Social sharing plays a major role in content marketing, don’t you agree?
A very big share of your readers hang out on social media! And if you fail to be present there, you are missing out.
Now, when I say social media, there’s a lot – Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and much more!
You don’t have to be everywhere. Just pick where most of your audience hang out and you’ll be fine.
Having said that, it is not just enough if you promote your content on certain social media platforms (although that helps!).
But you have to create content that your audience are willing to share on social media content.
What makes shareable content?
Well in this post I am going to discuss just that thing.
Instead of giving you a theoretical lecture on what makes your content shareable, I will tell you what you have to do to in order to make your content irresistibly shareable.
Creating shareable content is not rocket science. It is just an art.
And you probably already have all that takes to create shareable content.
You just have to place the right elements in the right place – and you’ll be fine.
Let’s get to the meat now.
Know what your readers want and just deliver it
This is probably the most boring piece of advice you’ve heard. But have you implemented it?
If not, do you know how to implement it? That’s the question!
If you directly deliver what your readers want, they’ll be so excited to share your content without a second thought.
I’m like that. And I’m sure you are like that.
Think about it. If you see an article that just relates with your problems and/or provides the right solution, wouldn’t you be excited to share that piece of content with the world?
Yes!
It is because of this one simple reason:
People want to look smart in social media. They want to prove their circle of fans that they share useful content.
So if they come across something that they can resonate with, and if they find that piece of content useful, they’ll be sure to share it.
Right, so how to implement this?
All you have to do is look around and find what your target audience are looking for.
Quora is a great place to start with. Just type in your keyword and see what questions are people asking around that keyword:
Now take a look at those exact phrases. All you have to do is create content to talk about those problems, provide solutions – whatever – and make sure to use those exact words in the title and inside the content.
Now this will make it quite easier for people to relate the content to their feelings. And that’s what you need to make your content shareable.
You don’t have just Quora. You also have lots of other places to look around:
- Social media discussions
- Blog comments
- Forums in your niche
- Content syndication sites
These are a few places to start with!
Always create great content
This is another piece of boring advice you’ve always heard about.
But have you implemented it yet? Do you know how to create great content for you business?
If not you are in big trouble!
I tell you this because, great content is the currency. It is the King (another boring thing you’ve always heard).
I will not tell you that creating great content is easy. It is not really easy.
Content that you create quite easily, just like that, won’t be great – you will have to put some real effort into your content to make it great.
But you’ll get used to it once you practice creating great content for a while.
So how to implement this?
I am not going to elaborate everything here, since that is not the scope of this post.
But I have a handy course for you that will teach you all the bits you need to implement this.
Provide practical, actionable tips
It is not just enough if you create content that your readers can relate to.
You have to provide them with practical solutions to their problems.
Taking about a problem is one thing – and it is important, I do agree.
But providing a solution or a way out to the problem is more attractive, right?
That aspect will make your content shareable in social media.
That’s what will make your content useful.
And when people see a solution to their problem, they will feel proud to share your content in social media because it makes them feel good.
Provide step by step tutorials with screenshots. Better show them how to do things in a video. That would be super cool.
Kick start the sharing process by sharing it yourself
This is quite important.
Even though here we are talking about your readers sharing your content, it is very important that you make the first move.
If you don’t share your content yourself, how can you expect others to share?
Start the sharing process without any hesitation. And have a social media marketing plan – a calendar or some sort of a system that helps you to partially automate the process.
You might want to use certain social media tools to help you with the process.
Promoting your content on social media immediately after publishing is highly crucial. But that’s not enough.
You will have to have a plan or a system to share your content on social media by promoting your old content as well – so your readers get ample supply of all the good stuff.
But don’t go overboard on this.
You will look spammy if you keep on promoting your own content on social media. Which is why you should also share worthy content from other bloggers – this is very important.
Your goal should be to provide a constant stream of useful content to your followers on social media – and that should include about 30% of your content.
Make your content easily shareable
Although this tip is not directly related to “content” as such, this is worth mentioning here.
If you don’t make sharing easy, you shouldn’t expect your readers to share your content for you!
Use a social sharing plugin like Social Warfare to spice up the social sharing department.
Find out the social media platform that is suitable for your niche (and where your target audience hang out most) and have those sharing buttons enabled on your blog posts.
