Social media is conversation. It’s a way for people to exchange ideas, discuss common ground and share interesting information.
The idea behind it is simple:
- Generate great content
- People pick it up and share it with others
- You get more followers, fans and comments
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But if you’ve been using social media for a while and no one is sharing your stuff?
What do you do?
The first thing to do is to make sure your content can be found. After all, if no one’s reading it, no one can share it.
Why your content is being passed over
Before you start to panic, don’t. If no one is sharing, all you have to do is rethink how you’re using social media.
Here are 5 reasons that could hold the answer to why your content isn’t being shared.
1. Trust
People will only share content from those they trust.
To develop trust you must engage with people, be open and chatty. If you’re merrily throwing stuff ‘out there’ without taking the time to get to know your followers and fans, it’s hardly surprising they don’t trust you.
2. Caring about your brand
People will only share your stuff if they care about your brand.
Of course, you can’t force them to care, but if you take time to build a relationship with them and are generous with your information, tell them about offers, give away tips or even freebies, you will begin to develop a deeper relationship. They will follow you more closely and tell their friends to do the same.
3. Don’t be boring
No one wants to read something that’s boring, so they certainly won’t share it.
If you churn out blog posts, Facebook posts and tweets that are dull, you won’t be engaging with anyone.
Add a bit of humour to your activities. People like to laugh; it makes them feel good. And if you can make someone feel good, guess what? They’ll share your stuff to make their friends feel good too.
4. Passion
The best way to get people to connect with what you’re doing is to show your passion for your topic. Be open, be human and be real. If the reader can get a sense of your personality through what you write, they’ll be able to connect with you and will be more likely to share what you’re saying with others.
Admittedly, laying yourself bare like that can sound scary, but if they can see you are human, they’ll warm to you. By writing about things you care about, you’ll be sharing your loves with others. And when we write about something we love, our emotion shines through and touches the reader.
5. Building relationships
There’s no getting away from it, if you want to engage people you have to build relationships.
Setting up your social media portfolio one day, and expecting great results the next, isn’t going to work.
Social media is something you have to work at.
You must listen, engage, chat and debate with your fans and followers to find out what they really want. If you put out information they’re not interested in, they’re not going to share it.
Create a strategy
If you’re in business and want to leverage the power of social media, you must have a strategy in place that should encourage engagement and prevent PR nightmares.
The most important thing to remember is that social media isn’t a form of advertising. As a company, you have to use social media to engage with them and provide them with useful information.
You must listen to your customers, find out what they want and provide it for them. In fact, you have to exceed their expectations.
Marketing is tough as there are more companies chasing a diminishing amount of cash. Today you have stand apart from you competitors and social media will help you do that.