Social Media Content Examples that Work

I just wrapped up a brainstorm of link magnet content ideas and recommendations for a client. Along the way I found some interesting examples to point to, and I figured that’s the stuff I can share with everybody, so why not?

First let’s take a lesson from the king of viral content himself, Matthew “The Oatmeal” Inman. Matt and his work were featured on Last Call with Carson Daly last night and his lessons are gold:

Matt says: “A lot of things have changed so that if you want to be a single person getting a lot of exposure it’s pretty easy. If this were 20 years ago and I was an artist in my basement, the chances of being syndicated by someone and actually being successful would be really, really slim. So that’s what’s cool about the Internet right now. One man can get on there and make this massive wave across the Internet which you couldn’t do before, especially in the comic industry or in the publishing industry.”

Can you feel the power?

Next, here’s an example of a specific type of social content that can be used to generate awareness, publicity and even links. Being an advocate for the community’s best interests is the tack that New York State Senator Eric Adams takes in his video Stop the Sag. Politicians aren’t the only ones who can take a stand while engaging a community and encouraging fruitful conversations.

And finally, Internet marketing celebrity Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Schoemaker introduces a new service with a smile: the ShoeMoney modeling agency. Shoe is parlaying his popularity into more popularity by offering a highly sought asset and donating all proceeds to charity. Giving to charity is a noble way to get attention, but if a business can’t afford to do that, an entertaining video product launch is still an avenue worth exploring.

Oh, and if you’re looking for link magnet recommendations straight from the horse’s mouth, check out Matt Cutts talking about effective content types for building links on the GoogleWebmasterHelp YouTube channel.

Virginia Nussey is the director of content marketing at MobileMonkey. Prior to joining this startup in 2018, Virginia was the operations and content manager at Bruce Clay Inc., having joined the company in 2008 as a writer and blogger.

See Virginia's author page for links to connect on social media.