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A headline might be a reader's first – and only – contact with a brand, and many will keep skimming until they land on something that takes their interest.

If you aren't into the nitty-gritty of headlines, stop reading now. But if you want to be that content creator who writes the runaway headline, here's a snapshot of what some of the research has found.

Between 1 March and 10 May 2017, BuzzSumo analysed 100 million of the most shared article headlines on Facebook and Twitter, the platforms dominated by publisher and consumer content. Then in July, it published its analysis of 10 million B2B headlines – those shared on LinkedIn – and found that the best headline phrases, structures, numbers and lengths differed from the B2C results.

1. What works for B2C content

While previous research suggested that the first three and last three words were the important parts of a headline, the BuzzSumo research highlighted linking phrases as key for headlines targeting B2C audiences.

The three-word phrase – or trigram – that led the engagement charge (likes, shares, comments) was 'will make you'. In fact, on Facebook it had twice as many engagements as the trigram that took second place ('this is why'), followed by 'can we guess', 'only X in' and 'the reason is'.

BuzzSumo determined that the success of the 'will make you' phrase was based on it linking content to the emotional impact it will have on the reader – it sets you up to care ('will make you cry', 'will make you smarter', etc.).

It also found that headlines that provoke curiosity work well when readers are looking to learn something from an article. They are a little like the 'will make you' articles, but they tell you what you'll find out rather than what you'll feel.

The BuzzSumo research found that the top five phrases starting a B2C headline were:

1. X reasons why…
2. X things you…
3. This is what…
4. This is the…
5. This is how…

The top five phrases ending a B2C headline were:

1. …the world
2. …X years
3. …goes viral
4. …to know
5. …X days

Admittedly, the second-place holder might not rate as well in Australia, but the five top-performing first words were:

1. This…
2. Trump…
3. How…
4. 10…
5. Why…

So, what doesn't work for B2C audiences? The five worst-performing frequently used phrases were:

1. control of your
2. your own business
3. work for you
4. the introduction of
5. what's new in

Confirming earlier Outbrain research, BuzzSumo found that 12 to 18 words and 80 to 95 characters had the highest engagement on Facebook.

2. What works for B2B content

In BuzzSumo's analysis of 10 million headlines of articles shared on LinkedIn, the practical and informative nature of how-to and list posts (see #3 below) proved to be strong performers in the top five most popular three-word phrases:

1. X ways to…
2. The future of…
3. X things you…
4. How to get…
5. How to make…

There was a clear frontrunner in the top two-word phrases starting headlines – 'How to…' was shared almost three times more on average than the second-place holder. The top two-word phrases starting B2B headings were:

1. How to…
2. The X…
3. X things…
4. X ways…
5. Top X…

Note that after the 'How to…' phrase, the next four most shared phrases were all forms of list posts, which gained more than double the average shares of ‘what’ or ‘why’ posts.

Celebrity brand names also garnered high levels of engagement. It makes sense that companies influencing the business environment and forging technological and business model innovation – like Uber, Google, Apple, Facebook, Tesla and Amazon – will have strong reader appeal. For example, nib's Ambulance or Uber: Who you gonna call?generated a lot of conversation on its Facebook page due to Uber's topicality.

At seven to 12 words, the optimum headline length for LinkedIn is much shorter than for Facebook.

3. The ongoing power of the list

In July 2017, CoSchedule founder Garrett Moon published results of an analysis that began with close to one million blog headlines – which were then put through various filters. The top takeaway was that list posts or listicles (headlines that start with a number) are "huge". Moon wrote they are "the most likely type of post to be shared 1000 or even 100 times". Interestingly, he also noted that "list posts only made up 5% of the total posts actually written".

The BuzzSumo research, confirming the power of lists and the list post format, found the six most effective numbers (in descending order) in B2C content are 10, 5, 15, 7, 20 and 6. In B2B content, the most shared numbers that start post headlines are 5, 10, 3, 7, 4 and 6, with 5 and 10 performing equally well. Note that how-to posts outstripped list posts in B2B.

CoSchedule's results show that list posts that they identified by the words 'thing', 'should' and 'reasons' – '5 things you can do…', '4 reasons why you should…' – do best on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

It's possible that this is due to a combination of clear promise (‘10 steps’, etc.) and the scannable nature of the post, where you can easily work out which bits you want to read.

4. Emotion is good but beware the bait

While strong emotional headlines and those provoking curiosity may get you results, you need to rein in any urge to overstate.

