Articles on Social Media Examiner get substantially more shares than content on similar sites. We take a detailed look at why and set out 10 Content Marketing lessons.

1. 10 Content Marketing Lessons
from Social Media Examiner

2. Content on the Social Media Examiner
site is shared substantially more than
content from similar sites.
Website No Articles Average Social Shares
Per Article
Social Media
Examiner
262 3,689
Copyblogger 140 1,377
Content Marketing
215 935
Institute
Social Media Today 3,287 385
Period: 16 March 2014 – 16 September 2014 – Source BuzzSumo

3. The most shared articles on Social Media Examiner
get over 10,000 social shares.

4. Lesson 1. Quality Posts Win Over High Volume Posts
Social Media Examiner does not produce as much content as
some other sites but focuses on quality posts that are of
interest to its audience.
This gives more time to promote each post and provides more
focus to ensure the content is of the highest quality.
Mike Stelzner reviews and often rewrites the first paragraph of
every post on Social Media Examiner. His attention to detail is
legendary and all posts go through a number of sub-editors.

5. Lesson 2. Understand Your Audience
Social Media Examiner conducts regular surveys of its audience. The
latest 2014 Social Media Trends report which surveyed over 2,800
marketers. The insights they gain helps them plan, develop and curate
content that is of interest to the audience and resonates with them.

6. Lesson 3. Produce Long Form Content
If you know what content resonates with your audience there is evidence
that they welcome and engage with long form content.
The longer the article on Social Media Examiner the more shares it gets
on average.

7. Lesson 4. Respect Your Audience
In an interview back in 2011 Mike Stelzner was asked if the site
wrote headlines and content for SEO. His response was revealing:
“No, we do not. We only get 15 percent of our 900,000 page-views
per month from search. We do not try to make things that
appeal to search engines. We don’t ignore search engines, but it’s
not our primary focus. Our primary focus is to appeal to people.”
The respect that Social Media Examiner shows its audience
appears to be rewarded by the sharing of content.

8. Lesson 5. Share Content Across All Networks
Social Media Examiner’s content gets heavily shared across across
all social networks as seen below. In our BuzzSumo research we
have found the top performing content is generally shared across
multiple networks and not a single network.

9. Lesson 6. Use Lists, How To Articles and Infographics
Social Media Examiner makes good use of three different
content types namely lists, how to posts and infographics. The
site uses a good mix of content formats that appeal to its
audience.

10. Lesson 7. Use Podcasts
Mike Stelzner’s podcast is very widely listened to. At
BuzzSumo we had a single mention in one of Mike’s
podcasts which drove significant traffic to our site.
Other sites such as Convince and Convert and the
Content Marketing Institute have had similar success
with podcasts.

11. Lesson 8. Publish Your Content Early In The Week
The chart below shows the total post shares by the day of the week they were
published on Social Media Examiner. It is quite clear that posts published
earlier in the week perform better.

12. Lesson 9. Use Respected and Authoritative Authors
Social Media Examiner uses respected authors that produce quality content.
An author search on BuzzSumo for Social Media Examiner authors shows that
their content is consistently shared. For example, below is the most shared
content authored by Cindy King.

13. 10. Build A Virtuous Cycle
The more your content gets shared the more these social
signals provide evidence of its value to readers and the
more it encourages people to share.
The consistent quality of Social Media
Examiner content, the evidence of
strong social signals plus clear
headlines and introductory
paragraphs will encourage people to
share content .

14. Find The Most Shared Content and
The Influencers Amplifying That Content
BuzzSumo.com