What Makes People Share and Retweet Blog Posts Anyway?
Although you may be thinking that in order to make it worth sharing, your content must be great, original and have an out-of-this-world quality about it, you are only partly right. There are various factors that make a piece of content worth sharing with others; here are some that have been proven to work time and again:
Relevancy
We need to distinguish between two different types of posts. The first type of post is about something that has happened that week or that day, for example related to a Google update or the death of Steve Jobs. This type of content will lose popularity and become ‘old news’ with the passing of time. In the other hand, there are the types of blog posts which are always fresh and relevant, whose value does not diminish over time, for example ‘Internet Marketing Strategies For Bloggers’. These posts have the greatest potential of being shared continuously over time.
Connections
How far your post or article or tweet can spread depends on how many connections you have – people who are your fans on Facebook; people you are linked to on LinkedIn; the number of followers on Twitter and Google+, as well as your email list subscribers. Then, it also depends on the connections of your connections. If you can get your post Retweeted by someone with thousands of connections, then your post is going to reach far wider than if it is Retweeted by someone with few connections.
Improving Your Results
Successfully marketing your business and getting the results you want is not just a matter of luck, there are actually important steps you can take to improve your results.
- Continue to grow your email list and audience on social media; market yourself and network with the movers and shakers of your niche. this leads to increasing trust and becoming an authority in your niche.
- Continue to produce great content with headlines that ensure people open and read your posts or emails. Remember, it should be useful and memorable. For instance, who wouldn’t want to share a great offer, a piece of surprising news or great advice that will help a person reach their goals – be it blogging successfully, finding love or buying the best grill on the market?
- Include strong calls to action (CTAs) in your content i.e. tell people what you want them to do with it.
Finally, always keep up your brand image and be yourself. It’s important that you keep up the particular voice of your blog. If it’s humor that works for your audience, then by all means give them their fill. If your readers look to you for guidance because you have a knack for explaining jargon in a simple way they can understand, then keep on writing with that in mind! They will want to share that particular something that sets you apart from other bloggers, with like-minded individuals.
Article by Zelda Zerafa
Zelda Zerafa is a writer and blogger-for-hire.
Zelda has written 7 articles for Bloggers Network
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Thanks for sharing this I already had seen more people retweeting my tweets and sharing my blog post. It really helps. Thanks!
Linda recently posted..schiphol parkeren
Twitter: zeldzerafa
says:
You’re welcome Linda, thanks for reading!
Twitter: richescorner
says:
Definitely, one has to start with good content. Then I would agree that a good headline probably makes the biggest difference in shareable contet. Finally, finding a good trending topic increases the likelihood of your content being shared, but I think thats a lesser factor than the first two.
richard recently posted..Adventures in Ecommerce: 5 Free Ways to Promote Your New Ecommerce Business
Twitter: brillbloggers
says:
I dont know what it is, but I very very rarely will share posts, unless I’ve specifically been asked to by a friend or it’s an exceptionally good post that I think will benefit my friends. Otherwise I’ll just bookmark it for my own references if Im really that interested in it
Robert recently posted..Alternative to Siri for iPhone 4/iPhone 3GS
Twitter: paulas2
says:
Hello Zelda
The blog posts. That are shared the most on my site. Are the ones where I explained how I did something. That achieved a positive or negative result.
By contrast. The blog posts that are shared the least. On my site are the ones where I indicate that there is a need to spend money. And do some work. Such as Blogging or Article writing.
Paul Profitt recently posted..How To Use Twitter For Business
Twitter: zeldzerafa
says:
Richard, I agree that a good headline is important, otherwise your email or post may just be deleted without being read.People’s attention spans are getting increasingly shorter!
Robert, you admitted that people like you do not share often unless asked to – so a call to action (CTA) is required; also helpful to encourage readers like you to share is that there is a universal benefit that can be had from the post.
Paul, you have confirmed what Robert said : How To.. articles with benefits that are relevant to a large audience are the most popular. ‘Salesy’ posts ,on the other hand, are the least popular.
So to sum up we can say that the winners are:
1. Interesting headline
2. The article teaches you how to do something or explains something in better detail.
Thanks all for reading and leaving your comments!
Twitter: webmaisterpro
says:
Most of the time content, but quite often friendship with fellow blogger, as well as I like to re-read already read articles, if content is good.
Carl recently posted..Kaloyan Banev updated blog entry Interview with Mavis Nong in Interviews
Its the unique feature to promote your product or site……..Social network help us to share and learn…..Nice work author
Itender Rawat recently posted..How to Drive Traffic to Your Site Using Twitter
Twitter: zeldzerafa
says:
Thanks Itender. Sharing and learning is a great thing!
Carl, I agree that friendships are also a factor in why people share content. That’s why building contacts on social media is so important.
Awesome, thanks for sharing. I am going to get more social and hopefully some of these tips help. I need to start a wild fire. I have all kinds of good posts up, but they seem to not be getting the attention they deserve. Thanks a bunch.
Ricky recently posted..Have a Hypnotic Hypnosis Holiday
If you are commercial – write about celebrities, movies, music, entertainment, gossips – you will easily be re-tweeted and favourited. What’s more if your content is unique and you tag the celebrity and his PR team sees it, you may get re-tweeted and gain exposure to thousands of fans.
Greek music meloman recently posted..CNN broadcasted a TV program about Serbian turbo-folk music
Twitter: mohamedosam
says:
True. Especially on the gossips part
Thanks for your input
Twitter: reviewsin
says:
It seems basic doesn’t it? Write content that addresses a relevant topic, give it a compelling title, make sure you have a strong CTA, and then just send it out there. Oh well…if it were easy, there wouldn’t be any reward to it right?
sethlyman recently posted..Nono Reviews – A look at some customer reviews for the no!no! 8800
Twitter: zeldzerafa
says:
Sathlyman, we are all chasing the magic… It’s not that hard to play mediocre tennis but it’s not everyone who can be Rafael Nadal
Good point Greek music meloman!
From my experience on social networks, content that has entertainment value – be it blog posts or videos get shared more often. Content that reeks of promotional content hardly gets noticed…
Raj recently posted..Article Writing Service for Improving SERP Rankings
Twitter: explainafide
says:
Having a good reputation amongst your social media connections really helps drive the retweet and traffic.
Robin Jennings recently posted..Image file types- Which should you Use?
I think humor is a good tool to get RT’s and shares, you can’t expect everybody to share content that is dull and not universal!