How to Write Blog Post Titles and Social Media Posts That Get Clicks

We all want to drive more traffic and get more clicks on our advisor website, right? It takes a lot of work and many different aspects, but with trial and error, it can be done! Two things that can really help your site are to creating compelling blog post titles that readers really want to click to read more and to write strong social media posts.

So, how do you go about doing these two things and creating stronger content? Read on!

Creating Strong Blog Post Titles

In this post by SEO Tribunal, it says that companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website. That number speaks for itself, that your blogging really does make a HUGE difference when it comes to your website. With that being said, how do you go about getting readers to click on your content? You create strong blog post titles to draw them in! One of the main parts of the page the search engines are crawling first is your titles.

Also, more research found that titles with eight words received a 21% higher click-through rate than the overall average. This shows just how important it is to draw in your audience with a catchy title, especially since 43% of people admit to skimming blogs, so you have to make them want to read more.

A strong title should tell readers about what the blog will be about while also including keywords that are written in an enticing manner. Because of this, the length of your headline plays a big role. Some tips for creating strong titles are:

USE LANGUAGE THAT MAKES YOUR READERS TAKE ACTION

Don’t you want to make your readers want to continue with the blog? Use language that entices and makes them want to find out more. What benefit will your readers get when they check out your blog post? That’s a good starting point, so ask yourself that question and then go from there. Every word you use in your title needs to show the value of your blog and what the reader can get if they click on it.

INCLUDE NUMBERS IN YOUR TITLES

When you use numbers in titles, this often signifies a list, and these guarantee a quick read that can be easy to scan. When a reader sees a number in a title, they know exactly how much information they’re getting and how much time it will take them to read. Generally, when something has lists, they know that the article will not be too wordy, and will be broken up in “easy to read” sections.

In the above image, you can see that the number 4 is included in the title, so you know the tasks to boost your marketing routine will be divided into four separate lists or categories, indicating it will be a simple and useful read.

TAILOR THE TITLE TO TARGET YOUR NICHE

Just like your blogs should be tailored to your niche, so should the titles to your posts. You need to be speaking to your niche, especially since that is whom you are trying to target. Including your niche in your blog title is great for SEO and will also grab the attention of the leads you’re trying to reach. When you are specific with your titles, then this creates more overall value.

Twenty Over Ten client, Trisuli Financial Advising has a specific niche as the owner, Scott Vance is an Army veteran who helps veterans with fee-only financial planning. The title of this blog clearly caters to this niche, as it’s entitled, “The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for Military Members.”

USE STRONG KEYWORDS

As I have said in other posts about optimizing, try to use keywords that pertain to your niche or subject but without “keyword stuffing,” then this helps your firm to rank higher in searches. Keywords communicate to top search engines like Google what information is on your website, so you should be including keywords that reflect your firm and your mission in both your title and the blog post itself.

Twenty Over Ten client, C.L. Sheldon & Company is another firm that caters to active and retired military members. This is very clear in their blog titles as the three shown above all contain the word military.

KEEP IT SHORT AND SWEET

Your readers are in a hurry and many times they skim articles. A title that gets the point across quickly without being too wordy is your best bet. According to HubSpot, headlines between 8–12 words in length got the most Twitter shares on average. It should be long enough to clearly articulate what you’re covering in the blog, but short enough to not lose your readers’ interest.

ASK A QUESTION WITH YOUR TITLE

Questions are a great way to connect with a reader and get them to think about themselves. When leads see a question in a blog title, they’ll read the question and apply it to their own life. If they find the answer can benefit them, there’s a good chance they’ll give it a read.

Twenty Over Ten client, Sequoia Financial asks the question in this blog, “What is FIRE Retirement and Should You Consider It?” Many have probably not heard that term and posing this as a question makes the article seem more enticing so that readers want to find out more.

GET HELP FROM COLLEAGUES

It can be hard to think of something new, especially when you have thought about it for hours and hours. Getting a fresh pair of eyes on your work is a great way to get strong content. Brainstorming is a great part of having colleagues that get to work together. Even though you may be on different teams or projects when you come together, you can really create something strong.

