Zero-click marketing is coming for your content

What is zero-click marketing? It refers to the way social and search channels prioritize content that keeps users on a platform. Read more about it here.

Social media marketing is a vital part of most businesses’ marketing strategies. But most businesses are using outdated techniques that are increasingly unlikely to bring the results they expect. Why? Because their tactics are in direct opposition to the preferences of social channels’ algorithms.

Here, we’ll dive into what’s happening within social and search that demands a massive overhaul to your social media marketing efforts, how it impacts you, and how you can tailor your content to work with these changes.

What is zero-click marketing?

Zero-click marketing refers to the way social and search channels prioritize content that keeps users on a platform. Don’t get it yet? Picture this: it’s 2012 and you’re promoting your business on Facebook. The bad news is that you have approximately no idea what you’re doing—but the good news? Neither does Facebook. You can post a link to your website and see an impressive click-through rate. Unfortunately, Facebook and others will grow to resent this. 

You see, the business models of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Google, and many more depend on advertisers. Thus, these businesses are incentivized to keep users on the platform as long as possible. And if organic content is taking users off the platform, that’s not really good for their business. So they adapt.

In the years since 2012, search and social algorithms and landscapes have undergone broad changes to keep users on the platform for longer periods of time. Autoplay videos, infinite scrolling, and subtle UX enhancements are part of these efforts. Likewise, outbound links (like ones pointing to your website) are buried. 

What are some other ways the zero-click environment manifests?

• LinkedIn and Twitter posts with links mysteriously get less traffic
• Shopping on Instagram and Facebook happens within the app
• Google search results are populated with featured snippets, shopping carousels, People Also Ask sections, maps, and reviews.

So what does this mean for you? It means your social content can’t just redirect users to your site. It needs to add value and engage users on each platform.

Why does zero-click marketing matter?

Gone are the days of users clicking through to your site from organic content on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other platform. It’s rough, but for businesses whose referral traffic from social has been languishing for years, embracing zero-click marketing could actually bring great results like:

• Increased engagement
• Greater reach
• Increased brand-awareness

Here’s a secret that most marketers won’t admit: losing site traffic from social referrals probably doesn’t matter. Why? Because if users are coming to your site just to check out a blog before bouncing, it’s not helpful. If anything, it’s just muddling your metrics.

Blog content, broadly speaking, is a top-of-funnel tactic, and if your content is able to engage users on social media, it will have a similar impact. What matters most is the actions they take after engaging with your content. If your content is good enough, readers will take action regardless of where they find it, so what’s most important is getting that content in front of them. 

How to build zero-click content

Here’s the good news about zero-click content: It’s easy to lean into, and it works easily within an existing content flywheel. Because we’re talking about blog content here, let’s look at how you can turn a blog into various posts for different social channels.

Zero-click content for LinkedIn

You’ve got a blog. Now, let’s break it into the main points. Format it like this:

1. Header
2. 1-2 sentences adding context and clarity
3. Repeat this as many times as necessary to sufficiently summarize your blog
4. End by encouraging sharing, email sign ups, or website visits

Turn this into a carousel with your branding and let it rip.

Zero-click content for Twitter

Twitter and Threads are similarly ripe for zero-click content. Break your blog into appropriately-sized chunks and turn them into a thread. Keep in mind that you don’t need to max out the character count on each post. Remember, your threads, like your blog content, should be skimmable.

Zero-click content for search

Nothing illustrates zero-click marketing like search results. Well over 50% of searches end without a searcher visiting a site other than Google. They get their answers from knowledge panels, People Also Ask (PAA) dropdowns, featured snippets, and more. So what can you do?

Again, it comes down to engaging and providing value. If users are looking for an answer, give it to them. When building content, assess PAA questions, the existing snippet, and the Google-generated meta descriptions. Take all these elements into consideration as you research and outline your content.

While there’s a significant chance that showing up in these places won’t get you a click, you’d rather be in a priority position like the featured snippet than anywhere else. Featured snippets account for over a third of all clicks that do occur, so optimizing for them is vital.

In a nutshell…

You should be adding value to a user’s experience on any given platform, and links don’t do that. What does is leveraging your existing content on each platform to stand out above the noise. Done properly, zero-click marketing can not only generate traffic and engagement, but the right kind of traffic and engagement.