We explore a number of tips to increase your social media shares.
If you make just a few adjustments to the way you approach your social media marketing, you could receive a massive boost in social shares. So here we take a look at a few ways to do just that.
1. Do your research
Researching trending topics ahead of time is a must. Knowing what’s popular in your industry is the key to getting as many social shares as possible.
Buzzsumo is a great tool for finding such trending topics. With this tool you will be able to search for trending content by using keywords or topics. You can also filter by domain and view their top content. The search results will give you a list of articles weighted by the number of shares they received.
2. Ensure your blog can be shared easily
If your users can’t find a share button on your blog, do you think they will share it? Probably not, unless the content is *that *good. So you need to make it as easy as possible for visitors to share your content. The easiest way to do this is to include social sharing buttons. These can be easily implemented if you have a WordPress website as there are many plugins out there that offer the service.
3. Improve your headlines
If your headline isn’t up to scratch, it can stop people from even bothering to read your article. Try to hook your audience with some context so they know what’s going to be in the article.
Audiences on social media tend to share bite-sized pieces of content, similar to articles found on BuzzFeed. They also address their audience directly. They use ‘you’ and ‘your’ throughout. This isn’t necessarily what you need to include in your content, just an idea what type of content gets shared a lot.
4. Don’t forget images
Attaching images to your posts will help them stand out and increase engagement. There are many stock photos that are free to use, including the library from Pixabay.
Although stock photos are great, you may want to invest some time into creating visuals that are unique to your brand. Tools like PicMonkey are simple to use alternatives than the expensive, more in-depth Photoshop. Using tools like PicMonkey will give you great images to accompany your content.
Read and comment on the original Social Media Examiner article.