Most marketers are at least familiar with the mind-blowing stats regarding the current data explosion. With a staggering 2+ million blog posts published every day across the globe, to say that competition for audiences is fierce is somewhat of an understatement.
It’s the truth, though. Competition is fierce.
The marketers who succeed will be the ones who know what types of content perform best, when and where social engagement peaks, and who the most influential content contributors are in their industry. Armed with this information, they can create content that gets read, shared, and as a result, brings in new leads.
But what are the current content trends? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little data-backed help in getting your content seen and shared by the people you’re trying to reach? We did the homework for you.
We Analyzed 630,000+ Posts
Using software we developed, we analyzed 630,000+ posts among popular publishers to find where, when, and what people shared most across 14 industries. We identified:
- The best day of the week to post
- The best social channel to engage with
- Which types of posts get shared the most
The industries we looked at are: Business, Finance, Tech, Home & Garden, Real Estate, Parenting, Career, Education & Nonprofit, Beauty & Health, Travel, Style & Fashion, Design, Arts & Entertainment, Food & Drink.
To collect the data, we subscribed to feeds of top publishers and indexed new content as it was published. ClearVoice data scientists used proprietary algorithms to detect and extract the article body, title, and social sharing information for the article pages.
In analyzing the multitude of posts, our team discovered a significant variance in the types of content. For example, there were articles, videos, infographics and many combinations thereof. To accurately identify and track content in our analysis, we created and applied the following content type definitions:
Our Findings on Social Sharing
Although we encourage you to click through the SlideShare presentation of our findings above — there are some seriously pretty charts — you can glance through the highlights below.
Business
- We analyzed 115,321 posts.
- LinkedIn was the clear winner for social channel.
- Fridays had the most social shares for channels.
- The two most shared content types were infographic-listicle combos and long-form how-to articles.
- Posts included those from Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, VentureBeat and other industry leaders.
Finance
- We analyzed 133,589 posts.
- Facebook was the clear winner for social channel.
- We found no drastic difference in performance on any particular day, although Sunday performed best by a small margin.
- The two most shared content types were articles with an infographic and how-to listicle articles.
- Posts included those from Fortune, CNN Money, Bloomberg, Market Watch, Financial Times and other industry leaders.
Tech
- We analyzed 69,311 posts.
- Facebook was the clear winner for social channel.
- Mondays performed best, while Sundays had the least engagement.
- The two most shared content types were how-to articles with infographics and listicles with infographics.
- Posts included those from Wired, TechCrunch, Mashable, Gizmodo, Lifehacker and other industry leaders.
Home & Garden
- We analyzed 5,379 posts.
- Pinterest dominated as the primary social channel.
- There were dramatic spikes in engagement on Tuesdays and Sundays.
- The two most shared content types were long-form listicle articles and regular long-form articles.
- Posts included those from Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple, Architectural Digest, Good Housekeeping and other industry leaders.
Real Estate
- We analyzed 15,583 posts.
- Facebook accounted for slightly more than half of the social channel share.
- Engagement was pretty even across the week, but Saturdays saw a steep drop-off.
- The two most shared content types were listicle articles with video and infographic-listicle combos.
- Posts included those from The Real Deal, Realty Times, Brick Underground, Curbed.com, Zillow, Realtor Magazine and other industry leaders.
Parenting
- We analyzed 33,684 posts.
- Pinterest received the most engagement, with Facebook not far behind.
- Sunday received the most engagement, and Monday the least by a substantial margin.
- The two most shared content types were articles with infographics and listicles.
- Posts included those from Working Mother, Thrifty Nifty Mommy, Positive Parenting Solutions, Babble, Cup of Jo, Mom Junction and other parenting publications.
Career
- We analyzed 25,970 posts.
- Facebook was the clear winner for social channel.
- Mondays received the most engagement, with engagement gradually declining each following day in the week.
- The two most shared content types were long-form listicles and long-form articles.
- Posts included those from Indeed, Monster, Business Know How, The Ladders, 80,000 Hours, Simply Hired and other industry leaders.
Education & Nonprofit
- We analyzed 11,572 posts.
- Facebook dominated as the leading social channel.
- Weekend days received much higher engagement than weekdays.
- The two most shared content types were listicle articles with infographics and long-form how-to articles with video.
- Posts included those from Open Culture, TED, Knight Foundation, Edudemic, The Nonprofit Times, Nonprofit Quarterly and other publications for nonprofits and institutions.
Beauty & Health
- We analyzed 39,648 posts.
- Pinterest was the clear winner for social channel.
- Weekend days received significantly higher engagement than weekdays.
- The two most shared content types were long-form how-to articles and long-form how-to articles with videos.
- Posts included those from Self, Living Pretty Naturally, The Organic Beauty Blog, Wellness Mama, Alive, Health and other leaders in the industry.
Travel
- We analyzed 7,810 posts.
- Facebook dominated as the leading social channel.
- Social engagement was roughly the same regardless of the day of week.
- The two most shared content types were long-form articles and listicles.
- Posts included those from Travel and Leisure, National Geographic, Outside, Expedia, Kayak and other leaders in the industry.
Style & Fashion
- We analyzed 43,548 posts.
- Facebook and Pinterest shared about a 60/40 split respectively in social shares.
- There was no drastic difference in social engagement for any given day of the week.
- The two most shared content types were articles with infographics and long-form listicle articles.
- Posts included those from Fashionista, Hellogiggles, Vogue, The Blonde Salad, Glam Meets Glam, Fashion Toast and other leaders in the industry.
Design
- We analyzed 9,470 posts.
- Pinterest dominated as the leading social channel.
- Tuesdays led in engagement, with Saturdays slightly lagging behind all other days.
- The two most shared content types were listicles with infographics and long-form articles with infographics.
- Posts included those from Fresh Home, Design Milk, Design Love Fest, Canva Design School, Wallpaper, The Design Blog, Graphic Design USA and other leaders in the industry.
Arts & Entertainment
- We analyzed 118,934 posts.
- Facebook was the clear winner for social channel, but Pinterest still had a substantial share of the pie.
- Saturdays, and weekends in general, led in engagement.
- The two most shared content types were how-to listicles and listicles.
- Posts included those from BuzzFeed, People, Variety, Entertainment Weekly and other leaders in the industry.
Food & Drink
- We analyzed 4,144 posts.
- Pinterest clearly dominated as the top social channel.
- Sunday also dominated as the top day for sharing, accounting for nearly half of all engagement.
- The two most shared content types were how-to articles and listicle articles.
- Posts included those from The Wannabe Chef, Food and Beverage Magazine, Serious Eats, Damn Delicious, Minimalist Baker, Smitten Kitchen and other publications in the industry.
