Sharing is Caring How to Get Your Content Moving!

If you worry that your content is not getting enough shares across your social media channels, you’re not alone. Many business owners and marketers struggle to engage their audience and get their content moving online. If you want to improve your chances of having your content shared, you need to be strategic about the types of content you produce as well as how and when you publish it. While they can’t provide you with all the answers for your unique business, there are various studies that can help you understand what makes content more shareable. So, let’s shine a light on the most recent findings. Most Popular Forms of Content According to a recent study by Fractl and BuzzStream, there were a few trends that stood out regarding content marketing. In particular, there were five forms of content worth paying attention to: How-to posts: Solutions to problems in various steps. List posts: A numbered list addressing a topic followed by a conclusion. Why posts: These supported a specific reader-objective and overall conclusion. What posts: Extra information on a specific topic, often comparing two or more things or ideas. Videos: Giving viewers a visual illustration, demonstration or discussion centered around a topic. The study found that the content most likely to be shared were â€Å"list† and â€Å"why† posts. Videos and how-to articles received less shares overall and â€Å"what† posts were less predictable, but usually had less social success. This demonstrates why businesses who are serious about producing a steady flow of original content will benefit from hiring a content writer or team of writers who are experienced in producing content that covers each of these formats. Your content strategy can then be modified over time to address the needs of your specific audience. Optimizing Your Content A study from Buffer and SumAll also shone a light on how to optimize content for social sharing: Opening paragraphs with shorter sentences are more readable, scannable and shareable Strong, concise blog titles were more clickable and shareable 74 percent of blog posts that are read are under three minutes long and 94 percent are under six Again, this highlights the need for clear, concise writing. People love to share funny cat pictures, but they also want to share good in-depth content. Takeaways: Try publishing more listicles and why-posts and make sure your articles and titles are clear and concise. Where Do You Publish Fresh Content? You can publish the best content in the world, but if the majority of your audience don’t get to see it, it’s a wasted opportunity. Use social media tools like HootSuite and Social Mention to discover who is talking about your business, products or industry, and find out which social channels your target market frequents most. Social analytics company ShareThis found that Facebook was the dominant channel for friends discussing a wide range of topics. Pinterest, on the other hand, provided a platform for more lively discussions around food and drink, beauty, fitness, and shopping. In 2014, the dominant Twitter conversations revolved around news, finance and sports. Takeaways: As an example, if you specialize in beauty products, try publishing more content on channels like Pinterest. If you’re in finance, focus your content marketing efforts on Twitter. Delivering content to the right channels – where your target audience spends most of their time – is key to boosting social media shares. When Do People Share More Content? In the Fractl and BuzzStream survey, the most social interaction occurred in September, October and November, with video content also peaking in popularity in the last quarter. When it comes to the best times of day to publish content according to data from the QuickSprout blog, you’ll get more shares if you publish at the following times: Twitter: 5:00 p.m. Facebook: 1:00 p.m weekdays Google Plus: 9:00 a.m. on a Wednesday LinkedIn: 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. on a Tuesday Pinterest: 9:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays Instagram: in the evening Takeaways: Experiment with different publication times and check your analytics to see what works best for you. Following these guidelines is a good place to start to boost shares and website traffic. What Inspires Content Sharing? You should also take into account the tone of your content. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that people are far more likely to share â€Å"positive† content. Useful, practical content was also more popular. To encourage more content sharing, also keep this in mind: Include a clearly visible share button at the end of each post Ask people to share your content with a clear call-to-action Publish more visual content. According to research, the most shared posts on Facebook are images and Tweets that include images are more likely to be retweeted Write strong headlines. Grab your readers’ attention with funny, surprising or intriguing headlines Many businesses in today’s content-rich digital landscape are finding it increasingly necessary to hire a content writer to meet the high standards expected from information-hungry, savvy consumers. It makes good business sense to have experienced writers who can write concisely and get the tone right for specific target markets. The Bottom Line Tailoring your content strategy using these guidelines should help increase shares and boost awareness of your brand. But it takes time and commitment. If you don’t have the time or resources to produce regular, fresh content, follow the example of other successful companies and hire a outsourced content writer. This way, you can ensure you deliver quality content for your readers that they’ll want to share with others. Do you have any tips to encourage content sharing? Add your comments below or give us a shout on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn!