The trend of “zero click content” or “no click content” has arisen on social media lately. It’s one of those methods that content creators have to use to get around algorithms really, really not wanting you to link out to other places on their platforms. In this post, I’ll break down how this trend works with the PAGER method for social media, and give step by step instructions to create it for your own accounts (or your clients’ accounts.) By using no click content your message can reach more of your followers.

Platforms Don't Like Links

Wait, isn’t Articles Content for the PAGER method all about links?

How to Create No Click Content

Frankly, social media platforms have always preferred that you post content that doesn’t take people away. For years posts that have links in them just don’t get in front of as many people as posts that don’t have links.

In the Digital 2023 October Global Statshot, Facebook posts with links in the them account for 49.2% of posts from company pages. The trouble is, if your page has 10,000 fans, only about 3 of them are actually going to interact with that post.

In fairness, it may be that algorithms don’t like links in posts just as much as users don’t. There could very well be a shift in our behavior that we’re just not clicking on those links even if we do see them. Links are less prominent on TikTok and users are spending more time there nowadays, which is then affecting how those same users interact with different platforms.

Overall, it’s not a great time for links on organic social media.

There is an idea that it’s even worse for link posters. According to Joe Pulizzi on a recent episode of the This Old Marketing podcast, “More than ever today if you link to something on social today that takes you off the platform, they hammer you.”

Many marketers have been saying this for years - and you just saw data to support it. The difference is, though, that in the past that individual post would get buried and wouldn’t be shown to as many people. Pulizzi posits - albeit anecdotally - that it’s not just the post whose reach gets throttled - it’s the entire account. “So the idea is that if you’re going to be successful with social media you can’t link out to anything.” Pulizzi says.

Robert Rose, the Chief Strategy Advisor of Content Marketing Institute says, “There’s no doubt about this. The data just show this.”

If you are familiar with the PAGER method, then you know that the A of PAGER stands for Articles. This entire category of content is meant for you to take articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and other forms of long form content and distribute them on social media. Traditionally, this includes adding a link to the post so that you can drive traffic from social to those pieces of content.

But as we just learned, that may not be your best option right now.

The beauty of the PAGER method is that the strategy works even as tactics change. So even thought right now you can’t post links to your podcast episode or your blog post, you can still tell your audience what they are all about. The warm, fuzzy way of thinking about it is that you still get the message of the post to your audience, even if you don’t get the traffic to your website.

You can learn all about the PAGER method in my book Simple Social Media.

Here’s a basic method for creating no click content:

1. Choose the source material

2. Distill the source material into its main points

3. Add visuals

4. Create 3-5 variations of the post

5. Schedule / Automate

The method for creating no click content isn’t much different than creating Articles content.

Choose the Source Material

Start with the long form content that you want to share on social media. I’ll take a recent podcast that I was featured on: High Performance Marketing with host, Ali Garbero.

Distill the Source Material Into Its Main Points

Then you distill the source material into main points. Here’s what I’ll pull from this episode:

• why small business owners get sick of handling their social media

• secrets for creating content if you’re not the subject matter expert for a brand

• what each letter of PAGER stands for in the PAGER method and how it will help you with your business goals (not just your social media goals)

• what to do on social even if you don’t have time to make social media posts

Add Visuals

Next, I’ll add some visuals. I’m a firm believer that if 👏anyone 👏gives you 👏content 👏use it. So I’m going to start with the “album cover” for the podcast. I’ll just take a screenshot of that. Plus the “album cover” for my specific episode. That will give me some quick visuals for an Instagram post, possibly Instagram Story, and LinkedIn post.

I’ve also gotten into using templates from other creators that I can customize on Canva. The Canva Template Vault has a bunch of templates to promote podcast episodes. So I’m going to customize a couple of those and resize them.

Create 3-5 Variations of the Post

I want to make a batch of posts that point to this podcast episode, so that way I can get more mileage from them. So I’m going to mix together the main points with the visuals to create a few variations. I aim to have at least three variations, but really feel good about five.

Schedule / Automate

I am a big fan of scheduling vs automating. So with my favorite automator, Meet Edgar, I’m just going to load my different variations into the library. I’m going to categorize them as Articles content, so that whenever it’s time for an Articles post, Meet Edgar can choose any of them. Meet Edgar will randomly choose from any other Articles content that I have in the mix as well.

Look at Articles Content in a New Way

Although it’s tempting to post an image and link about your newest blog post that could inhibit not only that post from getting seen, but your entire account from being seen. To be on the safe side, create Articles content for the PAGER method without using any links. Focus on what you want your audience to know instead of where you want them to go. You audience will be happy because they don’t have to leave the platform, and the algorithms will be happy too! Which will make you happy!

Learn Simple Social Media

To learn more about how you can have simple social media, pick up my book, Simple Social Media. You can also attend an upcoming Simple Social Media webinar.