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2015-02-06

7 Steps to Write a Meaningless, Yet Viral, Aviation Story

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Written by: Bernie Leighton
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This article originally appeared on Airline Reporter.

You may think that it’s easy to come up with great content for AirlineReporter. Go to a new country! Fly on a new aircraft! Attend a media event and report on an advancement in aviation technology! All those things are hard – they also aren’t things you can do all the time. We aviation writers have a system for making great content that is guaranteed to get us not only respect, but also hopefully some views. My peers are going to despise me for sharing this insider’s guide to making viral aviation content, but I don’t care about them – the world has to know.

Here are my seven easy steps to create a viral aviation news story that’s ready for stardom!

A Delta Air Lines regional jet landing at JFK – Photo Credit: We do not know, but whoever owns it, just let us know if you do not want us to use it. As long as we say that, we are not breaking any rules.

A Delta Air Lines regional jet landing at JFK – Photo Credit: We do not know, but whoever owns it, just let us know if you do not want us to use it. As long as we say that, we are not breaking any rules.

STEP ONE

Focus on an event that would be completely unremarkable if not for the fact that it happened on a plane. Consider the following example: “I was the only passenger on a bus. The end.”

Boring, right?

Fear not! With a simple “find and replace” command – from bus to plane – this is now worthy of stopping the presses. All you need next is a selfie where you look suitably smug. Get ready to say “Good Morning America!

STEP TWO

Use pictures of airplanes to establish context. However, most readers can’t actually recognize planes in photos, so instead of wasting time that could be better used towards generating clicks, try this easy solution: Google “passenger plane” – then copy/paste the first result you can find without copyright restrictions. The photo isn’t the right size? Who cares?

Consider this helpful example:

I bet that Delta passenger had a great flight! (Photo: Source)

I bet that Delta passenger had a great flight! (Photo: Source)

Now you’ve found a photo you can use for every article you write from here on out for the next 20 years! Imagine the time savings!

Click here to read the rest of this article at AirlineReporter.com

 

Bernie Leighton has traveled around the world to learn about, experience & photograph different types of planes. Bernie will go anywhere to fly on anything. He spent four years in Australia learning about how to run an airline, while putting his learning into practice by mileage running around the world. You can usually find Bernie in his natural habitat: an airport. 



About the Author

Bernie Leighton





 
 

 

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