In May 2017, Facebook announced it would demote “headlines that exaggerate the details of a story with sensational language” and those that aim “to make the story seem like a bigger deal than it really is.”

There may be some debate about what is and isn't clickbait, but there are two key points to consider. In the first place, the reader needs to feel encouraged to read. And in the second, they need to not be disappointed when they have finished reading.

5. Research, tailor and test

There are no hard and fast rules. You always need to research what works for your audience, your topics and your social platforms, and to test your headlines. Different audiences will require different content and will be accessing it on different platforms. For example, Outbrain works for an editorial-led audience more than a business-specific audience.

In the interests of transparency, this headline isn't the first that came to mind. It's the result of trawling through this research.

Maybe we all need to take the advice of Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs: "Spend as much time writing the headline as you do an entire blog post or social post."

Belinda Henwood, Strategy & Content

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Is content marketing an art or a science?

It’s not a new debate but an increasingly relevant one. As technology continues to improve, the C-Suite is demanding a clearer measurement into impact. Marketing and communications professionals responsible for curating content are no longer governed by ‘gut feeling’ and instead, are increasingly driven by engagement metrics to demonstrate ROI.

These professionals are well aware how their role requires a mix of art and science thinking. They both draw from the left brain and the right brain, using data and reason to guide the creativity that fuels it.

But this relationship is less rigorously applied to content marketing – an emerging discipline that straddles both marketing and communications objectives.

Marketers and communications professionals have varying levels of social media sophistication – particularly with LinkedIn, which is often a core channel for content. With LinkedIn estimating more than 130, 000 posts are made on its newsfeed every week, organisations are increasingly turning to it as a distribution channel for thought leadership.

Far fewer, however, understand how to draw insight from the platform to ensure their content connects with their target audience.

Marketers and communications practitioners will often speak to me with this challenge solely in mind. Most are able to gauge the success of content on Facebook and Instagram to some level. Plenty of tools exist which measure various social aspects of content marketing, such as ‘likes’ or ‘shares’. But real engagement isn’t buzz. Determining whether content is connecting with a target audience is a key challenge.

Content marketers are struggling to understand whether their current LinkedIn strategy is working – whether it’s reaching the right audience and whether a piece of content is being actively engaged on the platform.

Other times, they will want to target a particular demographic; millennials for example. But they don’t have the understanding of what this group is looking for when they log onto this social networking site.

In short, what content marketers want to do is debunk the myths surrounding their own activity and drill down into strategy to make their dollars work harder.

How can data help?

Data is pivotal. Armed with information, marketers and communications professionals have a window into the opinions, passions and motivations of their audience.

At Isentia we’ve seen this in our own business. The Research & Insights stream has grown by 25 per cent in the last year, as this market recognises the importance of data. I’m often told by clients that they’re just at the start of their measurement journey, but still desperately rely on data to convince the C-Suite to spend money on content marketing.

Research & Insights can be used to help inform content marketing strategy by highlighting what brand-relevant topics an organisation’s audience is engaging with. It can also help content marketers understand where their brand sits against those their competitors, by measuring their share of voice on a particular topic.

But most importantly, data can help marketing and communications practitioners build out content itself. By understanding what type of content receives the most engagement on the platform, they can tailor their content strategies and measure their success at the same time.

Data is the key to debunking the myths of what does or doesn’t work in a content marketing strategy. It gives marketers and communications professionals the opportunity to ensure they understand their audience first and foremost, in order to communicate in a way that connects.

This is where science can help inform the art in content marketing.

Asha Oberoi
Head of Insights, Australia 

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Video content represents 80% of all internet traffic in 2019

Video content continues to rise in popularity. We have explored how marketers can connect with their video audience and drive strong engagements.

Download our whitepaper to learn more.

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The role of communications professionals is evolving rapidly. AI is now actively shaping how organisations build trust, manage reputation, and engage key audiences, moving beyond theoretical discussions.

Gartner’s latest forecasts for Chief Communications Officers (CCOs) highlight a growing profession under increased scrutiny. Traditional methods such as press releases and media relationships are no longer sufficient. Communication is now central to business, and supporting tools must evolve accordingly.

Isentia’s platform combines AI-driven media intelligence, real-time narrative tracking, and expert human analysis. These capabilities address several urgent needs identified by Gartner. Below, we outline key predictions and how Isentia’s tools help meet these challenges.

AI is transforming how brands are discovered and evaluated

Gartner predicts that, as large language models replace traditional search, PR, and earned media, PR and earned media budgets will double by 2027. Stakeholders will increasingly view organisations through AI-generated summaries. The quality, authority, and timeliness of earned media will directly influence how AI systems represent your organisation.

