{"id":8651,"date":"2017-07-13T11:57:41","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T10:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/?p=8651"},"modified":"2022-04-25T08:44:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T12:44:36","slug":"write-engaging-b2b-headlines-analysis-10-million-articles-shared-linkedin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/blog\/write-engaging-b2b-headlines-analysis-10-million-articles-shared-linkedin\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Write Engaging B2B Headlines: 10 Mil LinkedIn Article Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If you use a poor headline, it does not matter how hard you labor over your copy because your copy will not be read.&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/adage.com\/article\/adage-encyclopedia\/caples-john-1900-1990\/98561\/\">John Caples<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A good\u00a0headline is one that resonates with <strong>your<\/strong> <strong>audience<\/strong> not one that resonates with someone else&#8217;s audience. This is why copying a viral headline format that worked on\u00a0BuzzFeed or\u00a0Facebook\u00a0is a bad idea, particularly if you write for a B2B audience.<\/p>\n<p>Our latest research reveals the headlines\u00a0that resonate with B2B audiences\u00a0including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#startphrases\">The top phrases that start B2B headlines<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#allphrases\">The most engaging phrases in B2B headlines<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#numbers\">The most shared numbers in business headlines<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#topwords\">The top words and topics that resonate with B2B audiences<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#length&gt;\">The optimum length of B2B headlines<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#lessons\">Key lessons for business\u00a0content writers<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The research is based on an analysis of 10 million articles shared on LinkedIn. See our methodology note at the end of this post.<\/p>\n<h3><a name=\"startphrases\"><\/a>The Top Two-Word Phrases That Start B2B Headlines<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The\u00a0two word phrases starting\u00a0headlines that\u00a0gained the most LinkedIn shares on average were as follows\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(x represents a number).<\/span><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8660\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-Two-Word-Phrases-Starting-B2B-Headlines.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Two-Word-Phrases-Starting-B2B-Headlines\" width=\"1100\" height=\"1319\" \/><\/p>\n<p>These\u00a0two word phrases immediately reveal some of the most common content formats and their relative effectiveness. In\u00a0the results we can identify \u2018how to\u2019 posts, list posts, &#8216;what&#8217; and &#8216;why&#8217; posts and their relative average shares.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can see that the highest performing\u00a0two word phrase that started a headline was \u2018how to\u2019. This\u00a0gained almost three times as many shares on average as the next highest performing phrase. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next four most shared phrases\u00a0were all forms of list posts. These gained more than double the average shares of &#8216;what&#8217; or &#8216;why&#8217; posts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We can also see a number of well-shared posts that begin with &#8216;The&#8217; such as &#8216;the best&#8217;, &#8216;the new&#8217; and &#8216;the future&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We decided to look a little deeper and\u00a0extended our analysis to look at the top three-word phrases that start headlines. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Top Three-Word Phrases That Start B2B Headlines<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data was as follows (x represents a number).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8657\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-Phrases-Starting-B2B-Headlines.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Phrases-Starting-B2B-Headlines\" width=\"1100\" height=\"1319\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results\u00a0reinforce the dominance of \u2018how to\u2019 posts and list posts as content formats. We start to see in more detail how these formats are used in a business context. For example, the way list posts are used\u00a0through phrases such as &#8216;x ways to&#8217;, &#8216;x things you&#8217;, &#8216;x tips to&#8217; and &#8216;x steps to&#8217;. These appear to be more practical and informative than the way list posts are often used in a B2C context such as &#8216;x stunning pictures&#8217;.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dominance of &#8216;how to&#8217; and list posts\u00a0was\u00a0no surprise:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0I see this pattern with many B2B sites. For example, the most shared posts of Social Media Examiner and our own BuzzSumo blog are equally dominated by list posts and \u2018how to\u2019 posts. See the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.buzzsumo.com\/research\/most-shared?num_days=365&amp;result_type=total&amp;q=socialmediaexaminer.com&amp;general_article&amp;infographic&amp;interview&amp;video&amp;guest_post&amp;giveaway&amp;page=1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">most shared posts on Social Media Examiner in the last year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The findings also identify other well-shared phrases that start business headlines such as \u2018the future of\u2019, \u2018why you should\u2019 and \u2018the power of\u2019. We will explore these in more detail below.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>The Most Engaging Single Words That Start Business Headlines<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we look at\u00a0the top single words that start headlines, we see another pattern emerge around celebrity or in-vogue business brands. The most shared single words that start headlines were as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8661\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-Words-Starting-B2B-Headlines.