The Struggles of Creating Viral Content

Trying to make your content go viral can be a challenge when thousands of people just like you are trying to do the same. Your headline, picture, title, and excerpt all help or harm you as to how many people will click and share your post.

In order to find the perfect headline, I took advice from Upworthy and wrote 25 headlines to test the best ones. Here is my list of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

1. 8 ways to not hate your freshman year of college
2. How to survive your freshman year of college
3. Nervous for your first year of college? Here are 8 tips to make it the best first year ever.
4. How to survive your freshman year of college
5. How to not make your freshman year of college suck
6. 8 college tips I learned my freshman year
7. What to expect during your freshman year of college
8. 8 things I wish I knew my freshman year of college
9. Coping with your first year of college
10. Freshman year survival tips
11. How to make the most out of your freshman year of college
12. Heading off to college? Here are 8 tips for your first year
13. Student advice on your freshman year
14. Guidance for your first year in college
15. Preparing for college: 8 tips to get you through the school year
16. 8 things NO ONE tells you about your freshman year of college
17. How to fix your freshman year
18. What I learned during my freshman year of college
19. 8 things I wish I knew before my freshman year of college
20. How to thrive during your freshman year of college
21. My freshman year reflection
22. Freshman year survival guide: 8 tips for college
23. Fearful about your freshman year of college? 8 tips
24. 8 tips to make a memorable freshman year
25. 8 lessons I learned my freshman year of college

While the process of writing 25 headlines was long and tedious, finding a few solid headlines was a rewarding feeling. The three headlines I tweeted out were all towards the end of my thinking process.

After spamming my followers, I assumed that each tweet would receive the same amounts of clicks and shares. Long story short; I was wrong.

While one tweet was seen almost double the amount of my other two tweets, the, “8 things NO ONE tells you about for your freshman year of college” headline received a much higher engagement rate than the other two.

Writing 25 headlines was very difficult. I had to get up and walk away when brainstorming at least three times. When I wrote the most successful headline, I was channeling my inner BuzzFeed reporter. Though this writing exercise was challenging, finding the perfect header was worth it.