Gartner emphasises that this is a communications challenge, not a marketing or SEO issue. Search engine optimisation requires PR and communications expertise to build trust, secure media coverage, and maintain consistent messaging across stakeholders.

Isentia’s Lumina AI suite and Narratives AI tools address these needs. Narratives AI identifies, summarises, and ranks stories from billions of news articles and social media posts in real time and historically. It reveals how stories develop and spread, enabling communications teams to understand both the content and its influence on AI-generated perceptions.

Isentia’s upcoming Lumina AI View feature enables organisations to see how their brand appears across AI platforms and understand the information shaping those results. Intelligence is no longer a luxury.

Gartner’s second forecast was that by 2029, 45% of CCOs will use narrative intelligence technologies to monitor reputation amid rising disinformation. Traditional monitoring tools often miss early signs of harmful stories because they focus on keywords rather than story development and spread.

Isentia has addressed this challenge. Our crisis monitoring teams provide 24/7 coverage and real-time alerts via email, mobile app, and WhatsApp, delivering the intelligence-driven support Gartner recommends. 

Our Media Impact Score (MIS) supports this approach. It evaluates not only the volume of coverage but also its reception, combining tone, importance, and audience reach into a single human-coded score that reflects true reputational impact.

The growth of AI-powered internal communications

Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75% of employees will use chatbots for internal information instead of intranets, newsletters, or manager updates. This shift from push-based to pull-based, conversational access raises important governance considerations.

Isentia’s GenAI-powered Insights Chatbot addresses this need. It allows users to query past reports and data, providing clear, evidence-based answers from the organisation’s media intelligence archive. Teams can interact with their data, compare trends, identify patterns, and access insights efficiently.

As Dr Nici Sweaney, Founder and Director at Ai Her Way, observed at Isentia's recent webinar on AI as a new stakeholder: "What will set people apart — and what AI cannot replicate — is the human lens. The judgment, the relationships, the institutional knowledge, the strategic read of a room. The organisations that lean into supporting their people to harness these tools, rather than just deploying the tools, will be the ones best placed."

This principle guides Isentia’s approach. Our platform combines AI with over 100 local analysts across Southeast Asia (SEA) who review AI-generated data for cultural context, slang, and sarcasm. This model achieves up to 95% sentiment accuracy, ensuring reliable results through human expertise.

Analytics must move from retrospective to predictive

Gartner’s last key prediction is that analytics must shift from retrospective to predictive, much on data, and Gartner’s final key prediction is that by 2029, communications teams will double their spending on data and analytics to 6% of budgets. This reflects increased pressure to demonstrate business impact. Nearly half of CCOs struggle to prove their value, and a third report their teams are viewed as cost centres. 

RepID and interactive dashboards go far beyond simple metrics. For example, RepID measures an organisation’s reputation by analysing stories and posts across areas such as leadership, ethics, and quality. This gives a clear, evidence-based view of how reputation is really changing, not just how much coverage there is.

Our interactive insights reports enable clients to track share of voice, narrative sentiment, and influencer impact in one platform. This real-time, results-focused measurement aligns with Gartner’s recommendations for credibility in communications.

Implications for communications leaders

Communications teams must achieve more, operate with greater precision, move faster, and deliver measurable business results. AI is both the driver and enabler of this change, but success depends on investing in the right intelligence systems.

Isentia’s platform already provides the essential tools Gartner recommends, including Narratives AI, real-time risk alerts, AI-powered chatbots, human-verified insights, and advanced measurement systems. For PR & Comms leaders in Asia-Pacific and beyond, the key question is how quickly they can implement this intelligence.

Join the conversation

We invite you to attend our upcoming webinar, Inside the AI Shift: How Communications Leaders Are Adapting, on Tuesday, 28 April 2026 at 11am SGT / 1pm AEST / 3pm NZST via Zoom. 

Isentia’s VP of Revenue and Insights for SEA, Prashant Saxena, and ANZ’s Director of Insights, Ngaire Crawford, will discuss how communications teams are meeting increasing demands for speed, insight, and measurement, while adapting to evolving executive expectations as AI becomes a new stakeholder.

The session will explore how communications leaders discuss AI with executives and boards amid increased pressure on risk, measurement, and strategy. It will also examine how teams are adapting workflows and decision-making, the challenges communicators face, and emerging opportunities.

Register below to secure your place.

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