And yes, the sharing buttons should be prominently visible. This is a no-brainer (yet, most blogs miss this crucial aspect).
Finally, make sure the social sharing buttons display well on mobile devices!
Don’t miss out on social media!
Social media is big. And if you ignore it, you are missing out a lot no matter how much great content you create on a regular basis.
Social media plays a crucial role in making your content visible to readers. It gets your content in front of more eyeballs.
I don’t think it is a smart idea to ignore social media altogether (thinking its waste of time).
And if you want your readers to share your content in social media, you have to create content that is shareable.
People just won’t share any content – they’ll only share content that’s worthy to be shared.
Implement the tips discussed in this post, and I’m sure your readers will love to share you content!
Hi Jane,
Great piece of advice and I am always on the lookout for new content to share on my social media sites. I totally agree with you about NOT trying to be on all the sites.
I do have accounts on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. However, after several months blogging, I realize that Facebook is my biggest traffic referrer.
So this month, I’ve made it a point to really learn how to use Facebook to grow my blog and following. To tell you the truth, social media is still new to me. So I am always on the lookout to learn new things that can help me improve my marketing.
I’ve heard so many people say that you have to constantly be sharing great content. One of my biggest issues is finding that amazing content to share.
Yes, I have my own content, but I know that I can’t always share my own content. Since I’ve started taking the time to share great content, I’ve gotten more shares and followers.
Plus, I’ve stopped using a auto-scheduler for Facebook and am doing it more manually. I figure since that’s the platform I am going to focus on, I might as well do it right.
I’m doing to spend some time trying to find amazing content using Quora and forums. I hadn’t thought of using those sites to help me find shareable content.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hey Susan,
I am glad to know that you have identified the top traffic source for your site – Facebook. Every blogger (and their niche) is different so it could be any platform for a blogger.
The key is to do it right as you say 🙂
Yes Quora is definitely worth trying so go ahead and give it a shot 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
Great piece of advice and I am always on the lookout for new content to share on my social media sites. I totally agree with you about NOT trying to be on all the sites.
I do have accounts on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. However, after several months blogging, I realize that Facebook is my biggest traffic referrer.
So this month, I’ve made it a point to really learn how to use Facebook to grow my blog and following. To tell you the truth, social media is still new to me. So I am always on the lookout to learn new things that can help me improve my marketing.
I’ve heard so many people say that you have to constantly be sharing great content. One of my biggest issues is finding that amazing content to share.
Yes, I have my own content, but I know that I can’t always share my own content. Since I’ve started taking the time to share great content, I’ve gotten more shares and followers.
Plus, I’ve stopped using a auto-scheduler for Facebook and am doing it more manually. I figure since that’s the platform I am going to focus on, I might as well do it right.
I’m doing to spend some time trying to find amazing content using Quora and forums. I hadn’t thought of using those sites to help me find shareable content.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hey Susan,
I am glad to know that you have identified the top traffic source for your site – Facebook. Every blogger (and their niche) is different so it could be any platform for a blogger.
The key is to do it right as you say 🙂
Yes Quora is definitely worth trying so go ahead and give it a shot 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Cheers,
Jane.
Gotta love Quora – you can repurpose those questions in so many ways: blog posts, infographics, podcasts, videos… the sky is the limit 🙂
Indeed Andrea! Quora is a great tool for bloggers. There are very many uses 🙂
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
Gotta love Quora – you can repurpose those questions in so many ways: blog posts, infographics, podcasts, videos… the sky is the limit 🙂
Indeed Andrea! Quora is a great tool for bloggers. There are very many uses 🙂
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
HI Jane,
Today I got your email in my inbox and just came here to read your article here. Content creation is an art and is not the one that needs to do just for getting audiences.
Your words are really amazing in explaining things. I have an infographic which tells 74Clever templates to write articles if you need I can share with you.
Quora is really a great place to drive potential targeted audience for our blog post because of the presence of so many communities of people. This is my first way to drive traffic.
Next place I should give to Facebook and Twitter respectively because of both forms a part of my daily traffic.
I am daily spending one hour to write something on some topic based your advice, now since last 10 days, I am so much motivated.
Thanks for being a part of my growth.
Regards,
Mohana Priya G
Hey Mohana,
I am so glad you have started implementing the advice – 10 days in a row is great. Keep up!
