From Facebook to Twitter, content sharing across social media platforms is the most effective way to drive traffic and quickly build a diverse audience. Whether your WordPress blog is personal or for business, blog posts that are not shared via social media are the modern equivalent of ‘dead on arrival’. But how do you successful share content without turning your Facebook feed into one giant RSS stream?
Follow these social media content sharing tips to get the most mileage from your blog posts:
1. Determine your content sharing goal. Generating click-thrus to your blog is just one part of your goal. The second, most important part, is conversion. Are you trying to increase online sales? Establish your company as an industry leader by building its reputation? Your conversion goal affects how and why you share content. Determine your goal before you begin sharing to maximize clicks and maintain consistent brand identity.
2. Create interest with teasers. When sharing content, remember your medium. Keyword optimized titles are great for search engines, but they fall flat on Facebook or Twitter. Get creative with your title by asking yourself, “How does this content add value to someone’s day?” Use your answer to frame your message and spark interest. Lead with an interesting but little-known fact, highlight an amusing anecdote, or position your business as an authority on the topic.
3. Join the circle. Would you re-post a blog from a faceless online company? Probably not. We are more likely to share and re-share content from friends that we trust. Help your company build social currency by being part of the trust circle. Ask friends and coworkers to share your company’s blog posts via Facebook and Twitter. When coming from a friend, there’s a greater chance that your blog posts will be re-posted.
4. Share the love. If your company Twitter feed is identical to your blog’s RSS feed, then you need to re-think how social media sharing works! At least half your shared content should be from other sources. This keeps your audience engaged and builds capital with third-party websites – who will in turn be more willing to share your blog’s content.
5. Be strategic. Avoid “over-sharing” by being strategic about when, where and how much you post. No one wants his or her newsfeed to be cluttered with every single blog post that you write. Keep the needs and interests of your audience in mind, and always frame your shared content around these needs. For example, the most popular time for re-posting shared content is 9:30am on a Wednesday.
6. Make sharing easy. Ideally, your readers will be sharing your content, too. Be sure that your blog is equipped for one-click sharing by including relevant social media links on each post. We love the WordPress plugin Share This, which seamlessly enables your readers to share content via email, Facebook, Twitter, Google +1 and over 50 different social bookmarking services; you customize which services are visible for sharing.
7. Add incentive. Need to share a blog post with your target audience as quickly as possible? Add incentive for users to share your content. For example, post a link to your blog on Facebook and Twitter, along with a message that everyone who shares this link will be entered for a free product or service discount. No one can resist free, and you’ll quickly generate a high number of shares. Remember, only add sharing incentive on occasion – otherwise the novelty (and your sharing rates) will wear off.
8. Keep it fresh. 75% of click-thrus occur within the first day content is shared. While you don’t have to share content every day, but be sure what you are sharing is fresh, interesting and relevant.
