Increase your reach on social media
Posting things on social media is very easy. With a few clicks you have a post on Facebook, a tweet on Twitter, or a video on YouTube. The tough part is getting found, viewed, read, liked, and shared.
Here are some tips and tactics that should help you get your content found.
When is it OK to share
You’ve likely shared something in the past on one of your social media platforms. Probably for one of the following reasons:
- You believe that others will want the information, a recipe, an article, etc.
- You care about something and you want others to care about it too. Perhaps you, a friend or colleague is doing some charitable work and want to share your, or their efforts.
- You want to entertain others or provide a bit of inspiration, you want to share a funny video or an inspiration quote.
And then there are times when you’re reluctant to share something. Reasons could be because,
- It might not be true.
- It would be a bit embarrassing if you shared it.
- It goes against your beliefs or viewpoints.
- It is too aggressive.
When you do decide to share content, you should,
- Use and name your sources of information; they should be reputable.
- Not make your content a direct sales pitch; offer value.
- Keep it simple and straightforward.
Curiosity, surprise, excitement, what are you going for?
What people find really interesting, amazing, curious, or exciting… they tend to share. How that informs and drives the content you write depends on your target audience. If you know your audience well, you know what will pique their curiosity or what will excite them.
People tend to read content that brings out all emotions, positive and negative, but they tend to share content that is positive. People also have uncertainties. If you can clear up an uncertainty for them by sharing something informative, you’re making easier for people to share.
Here are some suggestions for appealing to emotions in titles and content:
Put Some “Emotional Triggers” in Your Titles. You know how important titles are to engaging and attracting readers. You want them “catchy,” but you also want to use them to trigger some emotions. There are some great title generator tools available, and many are free. You simply enter your topic and get a long list of title ideas. With some tools, you may also enter the type of title you want—serious, shocking, humorous, emotional, etc.
Make engagement and sharing seamless
Sharing is easy on social media sites. You need to make it just as easy from your website and your blog. This means a few things:
- Where is your audience, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest? Those are the few sharing buttons you will use.
- Choose your placement carefully.Where is the best place to have those buttons? Sharing buttons should be scrolling down with the reader.
- Don’t be shy.Ask your readers to share your content. You don’t have to be pushy or aggressive, but you can say things like “If you found this valuable, please share.” Do that with every post, every article, and every email that includes content.
Don’t be afraid to use Multimedia
In the past, media meant photos, an occasional infographic, and maybe a short video. Content providers didn’t get too creative, because adding complex media meant hiring someone who could code and spend hours creating a single image or infographic. Experiment with photos, animation, infographics, interactive surveys and polls, quizzes, and videos.
Get your timing right
When and where to post – A lot of research has been done about when your target audience is online and where it is at different times of the day and night. If you use that research, you will know when and how often you need to post something. This infographic breaks it all down for you.
Don’t re-invent the wheel with all kinds of testing and analytics; use what has already been researched for you. That said, you’ll likely need to make adjustments based on the behavior of your own audience.
How often to post – Scheduling of postings is very channel-specific. If you are posting a teaser and link to some content on Twitter, you cannot guarantee that your audience will see the first or even the second time. Better to schedule the same Tweet several times. Recommendations for Facebook vary, but there is general consensus that you should post at a minimum of every two days. Here’s a great timing graph you can use.
Extending your reach on social media is all about getting your audience members to share with their audience members. If you can nail down exactly what content your audience will likely share, how to appeal to their emotions and use emotional triggers, how to make sharing easy to do, and when to publish for best effect, you will get the dissemination you want.