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
HI Jane,
Today I got your email in my inbox and just came here to read your article here. Content creation is an art and is not the one that needs to do just for getting audiences.
Your words are really amazing in explaining things. I have an infographic which tells 74Clever templates to write articles if you need I can share with you.
Quora is really a great place to drive potential targeted audience for our blog post because of the presence of so many communities of people. This is my first way to drive traffic.
Next place I should give to Facebook and Twitter respectively because of both forms a part of my daily traffic.
I am daily spending one hour to write something on some topic based your advice, now since last 10 days, I am so much motivated.
Thanks for being a part of my growth.
Regards,
Mohana Priya G
Hey Mohana,
I am so glad you have started implementing the advice – 10 days in a row is great. Keep up!
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane, I love your advice to share your own content first! That is something I often forget as I’m curating content and writing new content. Thanks for that simple reminder.
I have been using Quora and love it though not generating traffic from it yet. I hope over time that will follow.
Twitter and Flipboard are my top places that generate traffic.
It’s interesting to see the questions asked there and I should use them for future posts, another great idea Jane!
Thanks for this post, it was very helpful and have a great day!
Hey Lisa,
Yes sharing your own piece of content kick starts the process and it is a very simple, yet effective thing to do!
Apart from Quora, Flipboard is certainly one of my top traffic sources 🙂 Quora surely takes time to start sending you traffic. But all your hard work is there so you don’t have to worry about volatality!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane, I love your advice to share your own content first! That is something I often forget as I’m curating content and writing new content. Thanks for that simple reminder.
I have been using Quora and love it though not generating traffic from it yet. I hope over time that will follow.
Twitter and Flipboard are my top places that generate traffic.
It’s interesting to see the questions asked there and I should use them for future posts, another great idea Jane!
Thanks for this post, it was very helpful and have a great day!
Hey Lisa,
Yes sharing your own piece of content kick starts the process and it is a very simple, yet effective thing to do!
Apart from Quora, Flipboard is certainly one of my top traffic sources 🙂 Quora surely takes time to start sending you traffic. But all your hard work is there so you don’t have to worry about volatality!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
Quora is an absolute goldmine. I hang there for 30 to 60 minutes daily, answering questions and spotting post ideas people need to share. Folks bring problems to us daily on Quora, the Warrior Forum, through our blog comments and through social media. All we need to do is to spot these pain points and craft an in depth, problem-solving post to get a slew of social shares.
Thanks for the smart tips!
Ryan
Hey Ryan,
30-60 minutes daily on Quora sounds like a solid strategy to me. You should already be reaping your benefits 🙂
Since it is a Q/A site, it is a goldmine for us bloggers – helps us easily and directly identify what our readers’ problems are!
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
Quora is an absolute goldmine. I hang there for 30 to 60 minutes daily, answering questions and spotting post ideas people need to share. Folks bring problems to us daily on Quora, the Warrior Forum, through our blog comments and through social media. All we need to do is to spot these pain points and craft an in depth, problem-solving post to get a slew of social shares.
Thanks for the smart tips!
Ryan
Hey Ryan,
30-60 minutes daily on Quora sounds like a solid strategy to me. You should already be reaping your benefits 🙂
Since it is a Q/A site, it is a goldmine for us bloggers – helps us easily and directly identify what our readers’ problems are!
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
Great post. I really inspired with your words “Find what your target audience are looking for” means not only what you want to share. The way you mentioned to find the queries in people’s mind on “Quora” is awesome. Using this way, I easily got subheadings for my next post.
For once again thanks for these useful tips!
Regards,
Sushil Kumar Saini
Hey Sushil,
Glad you found the post inspiring 🙂 All the best for your next post!
Using Quora this way consistently will help you with your content strategy for sure 🙂
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
Great post. I really inspired with your words “Find what your target audience are looking for” means not only what you want to share. The way you mentioned to find the queries in people’s mind on “Quora” is awesome. Using this way, I easily got subheadings for my next post.
For once again thanks for these useful tips!
Regards,
Sushil Kumar Saini
Hey Sushil,
Glad you found the post inspiring 🙂 All the best for your next post!
Using Quora this way consistently will help you with your content strategy for sure 🙂
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Jane.