Top 5 Tips for Boosting Your Social Shares

According to Column Five Media and Get Satisfaction, 53.4 percent of Facebook users “like” just 2-5 brands on the popular social media site. This figure accounts for the average Facebook users; however, 12.01 percent likes just one brand, 21.2 percent likes 5-10, and 13.32 percent likes 10 or more.

Since most users tend to restrict the number of brands they like on Facebook, businesses are competing for a very small number of spots on the news feeds of consumers. Add this dismal statistic with the fact that only 53.5 percent of Internet users read blogs, and it appears that corporations have a lot of work to do to gain the attention of customers. Although difficult, this goal can be achieved with the following five steps.

1. Create Compelling Content

It seems obvious that your corporate blogging strategy should include quality content, but with pressures from SEO and post deadlines, this very important device can often get left behind. If you want your readers to share your content, you have to create something worth sharing. It really is as simple as that. Compelling content means that the information is entirely original or offers a new and inspiring perspective for a well-known subject. On top of the substance of the content in your blog or social media site, your strategy should also focus on high-level mechanics to establish credibility in the eyes of the reader.

2. Write From an Angle of Life-Enhancement

Your readers are always looking for ways to make their lives simpler and more organized, which is what draws them to blogs that promise life-enhancement in the first place. What compels readers to share this information is the potential to be seen as a helpful resource to their friends. Helpful blogs can cover virtually any subject, from maximizing time during the holiday season to saving money on groceries. Whatever subject is relevant to your business and will enhance the lives of your readers will improve your chances of being shared.

3. Don’t Be So Forward

Perhaps it’s just me, but when blogs and social media posts are punctuated with share requests, I immediately feel cheated. In a way, asking readers to share your content is implying that you don’t think your post is of a high enough quality to be shared organically. By the same token, no one likes to be told what to do or share something because they feel obligated. If your post is worth sharing, it will be shared. If you aren’t getting the shares you would like, change your approach before you start begging.

4. Offer Incentives

Most of the time, driving people to action requires giving them a personal incentive to do so. When publishing any content, you have to be able to answer the question: what’s in it for the reader? Offering things like discounts and giveaways for your product or service is one effective way to accomplish this. However, your company can feel free to get creative beyond these common measures for an even more impressive result.

5. Make it Easy

Copying and pasting a link seems easy enough, but sharing can be made even easier with clickable icons at the bottom of each of your post for each social network available. This innovative tactic is already used by many bloggers, and essentially takes one step out of the equation of sharing, thus encouraging readers to do so. Essentially, your brand not only has to create content worth sharing, but make it easy for the reader to do so for even further encouragement.

One of the most well-known expressions in business is “a good product sells itself.” In a similar vein, good content shares itself. Although working out the mechanics of encouraging sharing by making it easier and offering incentives certainly helps, nothing can replace the value and inspiration of truly good content. Start with a great idea; the rest will follow.