We all want more traffic and social shares for the content we create on our sites. So how can we get them? Easy… create content that provides value and is something that people actually want to share!
Sounds easy enough right? Well… don't think it's that easy, but it is quite possible if you follow these simple steps.
I'm sure once you're done reading through this post, you might actually want to share it with your audience and social followers as well 🙂
Here's five quick and easy ways to start creating content that people will actually want to share.
Everyone Loves “How To” Posts with Examples
No matter what niche or industry you are in, people are always going to be searching for different ways to do things online.
Some of the most successful sites are based solely on showing people how to do stuff — just look at WikiHow for example… they are usually at the top of the search results whenever you are search for any “how to” type of article.
The same holds true for the world of blogging and online marketing. A great example of this can be seen on a post I wrote on SearchEngineJournal in October. I wanted to share seven different ways to explode social shares for your site… but I also went the extra mile and includes examples of each method (just like this post does) and how other sites are currently using them to get more shares on their site.
The end result? A killer article with over 3,490 social shares, which ended up being the 3rd most popular article on their site for the month!
Create an Infographic
As much as we all love some good stats and backing up our marketing ideas and blogging efforts with numbers… reading text based reports and getting overwhelmed with numbers and boring statistical jargon isn't going to be fun or memorable for anyone.
Thankfully we no longer have to look at boring data reports to get excited about the most recent Black Friday Sales numbers or how WordPress is continually growing in market size year after year — no, instead we can all benefit from this boring data through exciting infographics!
Infographics are awesome for a number of reasons… such as they are easy to glance through while still obtaining the data, visuals make it much easier to understand, they are fun to share and they also increase traffic, shares and backlinks to our sites.
A perfect example of this would be Top Web Hosting Infographic that was created by Blogging.org a while back. Based off the data from a 5,600+ blogger survey, all of the hosting companies were ranked in order. This not only provided a valuable resource for anyone looking to find a quality web host, but it was also a great way for top web hosting companies to promote where they were ranked as well (while also building links back to blogging.org).
Interview Industry Experts
No matter if you are building you first web site, starting an internet company or even trying to become a better parent or a professional singer… the advice from other industry or worldly known experts is something we all seek out. We all want to be better at something and when we can learn from those who are already successful at what we are trying to achieve, we simply eat it up!
This is something we often see in the online marketing and blogging space and perfect example of this is when top blogs interview other expert bloggers. For example, Ms. Ileane was recently interviewed on the hugely popular blog ShoutMeLoud.
The benefits here are all over the place — ShoutMeLoud got to create content for their site, Ileane got promotion on their site and both of there audiences were likely to read and share the content since it was valuable and a common interest.
By interviewing experts on your site, it's usually a safe bet that the expert will also share the content with their social outlet as well — further increasing your potential for more social shares (as they usually have a large and loyal online following).
Focus Your Content Around a Celebrity Figure
If you don't want to interview an expert within your space or you might think you are in a weird niche where there is no one to contact, you can always put a celebrity or famous person spin on your content.
A great way to do this is through the use of celebrity or motivational quotes.
On my blog I continually write about new ways to make money online and various things I've done over the years. Bill Gates has always been an inspiration of mine, and I knew he was to many others as well — so I thought it would be a great idea to look for some of Bill's top quotes online, turn them into images and then make a post about what Bill Gates taught me about business .
The post was a great success and resulted in over 400 social shares. How could you apply this same method to a blog post for your niche?
Make Your Content Extremely Easy to Share
The last point I want to cover is one of the most simple… yet so many blogs are still getting it wrong — which is to create engaging content and make it easy for people to share your blog content.
I still come across blogs all the time that create amazing content, but when I go to share the content, they don't have social sharing buttons on their page! The simple act of installing a social plugin to WordPress and adding a floating social bar or buttons at the top and bottom of your posts make a world of a difference. (Ileane has great social buttons placement on this site, right at the top and bottom of each post… and also on the main page in each post excerpt)
Ian Cleary has become a master a social media tools and he created a great post on how to improve social sharing by 97%, which covers some of these simple, yet so effective ways to increase engagement and sharing on your site. His post on social sharing already has over 2,000 shares in itself, so you know he's got some good tips on there!
How to Create Awesome Share Worthy Content
It's so easy for online marketing experts to say “create great content” and then let you be on your way…. however this is only half of the truth.
Yes, you need to create great content, but it also needs to be compelling to your audience, provide value (to both your audience and your business) but also make it easy to share and something worthy of being shared in the first place.
For best results, be sure to apply these same principles to your blog, while also matching your target audience and niche…. and last but not least, before going live with your latest blog post always ask yourself… “is this something you would want to share with your audience?”
Recommended Reading:
- The Complete Guide to Using Twitter Lists Like a Pro
- The Tao of Twitter, Revised and Expanded New Edition: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time
- Duct Tape Marketing Revised & Updated: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
- How You Can Build Community on the Web and Optimize Toward Success
I’m planning to start a blog next month… great tips thank you 🙂
This is certainly a great post. Every point is very practical and really I have seen many people to share such contents on Facebook (mainly). I have a question – I want to know something from you. Will I get better ranking if I have a good number of Facebook share/like (Only facebook) than another article, which has more G+ share and +1?
It’s always been up for debate whether social shares actually help with rankings. We definitely know that they don’t hurt, but how influential they are is up for question.
However, we do know that sites like Buzzfeed (which gets massive social shares) has a lot of top ranking articles with titles like “7 Insane Ways to Get Paid Online” (example) with minimal content… yet lots of social shares.
So to answer the question, I would have to say social shares definitely help — but in many ways, such as building exposure, gaining links from other sites and so on.
I guess a lot of bloggers do not have the mindset of “is this something you would want to share with your audience?”
Most of them just write up a content and publish it without actually solving a problem within the content itself, when that happens sharing become less.
I believe content that is solving a problem will get more shares than content with just advice.
Hello Zac,
Thanks so much for sharing these suggestions with us. You’ve given me some great ideas and just in time for the new year so I can start off with something new for my blog :).
Hope you and Ms. Ileane have had a great week. Have a wonderful weekend.
Excellent, I’m so glad to hear!
Hi Zac,
Awesome article. Social sharing is the star for any content, I need to still add buttons to my site, would do it in coming week for sure.
Infograph is the big deal, if done right it is the easiest way to earn a backlink. Many people find infograph more easy to understand than the blog post.
Celebrity post and interviews would definitely rock, noted down for sure.
Thanks for such nice tips. Have a great day and take care buddy. 🙂
Hi Zac,
Brilliant points, I always love reading your tips on blogging tips niche and also here. Blog can also be regarded as a mini social site where you put your opinion forth and readers put their own opinion through comments.
I have question: Info graphic is great and readers will do always like to see how the information has been visualized, Do you have a thought of doing any post via Info graphic ? , if so may i know which tool you free to it ?
Thanks,
Siva
Great tips Zac and thanks for including my post! Ian
No problem, it’s always easy linking to great content! 😛
I love this post. I run a new website and social sharing has been one of my biggest issues.
Thanks for the post Zac.
Thank you for recommending my book sir.
I’m hoping to create my own personalized blog, thanks for the tips 🙂
Social shares on my website are very low and I am looking for some tips to increase my social shares, then I found your website. After reading this article I think this is really going to help me. I also want some suggestions from if you written any article about the YouTube and earning from YouTube then suggest me some links.
John Paul, I have tons of article on YouTube. You can find them here https://basicblogtips.com/category/youtube
You could probably bring a whole new wave of traffic to your site if you focus more on celebrity quotes and then use hastags on twitter to send out your content. (for examples “quote here – #bradpitt url link) – Lots of people will find your content this way.
I have just started 2 blogs and this article was so useful.
I will definitely try a couple of things mentioned in this article. But creating good info-graphics will be costly for starters.
Hi Zac Johnson! thankyou for this informative post social share is very important for any blog for stay connected with fans.
Thanks for the tips. I would like to add few lines that when talking about social sharing, Three things it should have : uniqueness,helpful and interesting for other people.If do so then no matter the social sharing button will increase counting. Other thing is the engagement in the Groups, the more you are there the more ideas and content will share.
I’ve been focusing a lot more effort on social media lately and growing my following. I’ve seen a 10% increase over the past few weeks and am currently at 28,000 Twitter Followers. I expect to be around 75,000+ by the end of the year. Growing out a REAL social following is key to building your brand and business to that next level.
Make posts shareable! I have a handful of share buttons on my blog and also ask folks to share my stuff regularly. Gotta ask em a bunch if you want more social shares. Zac, loving the tips! I feel that creating really, really good stuff makes it easier to share your stuff too. Like take this post; the content rocks, the images rock, you have a nice flow of comments coming in and you, and Ileane, 2 power players, are working together to create something awesome.
