Why You Shouldn’t Neglect Your Online Presence
Your social presence isn’t static. It’s alive. Think of it as a garden. If you wanted to grow a vegetable garden, you would start by planting the right seeds and watching it grow. It would require nurturing; you couldn’t just leave it be. If you ignored your garden, it would grow weeds and affect the end result. But if you tended to it and gave it water and sunlight, it would yield abundant vegetables. Then next year, you could apply the same techniques to your new garden and change the things that didn’t work.
Your social presence is very similar. You can plant all the right seedlings to give you success, but you can’t just leave it alone. If you do, your social strategy is going to be outdated and ineffective, and this will affect your end result. But how you can ensure that you’re giving your social presence the attention it deserves?
One of the best steps you can take is to be shareable.
Why Being Shareable Matters
What does it mean to be shareable? In a nutshell, it means that your brand puts out materials that are capable of being shared. Whether it’s creative infographics, informative blog posts or witty short videos, these types of content are fun to read/watch and easy to share with others.
Delivering shareworthy content is how you manage your online presence. The more content you put out there, the more people will learn to recognize you, instilling trust and loyalty. Regularly published content also boosts SEO, which in turns increases rankings and establishes you as an industry leader.
Types of Highly Shareable Content
So what forms of content are most share worthy?
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Infographics
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Embedded social media posts
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Slideshow presentations
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Surveys/quizzes/polls
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Listicles/top 10 lists
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Product and service reviews
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In-depth features
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Tutorials and how-tos
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Podcasts
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Case studies
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Statistics
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Expert interviews
There is no shortage of content that you can share with your fans and followers, but there’s more to being shareable than just delivering a high quantity of content. Here are a few of the best practices to follow when practicing social sharing.
Deliver the Goods
Before sharing an item on social media, ask yourself what value it provides. Does it tell your audience how to do something? Does it share inside information that can make your customers’ lives easier? Maybe it’s just a lighthearted, funny post that is meant to amuse your audience. Whatever the purpose of the content is, make sure that each piece has value and will make customers want more from you.
Share in the Right Places
In order to spread your content, you need to be sharing it in the right places. Some of the best platforms for doing this are the obvious: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. But there are ways to expand your boundaries and share your content further. Include a portion of your recent blog in your email newsletter. Turn your content into a Slideshare presentation. Share articles on syndication sites. Upload images to visual-friendly social networks like Pinterest or Instagram. Each channel allows you to reach a new audience.
Keep them Wanting More
You want to share the right amount of information. If you give it all away on the first read, your fans and followers won’t have anything to come back for. Instead, tease them a little. For instance, if there is a broad topic you want to discuss, break it up into a series of several articles. This will encourage readers to keep alert for new posts. At the same time, you don’t want to share too little. There should be value packed into each item.
Use Your Own Voice
Your brand should have its own voice, and you should stick to this tone at all times. This is how your audience will learn to recognize and trust you, and it will help craft content for your niche audience. Make sure that everyone who works on your marketing team agrees on the voice so that it remains consistent across all channels.
Make Sharing Easy
People are only going to share your content if you make it easy for them. If they have to work hard to share your content, they won’t do it, even if it’s really good. The best way to make sharing easy is to add social sharing buttons to your website and all pieces of content. Remind readers to share by posting something simple like “sharing is caring.”
Final Thoughts
The majority of consumers expect businesses to be on social media, so you have no excuse not to be. However, simply being on social media isn’t enough. You need to have an active presence that engages your audience and keeps your brand front and center. There are a handful of ways to do this, but the most effective is by delivering fresh, relevant, shareable content that will reach the hands of many.
As you realign your goals over the next couple of months and focus on building out a new social media marketing strategy, make sure you have a good mix of shareable content that offers value and is worth the read.
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