3 Clever Ways to Get Audiences to Share Content on Social Media

Creating content is only around 20% of the process.

The rest is getting people to look at it, and that's a lot easier said than done.

Content promotion is a challenge, especially considering the sheer amount of competition you're up against, with so many other things vying for your audience's attention.

Social media is a key part of most companies' content promotion strategies, but sharing it on your own profile isn't nearly as effective as getting other people to share your content with their friends and family.

People trust reading material recommendations from people they know — as well as from influencers and other people they don't know personally, but admire — so you can get a lot of traction from genuine social shares.

There's no guarantee that anyone will share your content, but there are a few things you can do to increase the likelihood that someone will tweet it or share it on Facebook.

Social sharing plugins and other add-ons can subtly encourage people to share, without being too overtly demanding about it.

In a recent post, AdEspresso offers some useful tips for getting more social shares.

Have Social Sharing Buttons on Every Post

There are many plugins that can help you boost social shares, however, social sharing buttons are one of the most important.

These should appear on every single post, and you should make sure that the tool you use for this has options for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+ (in that order of importance).

B2B businesses, in particular, want to prioritize LinkedIn shares when possible, as they can be particularly effective at helping you leverage new leads or clients. Again, the easier it is for users to share your content, the more likely they will.

[image source: AdEspresso]
The most effective options for social sharing buttons are social sharing bars that are displayed at the top and/or bottom of the posts, or floating social bars that appear alongside the page and follow users as they read.

If you’re using a floating social bar, make sure it doesn’t block any of the text on desktop or mobile devices.

My personal favorite social sharing tool is Monarch’s, which has a ton of different placement and customization options available. Monarch’s social sharing buttons also tell show visitors how many times your post has been shared, which is excellent for social proof.

[image source: AdEspresso]
Continually Thank Users Who Are Already Sharing

Don’t forget to thank the users who are sharing your content already. This shows your appreciation and encourages them to share more of your posts in the future.

This sounds simple, but it’s so effective. People build relationships with people, at the end of the day, and everyone wants to know they’re appreciated. Getting a positive response of gratitude will increase the likelihood that those same users will share your content again, and other users may notice and do the same.

[image source: AdEspresso]
Embed “Click to Tweet” CTAs Within the Post

Make it extra easy for users to share those soundbites from tip number one with those automatic Click to Tweet CTAs that can be embedded in your posts.

[image source: AdEspresso]
Having a “Click to Tweet” CTA within the post increases the likelihood that users will share it, since it’s featured prominently in-post instead of hovering like regular social share buttons towards the peripheral of the post (though they’re still highly effective).

Some plugins will even let you preset different quotes from your post in the CTA, so when users click, it automatically shares that snippet of text from your post.

[image source: AdEspresso]
The best Click to Tweet plugin for WordPress is the aptly and appropriately named “Click to Tweet” plugin (I know, how will you ever remember that?). If you choose, you can place custom quotes in each CTA to have text chosen for users, making it as easy as possible for them to share your post.

And—as we all know— the easier it is, the better.