I’ve published 7,000 word posts recently – save last week lol – and I gottta say, my shares have jumped muy pronto. It’s been pretty easy to boost the shares and I gotta admit, the more I write the easier it becomes to write. Meaning, by writing a really in-depth, eBook sized post weekly I’m generating more social shares than ever….and it feeds upon itself, the process does, because the more I write, the more my writing skills improve.
I’m also huge on explicit asking. Like, I may end a post with a clear and direct call to share, and I think that after reading this post I can use a graphic or icon to drill the point home. People need it, methinks 😉 Zac, thanks for the share! And thanks Ileane for sharing the spotlight!
Ryan
Always great to see your comments Ryan!
Definitely… long posts simply do better, even when people don’t read them! Just the fact that they are long makes people want to share them and the value that is offered!
Awesome post, social shares have become an important factor in search engine rankings. These ways can boost our social shares and search engine rankings as well.
Hi Ileane
Thanks for the tips. I could for sure use more social shares on my blog posts. That being said, my How-To post is some of the post, that gets shared the most 🙂 Maybe I should start making some Infographics too.
Its great to see your post being shared around in the social media but sharing is one thing, being shared in the wrong audience is another thing, you see I had seen post with hundred of shares but only one lousy comment. This make me believe that sharing is only good if the sharing is towards the right audience, guess that’s what I had seen around the blogging sphere. Hmm… what’s your opinion about this?
Awesome post, social shares have become an important factor in every bloggers websites. These ways can boost our social shares so easily across all social media platforums so fastly.
Hey Zac,
Really helpful post. I believe that social shares not only help a blog to rank higher, but it also helps increasing the traffic and successful leads, which ultimately turns out to great source of revenue. So these simple tips will really help me to grow my blog. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this zac. I just started a blog but i do the sharing manually but with this i will get some load off my chest.
I have been struggeling to get shares for my content for a while now. It just seems like it is not really popular to share content in such an industry specific niche.
I’m gonna follow your suggestion and try to write some How-to and see if that can get some shares
Thanks for the tip!
I definitely agree with you on that one. Not all niches will be great for comments, especially the “steel” industry. Something that would get social shares is creating a post with a unique and funny twist… such as “10 Celebrities with Abs Stronger than Steel!” — it’s not exactly your demographic audience, but it’s a way to stir up some social shares and traffic.
Thanks a lot for this article… I was looking to boost my blog’s social shares and here i’ve come to a best post.. Well-written! 🙂
Great article! Being a teenager blogger trying to promote my social good start-up, finding people to share my content can be one of the hardest things. Your tips and insight are really well-founded, and I can’t wait to utilize them for my own blog soon!
Thank you so much!
Interesting article. I like these easy button share that enables you to share article that you like in just one click.
Brilliant tips! I’ll be using these at work tomorrow.
They seem so easy, yet we forget how important these steps are!
I love your Bill Gates quote pix, great idea.
It seems like I could find you anywhere, Zac. It’s a great tips on how to get more shares through social media. I’ve been blogging for years but there are always tricks I have missed. Thanks for this article I can practice it for now
Inspiring article! Of course we all want to be shared over social networks, so this information surely will help lots of people out.
full of inspirations!
I become fan of you Zac, let me plan how your tips will work for my blog 😛 I mean to whom I should interview
Zac Johnson! thanks for this informative stuff we all make blogs for traffic and getting revenue from it so social share is very important for any blog to stay connected with fans and get more and more traffic
Yes i found some steps to share my blog post in different social networks. I never used social sharing tools to my blog and my blogs social sharing icons are little hard to share. I have just started my blog and i am using my almost time in internet searching different tips. The basic thing i learn is to create informative content in post and the blog post must be easy to share with other social networking followers and contacts. Thank you for an amazing article you have shares with us.
I’m just about to start blogging on my website to add more content, and adding pictures with famous quotes and adding infographics are great tips. I’m sure they will get people’s attention.
Great Post! I want to reiterate on turning your blog into a social media outlet! It is definitely important to write great content that people will want to share and it is just as important to give your audience a way to share the post or like the site! Reader interaction is a great tool that we now have in our possession with social media! Again great post!
Good article for the people that just started in this world of blogging, like me!
Thanks for sharing it. I didnt knew about this blog, but i will spend a few days reading all the posts you have here.
hey Ileane i wanna ask you one thing, is blog topic effect the social share, i am working on my tech blog but ins’t know why my social sharing is too low on my blog. plz suggest me any thing
Nice article. Pinterest is driving me more traffic than others networks. Also I’ve seen a great change in my organic traffic after receiving some google plus shares.