalize content with external links.
So how do marketers navigate this brave new world where platforms reward zero-click behavior?
Post zero-click content, says Amanda Natividad. Content that offers value and standalone insights with no need to click…
Amanda is VP of Marketing for audience research startup, SparkToro, she’s also a contributor for Adweek, a trained chef... and a former journalist.
Amanda previously led marketing for Growth Machine and Liftopia, built Fitbit’s B2B content program, and led content and communications for NatureBox.
She joins Amy on this episode of the Content 10x podcast to explore zero-click content and talks about how she approaches research and repurposing…
Watch the highlights video below or head over to our YouTube channel for the full episode in video format.
Or, if you prefer, keep reading for the main points from the conversation.
Find out:
- What is zero click content
- Why it’s important
- Amanda’s approach to research and repurposing
What is zero-click content?
Zero-click content is content published to any platform, for which clicking to leave the platform is only additive to the user experience, not required.
As Amanda explains, there is standalone value in consuming that tweet or thread or that 100-word LinkedIn post – the reader can benefit from some of that immediate value and scroll on by. Alternatively, you can create a standalone post, but also add a link for the reader if they if they want more – but they don’t have to click in order to get value from it.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can repurpose your content into loads of zero-click content, you can get in touch with us.
What are the benefits of zero-click content?
Because platforms reward zero-click behavior, it’s important to include zero-click content in your content plan.
As Amanda explains:
“Each time that you are maximizing or optimizing for impressions by not linking people out and keeping people on platform, so that they engage with that platform, you are essentially building up your algorithmic capital.”
In other words, the more that you get people to engage with your content on that platform, the more likely your content will be served up again the next time to the people you want to get in front of.
So it’s like you’re building up capital – building up impressions and high engagement – then when you do include a link, you burn a little bit of that capital.
That’s ultimately what will drive better conversation – if you build up the algorithmic capital and then slowly burn it in little chunks, you’re more likely to convert people over time.
So that’s the “optimized” benefit. But then there’s also the human element.
You’re building affinity with people through zero-click content. You’re building trust because you’re showing people that while you are obviously, ultimately selling something – whether it’s a service, software or product – you’re still showing your audience that isn’t all you care about.
You’re providing free value first and foremost. With the hope that people will ultimately sign up for your newsletter, listen to your podcast, watch your YouTube video, or whatever CTA you have.
“If you’ve built that affinity with your audience,” says Amanda, “they’re more likely to say, alright, that’s fair. This person has provided so much value I don’t mind clicking through to their content.”
The ideal link/no link balance
There is no hard and fast rule around the perfect balance of zero-click and clickable content, you need to experiment with your own audience.
However, Amanda explains that when she’s creating something for her top-of-funnel content she’s not always thinking about whether she should drive people to click to something else. It’s top-of-funnel and she prefers to produce a lot of bite-sized, zero-click content.
However, if she had to put a number on it, she thinks a 50/50 split – so 50% zero-click and 50% clickable content. This means that you have 50% of your content that is adding value, building trust, affinity and algorithmic capital, and 50% where it’s then permissible to ask a little bit more from your audience and drive them to a CTA/click.
We are all savvy enough to know the ultimate goal of content marketing, but it’s important to also offer those truly valuable, standalone insights.
Getting ‘dinged’ for adding a link
So which platforms are most likely to penalize you for adding links?
Amanda has done her own research into this, and says that from her experience Twitter is the place you are most likely to get dinged for adding links.
“It could be purely because of the algorithm deprioritizing content that links people out. Sometimes, I’ll post a link to a blog post… crickets! It will die immediately. But I've noticed that even on LinkedIn, if I add links on something, it doesn't perform as well as a post that has no links, but it also doesn't completely whiff!”
Repurposing zero-click content and vice-versa
Sparktoro produce a lot of awesome content, and sitting right in the center of this is their webinar series Office Hours, which evolved out of a desire to provide an educational series that would answer a lot of the questions that their customers have, and to help them realize more value from the Sparktoro platform.
Their content strategy is to use multiple types of content to feed or nurture Office Hours – so Amanda might publish a Twitter thread or a LinkedIn post on a topic, to see if people like the idea and respond to it.
Based on the reception it receives, if there’s a lot of questions or conversation around it and the idea has legs, then the topic is repurposed into a webinar series.
“If people clearly want more on the topic and they’re engaging with it, we take the idea and expound on it and make it better in a webinar.”
Feedback from the webinar can then be repurposed into blog posts and articles etc. This is a great example of where zero-click content can take you, if you have a strategy behind it!
Interested in finding out more about zero-click content? You can connect with Amanda on Twitter. She posts loads of great content, so she is definitely worth a follow!
If you’d like to find out more about how we can repurpose your content into loads of zero-click content, you can get in touch with us HERE.