The process of creating content that will go viral requires a bit of luck, but there is a recipe for success that can tilt the odds in your favor. Getting the audience to share content can cause it to spread like wildfire around the internet. It’s the best form of marketing as it won’t cost you a penny, and it gives your content social proofing.
Those of you with new blogs or a small business with a limited marketing budget will have plenty to gain from improving the sharing of your content.
Not sure how to go about creating content that will easily be shared by your audience? Then here are a few of the top tips that you can implement on your next series of content ideas for higher rates of sharing:
Industry Insiders
Having access to industry insiders is no easy task, it’s usually a chance occurrence and requires you to be at the right time and in the right place. However, if there is someone that you can get news from before most other people in your niche then it’s going to be highly valuable.
Sharing this with your audience positions you as a source of news in your niche, which means they’ll be following your social media channels for the latest product launches and developments. You’ll even find other industry leaders linking to your news and sharing your content with their followers.
Post Content at the Right Time
A certain type of content that doesn’t go out of date and can be posted at any time of the day or week. For example, how to articles, posts answering questions and so on. However, a lot of the content you post might be more effective at certain periods of time, which means the timing of content will be paramount to your success.
It’s better to post content when the work day has finished since during working hours the audience might not have the means to really engage with the content. Furthermore, you can review your own track history of when the audience typically provides the highest volume of shares. Looking at such data might seem like a daunting task, but it can give you insight into when you’ll have the most bang for your buck in terms of releasing content. Different industries have different demographics and they aren’t all active at the same time.
Make it Easy for People to Share
If you’re posting an article on your website then use plugins to ensure that plenty of social media buttons are placed in easy to find areas. Making it as easy as possible for people to share increases the chances that they actually will. It can be a bit cumbersome having to load up a social media profile and share an article when compared to having the process automated right there alongside the article via the click of a single button.
Nowadays there are a number of plugins that can integrate social media buttons alongside content. No coding is required, and you have a high degree of flexible regarding the size of the buttons and their placement.
Encourage Users to Share
There are a number of ways that you can encourage users to share content. Asking for the shares if done correctly will not come across as spam, and will get you a higher number of shares. This is especially true if your content provides real value that helps the audience. It works both ways: if you demonstrate a willingness to help the audience then they won’t hesitate to share content with their social media circle.
Similar to how a call to action works, you can briefly add a sentence or two at the end of content or a video to remind users that they can share content they enjoyed. Another means of encouragement could be to propose a milestone number of shares, after which you’ll provide something back to the community such as a coupon or free trial to a product.
Create Industry Leading Content
Regardless of what you do, if the content isn’t of an industry leading standard than trying to get a high number of shares will prove to be a fruitless task. You have to provide something of real substance that has entertainment value, educates or motivates the audience. Quality over quantity is key, and if you have no idea how such content can be created then look at what the competition is doing.
In any given niche there are plenty of others who are already trying to take advantage of content marketing. By spying on the top competitors you can see what can potentially work for you.
Another way of getting content would be to hire a writing service with experience in creating content that receives a lot of shares.
Conclusion
The ideas above will improve the number of shares each piece of content receives, but make sure the content itself is of a high quality. Getting readers to share content is great for marketing and getting the seal of approval from your audience as a whole.
Companies with highly shared content create a buzz in their marketplace leading to plenty of sales and an advantage over the competition. The strategies to improve sharing don’t require much in terms of resources as they only need a slight change in strategy. Take the tips given here seriously and your audience will grow at a faster pace than ever before.