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Words-Starting-B2B-Headlines\" width=\"1100\" height=\"1064\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headlines starting with &#8216;The&#8217; were the most shared on LinkedIn. This could be effect of using the definite article (&#8216;The&#8217;) to reinforce the unequalled value of the content according to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Robert_Ashton\">Rob Ashton<\/a>\u00a0of <a href=\"http:\/\/hubs.ly\/H084SKb0\">Emphasis<\/a>. For instance, a headline such as &#8216;Ten mistakes you never want to make&#8230;&#8217; can be made more authoritative simply by changing the headline to &#8216;The ten mistakes\u00a0you never want to make&#8217;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This data continues to\u00a0reinforce the engagement power of \u2018how\u2019 posts which received 2,443 LinkedIn shares on average. This is over a thousand more than \u2018why\u2019 posts at 1,432 shares.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Interestingly,\u00a0when we look further down at the words that start headlines, we see a pattern of\u00a0celebrity brand content such as Google, Apple, Uber, Facebook. Tesla and Amazon. Many of these companies are so large that they dominate and shape the business environment, others are at the forefront of innovation in technology and business models. Hence, it is no surprise that people are interested in developments at these companies. It appears that simply choosing to write an article about these companies can generate higher levels of engagement. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2017-04-10\/tesla-passes-gm-as-musk-s-carmaker-becomes-america-s-top-valued\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tesla Just Passed GM to Become America\u2019s Most Valuable Carmaker<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/amazon-eating-whole-foods-nothingentire-industries-become-wadhwa\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon eating Whole Foods is nothing\u2014entire industries are about to become toast<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/new-money\/2017\/1\/9\/14194202\/uber-lost-22-billion-9-months\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uber lost $2.8 billion in 2016. Will it ever become profitable?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also no surprise to find Trump high in the list given the impact of his decisions and policies on the business environment. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/foreign-entrepreneur-visas-under-trump-will-change-2455273986.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump plans to halt entrepreneur visas next week<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><a name=\"numbers\"><\/a>The Most Engaging Numbers That Start B2B Headlines<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">List posts were one of the most shared post formats, as we noted above. We therefore had a look at the most shared numbers that start business headlines which were as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8655\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-Numbers-Starting-B2B-Headlines.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Numbers-Starting-B2B-Headlines\" width=\"1100\" height=\"671\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall numbers in headlines appear to perform just as strongly for B2B content as they do for consumer content. However, our findings\u00a0contradict previous research reported on <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/list-posts-facts\">Hubspot\u00a0<\/a>that people prefer numbered list headlines over any other type of headline. In a B2B context on LinkedIn it seems &#8216;how to&#8217; posts outperform numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike in B2C where the number 10 outperforms all other numbers by a wide margin, on LinkedIn it appears that the numbers 5 and 10 perform equally well in a business context. Here are examples that had over 5,000 LinkedIn shares.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/5-ways-become-better-leader-dr-marshall-goldsmith\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 Ways to Become a Better Leader<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/5-things-great-brands-doing-differently-social-media-2017-daykin\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 Things Great Brands Are Doing Differently on Social Media in 2017<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/jim_hemerling_5_ways_to_lead_in_an_era_of_constant_change\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 ways to lead in an era of constant change<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/first-5-things-you-need-do-new-vp-sales-startup-brendon-cassidy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The First 5 Things You Need to do as the New VP of Sales<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The good news for content writers is that you do not need to be focused on large list content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The wide appeal of list headlines may be a combination of the clear promise e.g. 10 steps, 10 images etc., and the scannable nature of a list post, where you can quickly skim the headings to decide what you need to read.<\/p>\n<h3>The Top Phrases That End B2B Headlines<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also looked at the most shared phrases on LinkedIn that end B2B headlines. However, we found that the phrases that end headlines had a far more limited impact on average shares, as we can see from the table below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8656\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-Phrases-Ending-B2B-Headlines.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Phrases-Ending-B2B-Headlines\" width=\"1100\" height=\"1319\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus it would appear that the common phrases that start headlines are much more significant than those that end headlines. Next we look at the most engaging phrases overall in headlines.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><a name=\"allphrases\"><\/a>Most Engaging B2B Headline Phrases<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top phrases that gained the most LinkedIn shares on average, regardless of where they appeared in the headline, were as follows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8654\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-B2B-Headline-Phrases.jpg\" alt=\"Top-B2B-Headline-Phrases\" width=\"1100\" height=\"1319\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Note: In our analysis above we\u00a0only included\u00a0three-word phrases that were used on at least 100 unique domains. Thus there will be phrases with higher average shares but these will\u00a0not be commonly used.