Creating Strong Social Content

According to Social Media Today, there are approximately 3.04 billion people worldwide that use social media, with 77% of people in the United States having at least one platform, and 90% of social media users reach out to brands on their platforms! With those impressive numbers, how are you utilizing this to create a stronger marketing strategy for your advisory firm?

KEEP YOUR POSTS SHORT AND SWEET

You and your business have about 7 seconds to make a strong first impression, so make sure you’re only including important information that really wows. Many readers are in a hurry and may quickly be scrolling through, so resist the temptation to make your posts longer than necessary. Only include important information so that your readers can understand what you mean in your post and go from there.

INCLUDE STATISTICS

As mentioned in the point above, you do not have a lot of time to draw in an audience, so including statistics is a great way to get your point across and make someone more likely to click on your post. If you include a powerful statistic in a post, then it will probably resonate with your audience versus a post without any type of fact or statistic that they can relate to.

In the above tweet from Twenty Over Ten, as you can see, the statistic is included about how 40% of webinar attendees become qualified leads. This fact will make readers more likely to find out more and check out the tweet and webinar replay.

CREATE COMPELLING CONTENT

Make sure that you are creating content that is compelling to your audience. It is important to create a routine and schedule when it comes to your social posts, but that doesn’t mean just churn out tons of posts without any real value. As the old saying goes, “quality is better than quantity,” and that goes for social media posts, as well.

ASK QUESTIONS

Asking questions is one of the best ways to draw in your audience and help create more engagement. The questions should be a mix of both open-ended or close-ended questions, as some people want to provide a longer answer while others may just want to quickly answer in one to two words. When you include questions in your posts, it shows that you want to engage and care about what your readers think or you want to be able to provide them with answers or tools that will help them with their business.

Twenty Over Ten client, Beirne Wealth Consulting asks a question “Is a Recession Coming? Then how young investors can prepare. It’s a great way to entice readers to find out more or comment below if they have any insight.

POST ABOUT TRENDING TOPICS

Check out trending hashtags and make sure that you are keeping up with what’s going on in both the financial industry and outside of it. Post the latest trending news that you think your followers will enjoy, and post that. People want to know what is going on right now and are going to read relevant content versus something that they have on interest in. You can see what other financial advisors are posting about or you can simply search in Google and you are bound to find trending content that you can weigh in on.

Twenty Over Ten client, Practical Financial Planning describes what is happening with the Schwab/TD Merger in a Facebook post. It was a hot topic in the financial industry, and they were able to answer any questions that people had about it in a simple post.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT EMOJIS

Did you know that 92% of online consumers use emojis? They aren’t only for texting your friends anymore, but they are a great way to get people more engaged with your posts, it’s eye-catching and when you are trying to use fewer words, emojis can do the trick.

Using emojis on Facebook resulted in:

• 57% more Likes
• 33% more Comments
• 33% more Shares

Statistics show that using emojis on Twitter resulted in 25.4% more engagement.

Incorporating something so simple is a great way to boost engagement and show your lighter side of business. They help to drive engagement on all variety of digital media which includes email, mobile and social.

Twenty Over Ten’s Facebook post with “10 Holiday Gift Ideas to Send Your Clients“, includes a gift emoji to get in the holiday spirit, and it adds a fun side to the post. It’s also a “fun” blog, and you get that feel by seeing the social post.

DESCRIBE THE BENEFITS

People are going to be more interested in something when they can benefit from it versus not getting anything out of it. If you can motivate your visitors and entice them to learn more from your post, then that’s great. Make it clear that if your visitors click on their post, then they will get something out of it. This can be anything from a whitepaper, eBook, Guidebook, a useful Infographic, video, etc. Additionally, highlight that it is free as that is something that is very appealing to an audience.

Does Your Marketing Strategy Have What It Takes?

It's been said time and time again, and that is that a good marketing strategy takes work. It isn’t something static that you create once and then forget about. There are many moving pieces that need to be constantly updated and tended to, and that includes a strong social media plan and creating awesome content for your website. Check your analytics and see how different aspects of your site are performing, so you know what you need to tweak and what is already working for you.