The Intersection of Searchable + Shareable Content for Building Trust AND Getting Found.
One of the most common questions that people ask me is some variation of the following:
“How do I get more followers?”
“What can I post that will get more visibility?”
“Why does it feel like there’s zero reach online anymore?”
All of these come down to the same idea around getting found by the right person at the right time.
For most creators, long-term growth happens in one of two ways: your content shows up in their search results or someone shares it with them.
Search helps your content reach people who are already looking for an answer, while shares help it find people through someone they already know and trust.
I once searched for the top five white baseboard paint colors of 2024, and I was served a wonderfully useful video of a creator showcasing all five different shades under cool light, warm light, natural light, and so on. It was extensive and in-depth and painfully boring.
WE LOVE BORING content when we need it. I didn’t comment, like, or follow (as is so common these days to instead ‘lurk with love’), but I did go to Home Depot and buy that exact paint option. It solved the exact problem I had, and it brought to my attention some things I hadn’t even considered. Sometimes you’ll never be able to measure what’s happening offline.
That IS value.
Because that creator had consistently produced videos about paint over the years, they had built an easily categorizable content library that was super easy for the algorithms to understand.
Did those videos go viral? No. Were they highly viable (AND SEARCHABLE)? YES.
Over time, the algorithms learn what you know and who to show you, and it gives the people who find you a body of evidence that can help them begin to trust you.
We search for and share content that is useful in some capacity. It might be something that brightens my day or helps me decide what paint I need. The information and topics help them find you, while your lived experience, perspective and way of thinking helps them remember you.
So many people are feeling discouraged continuing to create highly useful, kinda boringish content because that’s the content that likely isn’t going to get a ton of views or comments…that’s not what it’s for.
This is the content that’s made for the few people who are really searching for a specific answer to their nuanced, niche question. We don’t care about the hook or the editing, we just want the thorough explanation.
While you can go viral and get seen by a ton of people fast, it’s not usually the way most creators grow. It’s more common to grow long-term over time with peaks and valleys in that growth. I’m here for the long game, not the viral hits.
By the way…‘shareworthy’ & viral content aren’t the same thing.
Your brand needs VIABLE not viral content that connects deeply with your ideal humans. Because it’s made with specific needs or goals in mind, it’s likely not going wide but will connect deeply.
People share content because:
It allows them to become a resource
They agree with the message or perspective
They found it insightful, informational, or impactful
They’re emotionally activated (joy, anger, empathy)
It created an ‘aha’ or ‘omg’ moment
There's a ton of content worth sharing: funny, inspiring, relatable and all of it has a place in your mix.
But I'm specifically focused on the combo of shareable AND searchable because that's the combination most likely to build digital trust & create a content library future clients find on Instagram, Google, or AI.
The intersection of searchable + shareable is a sweet spot for building trust AND getting found. It gets you recommended by someone who already trusts you and helps you get found by people expressly looking for what you know-together they convert better than views/reach alone.
Here are a few content ideas with the potential to be in that sweet spot:
💡 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 💡
Answering unasked questions
Shifting perspective or reframing a mindset/concept/framework
Building on existing thought leadership - what can you add?
What’s overrated/underrated in your industry
The guiding principles behind how you work (& why)
Predictions, trends & forecasting
Connecting dots between two seemingly unrelated thing
Redefining a term everyone in your field uses
Expanding upon an established idea in your unique way or adding
📍 BECOME THE RESOURCE 📍
Breaking news/updates & what it means for your audience
Comprehensive & digestible summaries + your unique analysis or insights
Curated lists of favorites & top resources (podcasts, books, tools, people to follow, apps)
Stats, studies or research findings with your take
Trend breakdowns: what’s happening in your industry & where it’s headed
Simple explainers for confusing industry terms & concepts
Comparison/breakdowns
Starter/advanced guides
Organizing a process that makes the ideas highly actionable
🔐 INSIDER TIPS 🔐
Industry-specific local or niche content (REALTORS: best of neighberhood, hidden gems, small biz spotlights)
FAQ: answering EVERY questions & follow-up Qs they didn’t think to ask
SAQs: the questions your audience should be asking but doesn’t know to
Uncommon solutions to common problems
Trade secrets & “cheat codes”
Myth-busting: common advice you reframe & why
Simplifying complex ideas into frameworks, checklists, templates, formulas, or analogies
🚩 flags to watch for
Seasonal or timely tips specific to your industry (e.g. “what to do before Q4”)
Analysis, why this worked, what we can learn from this
🎯 LIVED-EXPERIENCE 🎯
How-tos, tutorials, “how I did it”, “how my client did it,” why I did it like this
Cautionary tales, lessons learned, what I wish I knew sooner
Informational experiments & outcomes (“I tried X for 30 days, here’s what happened”)
Behind-the scenes of your process or decision-making
First-hand experiences & stories
Before/after transformations (yours or a clients)
What a day/week in your work looks like
Things that changed your POV
I learned something new
Failures & how you recovered from them
Honest reviews of tools, books, courses, or services you’ve used
💛 HUMAN-FIRST 💛
▪️ Stories of the experiences that changed you in ways you didn’t expect
▪️ Honoring something universal: love, fear, longing, hope, grief
▪️ Moments of unexpected beauty or grace worth passing on
▪️ Meeting your audience in a hard moment & reminding them to keep going
▪️ Sharing the things that genuinely bring you joy: a book, a place, a song, a moment, a memory you can’t stop thinking about
▪️ Wins, milestones, and moments worth celebrating (yours or someone else’s)
▪️ Nostalgia: Content that takes people back to a moment, era, or feeling they forgot they missed
▪️ Personal sayings or quotes
▪️’You're not weird, I do that too’ content
▪️ ‘come with me” content that allows viewers to feel like they’re there
Getting found is only one part of the bigger picture.
Once someone lands on your content, they might start looking around. They’re seeing what you know, how you think, what you care about and what it might feel like to work with you. All of those pieces work together to build trust, which is why searchable and shareable content is only one part of the strategy.
That’s why I teach content through the lens of my PES Framework because different types of content do different jobs & if you're only focused on reach or views, you're missing the bigger role your content is playing in how people discover you, connect with you & eventually buy from you.
* Personal (engagement, relatability, memorability)
* Expertise (search, shares, builds trust)
* Sales (proof, prompts action)
In my PES Framework, searchable + shareable content usually falls under “Expertise” content, although any category can hit that sweet spot.
But expertise (or any single kind of content) alone isn't a complete strategy- it's only one third of what builds trust & converts. You still need content that creates human connection & that moves people to buy.
Digital trust is built in the accumulation of content that helps people feel connected to you, trust your knowledge & eventually feel ready to work with you, not going viral once or twice. Not one perfect carousel. Just showing up consistently across all three jobs until the right people know you well enough to hire you & trust you enough to refer you.
When I think of shareable content, I focus on its POTENTIAL to be shared - If your ideal customer saw your post, COULD it help, inspire, motivate or connect with them? Then post it!
PS: Not every single post needs to be optimized for growth, shares, or search. Some content exists to make people feel connected to you. Some content exists to make people feel seen & some content exists because you felt like sharing it 😊