<\/p>\n<p>Industry trends such as \u2018the future of\u2019 and industry league tables such as top companies of the world, year, etc., perform strongly. These headlines provoke curiosity about industry developments and high performing companies or individuals. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2016\/11\/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Best-Performing CEOs in the World<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2016\/10\/26\/best-global-companies\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 25 Best Global Companies to Work For<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phrases such as \u2018these are\u2019 work in a similar way to provoke curiosity, for example:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2017\/04\/17\/fastest-ways-to-get-promoted.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the 2 fastest ways to get promoted<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2016\/10\/these-are-the-world-s-top-ranked-business-schools-according-to-the-economist\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the world\u2019s top-ranked business schools<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interestingly phrases like \u2018the future of\u2019 gained significantly more shares when they didn\u2019t start headlines. The phrase gained an average of 142 shares when used at the start of a headline but an average of 402 shares when used in the middle of a headline such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/why-3d-maps-future-autonomous-driving-dieter-zetsche\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why 3D maps are the future of autonomous driving<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This may be its power as a linking phrase that emphasises both the start and end of the headline. This would fit with our finding for Facebook headlines where the phrase \u201cwill make you\u2019 was the top performing phrase. Again it is a linking phrase which links two things together and emphasises both the beginning and the end of the headline. It may also be that adding &#8216;how&#8217; or &#8216;why&#8217; in front of the phrase provides more context and imparts more advice and insight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headlines that provoke urgency or fear of missing out appear to do well in terms of LinkedIn shares, such as why you need to do something or things you should do or things you need to know. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/3066116\/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything\/the-only-three-networking-emails-you-need-to-know-how-to-w\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Only Three Networking Emails You Need To Know How To Write<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/4-influencer-marketing-facts-you-need-know-maximillian-matthews\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4 Influencer Marketing Facts You Need to Know<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/5-questions-you-should-never-ask-interview-avtar-ram-singh\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 Questions You Should Never Ask in an Interview<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/5-google-hidden-gems-you-should-aware-ashok-gairola\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 Google Hidden Gems &#8211; You Should be aware of<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to posts perform very well as we previously identified. They create engagement as most people want to know how to improve their performance whether this is individually, as a team or as a company. What is interesting is the wide range of words that are combined with \u2018how to\u2019. There are hundreds of examples of words used with \u2018how to\u2019 that gained high levels of shares including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to import<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to stop<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to identify<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to succeed<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to manage<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to prevent<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to unlock<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to protect<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Comparison of Top Facebook and LinkedIn Phrases<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a reminder of how different the top B2B phrases are from the <a href=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/blog\/most-shared-headlines-study\/\">most shared headline phrases on Facebook<\/a>, here is a comparison.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8662\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/FB-v-linkedin-top-phrases.jpg\" alt=\"FB-v-linkedin-top-phrases\" width=\"614\" height=\"808\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What is immediately apparent is the emotional appeal of the top Facebook phrases compared to the top B2B phrases. The top business phrases are more focused on practicality and industry insights as we might expect.<\/p>\n<h3>Best Performing Two Word Phrases and Topics<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we analyzed the top two-word phrases we began to identify popular business topics. For example big data, Elon Musk, artificial intelligence, content marketing, silicon valley and machine learning. See the top two-word phrases below. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8659\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-Two-Word-Phrases-in-B2B-Headlines.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Two-Word-Phrases-in-B2B-Headlines\" width=\"1100\" height=\"1319\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to note that many of these two word phrases are components of the popular three word phrases we have already identified, such as \u2018the future\u2019 and \u2018future of\u2019 and \u2018x ways\u2019 and \u2018ways to\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data shows why it is important to track trending and in-vogue topics. They often become the topics everyone is talking about and this helps generate additional engagement. Current examples include big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and content marketing. