Do you ever wonder why people don’t seem to share the content you create? Even if they like it, they don’t take that extra step of sharing it with their friends and spreading the word?
The chances are one of the reasons your creations aren’t getting shared as much as you’d like is because what you’re creating may be missing some of the key elements that lead people to share things online. Whether you’re writing blog posts, or producing videos, or releasing a podcast, creating content that features these elements will greatly increase the chances people will share your content.
People won’t share stuff just because it includes these elements, but it will certainly make them more likely to share what you’ve made – assuming it’s good of course.
Here’s 7 types of content fans are likely to share…
1. Content That’s About Them
One of the easiest ways to get somebody to share a piece of content is to create something that’s actually about them. Whether that’s interviewing a fan, or writing about something that they’ve done, or featuring them in a video, the chances are anybody you reference in your content will share it with their friends. The more people you reference, the more will share.
2. Content That’s Created By Them
Another way to pretty much guarantee people will share your content is if you figure out a creative way to include things that have been created by your fans within your own content. For example, you could answer video questions submitted by your fans or you could riff on your fans Facebook pages or review a fan’s tweets. There’s no shortage of creative ways to showcase things your fans have created (and encourage them to contribute more) and doing this will encourage them to share the content and make them feel like they had a role in its creation which gives them a more vested interest in its success.
3. Content That’s Surprising Or Unexpected
If you think about most videos that go “viral,” it’s usually because there’s some kind of surprising or unexpected element to them. Adding some shock value to your content will drastically increase the likelihood people will share it because it creates that “You’ve got to see this” feeling amongst viewers.
4. Content That Provides Valuable Information
The more valuable the information you provide to somebody in your content, the more likely they are to share it. That’s because people like to share advice and tips – especially ones they feel like their friends will find helpful. This can also be a really great way to connect with a specific niche audience as well because if you’re providing tips about a particular topic, people who are interested in that topic are likely to share it with others who are interested in that topic so it becomes a very targeted outreach.
5. Content That Supports An Opinion People Strongly Agree With
One of the biggest reasons that people share content is because it allows them to express an opinion – especially about controversial topics. So, if you create content that takes a strong (and entertainingly expressed) opinion about a controversial subject, it’s likely that people will share that content as a way to express their own opinion about it to their friends.
6. Content That Supports An Opinion People Strongly Disagree With
What’s interesting about opinionated content is that the flipside is also true. Not only will people share it if they agree with you, often times people will share it if they strongly disagree with you for the same reason – because your content gives them an opportunity to express their own opinion on a subject.
Think about it: How many tweets/Facebook posts do you see from people sharing things that they think are stupid, wrong, or ridiculous? A lot. And those shares are spreading your content and most likely exposing it to some other people who will like what you have to say.
7. Content That Inspires People
In general, content with a positive message tends to get shared much more than content with negative connotations – that’s actually been proven. That’s because people want to be inspired and want to inspire other people. If you can create content that does that, you’ll see a nice uptick in how often it gets shared.
This is also an easy one to test out – try posting an inspiring status update on Facebook and then compare it to a negative one. I can almost guarantee you the inspiring one will get more interactions than the negative one.
These seven elements are certainly not the only ways to get people to share your content more often, but they should hopefully give you something to think about as you brainstorm your next creation and how share-able it may (or may not) be.