Seven Tips to Unlocking the Power of Shareable Content

Social media marketing best practices continue to evolve, so businesses must adapt their social strategies to get the most out of this marketing tactic. If one of your goals is to grow your audience (and whose isn’t?), creating sharable content should be part of your strategy.

There are solid benefits to having your social content shared. These include:

Greater reach: When your content gets shared, it reaches a wider audience beyond your immediate followers. Each share exposes your brand to a potential new audience, increasing your reach exponentially. Imagine the power of that exposure. Your followers organically promote your brand by sharing your post with their network of friends and associates.

Enhanced engagement: Sharable content is more than just a conversation starter; it’s a community builder. It sparks conversations, encourages comments, and drives meaningful engagement. People are drawn to content that evokes emotion, provides value, or entertains them. By crafting content that elicits strong reactions, you’re not just generating interactions but fostering a sense of community. These interactions help connect your brand with your extended audience, making them feel part of something bigger.

Brand identity: Sharable content is more than just a tool for brand building; it’s a catalyst for brand loyalty. When people share your content, they are essentially endorsing your brand and associating themselves with your values and messaging. This not only helps strengthen brand identity but also builds a bond of loyalty. It attracts like-minded individuals to your community, creating a tribe of advocates who are proud to be associated with your brand.

According to Constant Contact, shareable content is “a fun and effective way to connect with your target audience to deepen relationships.” And isn’t that what social media is all about? The question is: How do you create content that will be considered shareable? How can you create content that will go viral?

While it is nearly impossible to guarantee a post will go viral, here are seven tips to make your brand’s content more shareable.

• Know Your Audience: Understand your target demographic. Know what is important to them and what moves them. Tailor your content to address their needs, interests, and aspirations. The more relevant and relatable your content is, the more likely it is to be shared. If your primary audience finds your content relatable, they are more likely to share it with their friends, who will also agree with your content. The goal of knowing your audience is to expand your audience to new people by utilizing relatable, shareable content.
• Evoke Emotion: Emotions drive action. Craft content that evokes positive emotions such as joy, inspiration, or nostalgia. By triggering emotions and inspiring them to interact with your content, you create a deeper connection with your audience. Giving them a warm, fuzzy association with your brand is a bonus.

• Compelling Copy: Evoke curiosity amongst your followers, making them want to learn more. One strategic way to make your copy compelling is to include step-by-step instructions in your caption to make the user want to read the perfect formula you have provided. Keep the user engaged with appropriate spacing and language that lures them in and keeps them reading. Examples of captions that could increase shareability include current events, news, relatable life experiences, or hot trends.

• Leverage Visuals: Incorporate visually appealing elements such as high-quality videos that are thirty seconds to one minute long. Highly shareable, these bite-sized videos are 2.5 times more engaging than longer videos, and 34% of consumers appreciate the more genuine nature of the shorter form (Forbes). Visual content is more likely to capture attention and entice users to engage with it, especially if there are human faces to connect with in the post.
• Provide Value: Offer valuable insights, tips, tutorials, or exclusive information to benefit your audience. For example, authentic, behind-the-scenes content offers a sense of transparency and can display company values (Sprout Social). When users perceive your content as valuable and relatable, they are more inclined to share it with others who might find it useful.

• Ask followers to share: It’s as simple as that. Directly ask your audience to share your post, and/or share their experience, as seen in the Shopify example below. Ask your audience to leave a comment with a designated “word.” When they do, they will receive a private direct message about something exclusive. These are two examples, but the options are limitless to create engagement by incentivizing your audience to react to your social posts.

• Engage with influencers: According to Sprout Social, “generating more engagement, reaching new audiences and strengthening community are the top three marketing goals” for employing an influencer. Employing a relatable influencer for your brand can amplify and expand your audience reach. However, be sure to be thoughtful and thorough with the influencer you consider, making sure they are a good fit for the brand.

Consumer facing and B2B businesses can maximize their reach and engagement by creating sharable content that resonates with their audience. Keep these seven tips in mind to improve your social media shareability. By crafting content that sparks emotions, provides value, and aligns with brand identity, you can expand your brand’s presence and foster meaningful connections with target audiences. Embrace the power of sharable content and watch your social media efforts soar.

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