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><a name=\"topwords\"><\/a>Best Performing Single Words in B2B Headlines<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below are the single words that received the most LinkedIn shares on average, which did not start or end headlines. Again it is important to note that some of these words are part of popular two or three word phrases such as data and \u2018big data\u2019, future and \u2018the future of\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8658\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Top-Single-Words-in-Headlines-Topic-Agnostic.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Single-Words-in-Headlines-Topic-Agnostic\" width=\"1100\" height=\"1319\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From this analysis we can see a clear pattern around the types of words or groups of words that engage the LinkedIn audience. Words such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Top, best, successful, smart<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Million, billion<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global, world<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Change, better, build, growth<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advice, habits, tips, help<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strategy, future, ideas<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Risk, need<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By contrast the emotional phrases and tribal phrases that perform well on Facebook do not appear to resonate with B2B audiences, or at least they do not appear in the most shared headlines we analyzed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These words not only relate closely to business topics as we would expect but to being successful and improving your performance. These are not dissimilar to the words you might expect to see on business books in an airport bookshop. They are primarily aspirational words. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><a name=\"length\"><\/a>Optimum B2B Headline Length<\/h3>\n<p>Our previous headline research found that headlines with 15 or more words received higher Facebook engagement on average. However, we found that the optimum number of words for generating LinkedIn engagement is much lower at 7 to 12 words. See the chart below.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8668\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/linkedin-words.jpg\" alt=\"linkedin-words\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We have set out below two charts showing a comparison of the average number of Facebook and LinkedIn shares for different headline word lengths and character lengths. LinkedIn shares are in red and Facebook in blue.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8670\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fb-linkedin-words.jpg\" alt=\"fb-linkedin-words\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8669\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fb-linkedin-chars.jpg\" alt=\"fb-linkedin-chars\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The impact of headline content length on shares appears\u00a0less significant on LinkedIn\u00a0than on Facebook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This data suggests a number of things:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facebook engagement is more sensitive to the length of headline<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shorter headlines work better in a B2B context<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><a name=\"lessons\"><\/a>Lessons For Content Marketers:\u00a0Why That B2C Headline Is Killing Your B2B Content<\/h3>\n<p>The\u00a0principles that underpin\u00a0an\u00a0engaging B2B\u00a0headline include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Making it clear why the reader should care about your content<\/li>\n<li>Having a clear headline promise, what is the return on investment of them spending time with your content, what is the benefit to them individually, as a team or as a business<\/li>\n<li>Providing practical content that the reader can apply, based on the high engagement of posts on tips, advice and habits.<\/li>\n<li>Provoking curiosity particularly around industry trends and developments based on research or league tables<\/li>\n<li>Referring to big brands such as Amazon, Google and Apple if they&#8217;re relevant to the article you&#8217;re writing<\/li>\n<li>Providing explanations, &#8216;why&#8217; posts are a common way to provide explanations and to\u00a0answer to questions people are asking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of these principles are similar to those that underpin an engaging B2C headline, but our research suggests that context is critical.\u00a0<\/span>Your perfect headline is one that is specifically tailored to your context, audience and circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>Writing an engaging B2B headline is not about copying or reusing words and phrases that have previously resonated with an audience, particularly a B2C audience.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a B2B context you will want to consider:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The way \u2018how to\u2019 and practical posts engage an audience that want to improve what they do at work<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How certain topics are in vogue and generate high engagement, for example big data<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The interest in industry developments and trends<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That emotional phrases which are very powerful on Facebook work far less well in a B2B context<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly the tribal content that works well on Facebook appears to work less well in a B2B context<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The way celebrity brands appear to generate ongoing interest and engagement <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The groups of words that engage business audiences such as smart, successful, best and top. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aspirational phrases and headlines that resonate with LinkedIn audiences<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The power of list posts beginning with both 5 and 10, particularly list posts that help people<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The use of\u00a0linking phrases that bring together two topics or concepts, for example \u2018Why artificial intelligence is the future of customer experience\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The use of shorter headlines with between 7 to 12 words<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We discussed the implications of the research for B2B marketers with experts Michael Brenner and Lee Odden. Their reflections were as follows.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrennerMichael\"><strong>Michael Brenner<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are no real surprises here. But still it&#8217;s fascinating to see it in the data. Business people want to learn. Whereas consumer content needs to create more surprise and emotion. Business people have less patience for longer headlines, and want to stay on top of industry trends.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/leeodden\"><strong>Lee Odden<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you\u2019re in business, then your business needs to be effective on LinkedIn. This study provides essential insights into one of the most important triggers for attention amongst business people on the social web: headlines. People don\u2019t read, they skim content online and that means B2B marketers need to optimize for attention wherever they can. In fact, B2B brands are competing with 63GB of media presented to each person in the US on a daily basis. Optimizing headlines is an important part of being relevant where and when it matters most.<\/p>\n<p>B2B marketers can use\u00a0these research insights and takeaways to help guide the parts of your social media and content marketing mix that make sense. Should you create more \u2018how to\u2019 content? How about lists posts? It is up to you to use the data and insight for content performance optimization.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>LinkedIn Webinar<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>if you want to find out more about using LinkedIn effectively, join us next week for a webinar with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LinkedInExpert\">Viveka Von Rosen<\/a>, LinkedIn expert and author.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/register.gotowebinar.com\/register\/2137038670447521027\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8707\" src=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/viveka-linkedin.jpg\" alt=\"viveka-linkedin-webinar\" width=\"750\" height=\"359\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Methodology Note: Identifying and Sampling Content That Resonates With Business Audiences<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Our research analyzed the headlines of articles that resonated on LinkedIn. We specifically analyzed the headline phrases, words, numbers, structures and formats that gained the most LinkedIn shares. Our research is based on the assumption that the more LinkedIn shares an article receives, the more it resonates with a business audience or in a business context.<\/p>\n<p>LinkedIn is a professional work network so it seems reasonable to assume that the majority of content shared on the network will be relevant to a business audience or at least to an audience interested in work based content whether it is career advice or industry news and trends.\u00a0This approach allowed us to use LinkedIn as a proxy for a B2B audience.<\/p>\n<p>We started with the same sample of over 100 million posts, published between March and May 2017, that we used for our <a href=\"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/blog\/most-shared-headlines-study\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">previous headline research<\/a>. \u00a0From this sample we analyzed the top 1,000 phrases, words, formats and numbers that were the most shared on LinkedIn. We then calculated the average shares for each phrase, word or number ensuring that there were a minimum of 100 unique domains in each sample.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We thought initially that we could simply take the 10 million posts from this sample that had the most LinkedIn shares and use this as a test sample. However, only 7 million articles had at least one LinkedIn share. Thus 93% of the 100 million posts in our original sample were not business content or at least didn\u2019t resonate enough in a business context for people to share it on LinkedIn. Therefore whilst we looked at 100 million posts overall, only 7 million had LinkedIn shares.\u00a0This meant we needed a larger sample, so we looked at all articles published between January and May 2017 that had at least 1 LinkedIn share. This gave us a sample of over 10 million articles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To analyze the average shares of different length headlines (words and characters) we decided to only include headline lengths where we had at least 30,000 articles and where every article had at least 1 LinkedIn share. Our broad assumption was that a post has to be shared at least once on LinkedIn to be of interest to a business audience, if an article received no LinkedIn shares, we didn\u2019t include it in our sample. \u00a0The final sample sizes for each headline length varied, for example, there were 495,000 posts with 9 words in the headline but only 34,000 posts in our with 19 words in the headline. For articles shared on LinkedIn, headline lengths of between 8 and 11 were the most commonly published in the period we analysed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>As you would expect as you increased the length of phrases analysed the number of headlines in each sample reduced. The samples for three-word phrases were the lowest, typically 700 to 800 articles. We excluded any three-word headline phrases\u00a0where we had less than 500 articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If you use a poor headline, it does not matter how hard you labor over your copy because your copy will not be read.&#8221; John Caples A good\u00a0headline is one that resonates with your audience not one that resonates with someone else&#8217;s audience. This is why copying a viral headline format that worked on\u00a0BuzzFeed or\u00a0Facebook\u00a0is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":8682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzsumo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}