6 Steps to Content That Is Easily Shared

It’s easy to focus on the number of likes, comments and shares. For many marketers and business owners, this is the way that we can see whether something has resonated with our audience. But, before we see how to improve shares, we need to determine: What’s our goal? How much engagement is considered a good amount? What benchmark can I use to determine if my content marketing is working?

Several studies by BuzzSumo and Moz have found that over half of all articles get eight shares or less. And, CoSchedule found that 77 percent of businesses share their content three times or less.

Based on these numbers, a piece of content that gets less than eight shares is performing below average. However, most of these studies include large multinational companies in their research. What if you’re a local business with a considerably smaller target market, like a city or only a portion of a city? Alternatively, you might be a company in a highly-specialized niche with few prospects. If so, then your benchmark will be even fewer than eight shares.

It may be discouraging to think that a piece of content will get so little engagement, but when you consider what one new client is worth to your business, then you realize that having one engaged prospect is better than 100 likes from users who aren’t interested in your product or service.

Getting more views from the right people should be your goal. And, the following six steps are ways to get your content shared more than average.

1. Only Publish Content That’s Worth Sharing

Content needs to be useful, interesting and more than anything else it needs to appeal to your ideal customer. It’s best to publish less often, than to disappoint and make a bad impression on your audience. They don’t always remember the good, but they’ll remember the bad and remember to ignore you next time.

2. Use Images

The stats support using images. On Facebook, posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement. It’s a fact, so use at least one image.

3. Use Social Sharing Plugins

Add social sharing buttons to your blog and your website where it makes sense. Having the right tools encourages visitors to share.

4. Establish Credibility

Your audience may not know you (yet), but they know the names of experts in your industry. Quote them and mention them by name to add credibility to your content.

5. Write Great Headlines

The unfortunate truth is that most people won’t read your content – even if they share it. However, more people will see your content (and your company) as a result of people sharing content. Boring headlines simply fade into the background. Stand-out in your niche and create bold, exciting ones that get shared.

6. Share Your Content

Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you! Lead by example, and share your content on social media.

And, don’t stop at sharing it once, twice or three times; share it multiple times. In fact, timeless content should be re-shared regularly. And if a piece of content has proven to be successful, then it should be shared again to new leads and prospects who will likely also find it appealing. There’s real value in discovering what content works best, so share it often and to everyone.