Using ‘sharing triggers’ to encourage more of your website visitors to share your content is a powerful way to increase readership and in doing so, achieve your content marketing objectives.
Most people have a desire to share, but tend to do it for different reasons. Here are the primary triggers:
1) They see it as positive and/or entertaining
Positive news is more likely to be shared, especially amongst a consumer audience. People like to be the ‘bearer of the good news’ rather than a “Debbie downer.”
Content that elicits high-arousal emotions such as delight, astonishment, excitement, awe, anger, frustration or anxiety gets shared more than something that evokes low-arousal or deactivating emotions such as sadness.
A study conducted by Ipsos showed that 61 percent of online sharers share interesting things; 43 percent share funny things and 29 percent share content that is unique.
2) They think that it would be useful and/or practical
The most shared articles in a B2B audience tend to be interesting and surprising, but also informative.
94 percent of people assess the usefulness of the content to the recipient before sharing.
3) They share what others seem to like
There is a strong desire for approval instilled within us.
People are 32 percent more likely to up-vote a pre-liked comment. This need for validation makes popularity infectious. In fact, it won't be wrong to say that, in most cases, the popularity of something in a person's mind is directly proportional to the popularity of that thing among a group that the person identifies with.
4) It's what they care about.
People are more likely to share content that will help define themselves to others. Beliefs and causes are examples.
68 percent of people share to show who they are and what they care about.
Tip: Make sharing buttons (with the share count) clearly visible around the content you publish.
Make it shareable
Recruit influencers to share/endorse your content
Photos are the most shared post type by brands on Facebook at 77%.