They say that organic reach is dead. They are wrong. While you should not rely on exposure and lead generation solely from your content being shared across social media, you should not neglect this aspect either. After all, every lead you can get without spending a cent, from social sharing is a very valuable lead.
What Drives Up Social Sharing?
People are social creatures. And a big part of socialising is showing others something interesting, of value, educational or entertaining. This is, in a nutshell, the principle behind social media platforms.
Whenever an internet user reads an interesting article or watches a funny or educational video, their natural instinct is to show it to their friends, as well. And this is how shares happen and how brands become exposed to new audiences.
What’s In a Social Share? A Lot of Work
Of course, for each piece of content that gets shared, there are 100 that are ignored. Thus, creating great content is not just good for SEO or for your paid marketing strategies – it is also awesome for organic reach.
But the hard work of creating great content pays off. Beyond new client acquisition, it reinforces your brand values and keeps current customers loyal. And, of course, great content makes them share and spread your brand image to new audiences and new potential customers.
But what do you have to do to see the social sharing count of your content rising and rising? Here are five simple rules.
1. Make Your Content Visually Appealing
People love what they see and then enjoy the meaning of it. This is true for images, videos, and texts. A neatly formatted text, with lots of white space, with subtitles that make browsing easier, will get shared more times than a poorly formatted one.
First of all, your readers may skip altogether a big chunk of text. Secondly, presuming they are really keen to learn what you want to tell them, they won’t go as far as sharing it with their friends. People are very sensitive about their online reputation. They don’t want to get labeled as “that one who shares boring blog posts”.
2. Don’t Just Solve a Problem – Explain Why It Is a Problem
Most marketing messages – from blog posts to sale letters – follow a simple format: you have a problem, this is the solution (my product/service). You would be surprised how many people don’t recognise a specific situation as a problem.
So, take your time to point out why it is a problem and how it affects their lives. Once they are done reading/watching, they will say: “Oh my gosh, I have to show this to my friends!”
3. Send Your Content to People You Quoted
Influencers and thought leaders are just as keen to grow their personal brand as you are to grow your business. Thus, if you quoted one of them in your article, you should send the link to the respective person via their social media accounts.
If your content is relevant to their own activity and interests, most likely they will publicly share it on their pages. Thus, your brand will gain not just exposure to a new audience, but also a form of endorsement from the influencer/thought leader.
4. Make Your Content Easily Shareable
This should not be said in 2019, but we still see lots of great blogs where you have to hunt for the social sharing buttons. Make these buttons visible. Help your reader share your content. Don’t let them engage in a treasure hunt to find the Facebook™, LinkedIn and Twitter buttons.
Another simple way to get more social shares is to include Tweetable quotes throughout the content. Select a significant sentence, and apply the WordPress plugin for click to tweet.
5. Ask for Shares
Ask and ye shall receive! There is nothing wrong about adding a CTA at the end of your videos and blog posts asking your viewers/readers to share it if they liked it. You would be surprised how many people will do it. They feel that they should reciprocate after enjoying your content and since it does not cost them anything, they will share it.