There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a blog post you’ve spent hours drafting go viral. But there’s also nothing more frustrating than trying to share a post on social media and getting zero likes, shares, or comments. It happens to all of us. But there are ways to improve the chances that your post will resonate with people and get the visibility you want.
Social media plays an extremely important role in everyone’s life, especially when it comes to business. Business owners utilize social media channels to drive traffic to their websites, expand their brand awareness, and increase leads.
Gary Vaynerchuk says Facebook is the best way to reach new customers. Thus, the issue of how to make a post shareable on social media platforms is crucial for business success.
In this post, I’ll show you the key tactics of making a post shareable on Facebook.
Main features of a shareable post
A blog post is a vehicle for your visual content. Your blog post is an easy and intuitive way to display those photos and videos and turn them into eye-catching assets that visitors can swipe through and click.
That’s what your blog post should do—leave people with an idea of what they’ll find on your website. Make sure you’re always creating great content that can share with social media, and it’ll help you get more traction on your blog.
Is your topic shareable?
A compelling topic is key when trying to lead audiences to share your content. People usually tend to share content that ignites something in their hearts and minds.
A study conducted by a team of UCLA psychologists found that people have an inherent desire to dispense information and are regularly attuned to how the things they are seeing will be useful to not only themselves but to others. We’re wired to share—and there are certain ideas that we’re most likely to share.
Thus, your content should be:
- Emotional. Your content idea should strike a chord with audiences and makes them feel something.
- Tied to identity. Such content would make it easy for your readers to feel connected and see themselves in the content.
- Trending. The shareable content has to be related to hot topics and the latest trends.
- Valuable. Such content would provide answers, solutions, and helpful advice.
Is the headline of your post eye-catching?
Once you come up with a powerful, shareable topic, make it easy for the reader to notice your great concept right away.
Study shows that around 70% of all web users scan headlines before deciding whether or not to read the content. So if you’re aiming for some sort of success, you need to get to the point right off the bat.
A powerful, captivating headline is essential in creating shareable content, so as you write titles:
- Show the value. Be clear about what the reader will gain or learn.
- Be specific. Detail what information is included in the content.
- Present possible results. Explain what the reader will get as a result of reading.
- Highlight lists. Show that content will be easily scannable by publishing lists.
- Include numbers. Catch a reader’s attention by sharing how many items are included in your list.
- Speak in the second person. Call out readers by using words like “you” and “your.”
- Use keywords. Include the best keywords most likely to catch your target audience’s attention.
Aim to write headlines that will catch a reader’s attention on social networks with busy feeds. Include emotional and power words to make the reader stop and take note.
Are the images sized and designed for social sharing?
Images and social sharing go hand-in-hand. Adding a dazzling, eye-catching graphic to your post will make it more likely to get noticed and re-shared.
To create shareable social media content, always include featured images that are sized and designed for social sites. Pair each post with a custom image for:
- Facebook
- Recommended size: 1200 x 630 pixels
- Instagram
- Width of 1080 pixels, height between 566 and 1350 pixels (depending on whether the image is landscape or portrait)
- Pinterest
- Recommended size: 1000 x 1500 pixels
- LinkedIn
- 1200 x 628 pixel images are ideal
- Twitter
- Twitter images sizes for in-stream photos: 1024 x 512 pixels are recommended
- YouTube
- YouTube thumbnail size: 1280 x 720 pixels
Is the content easy to share?
Make it easy for your readers to spread your story around the web by promoting sharing options on your content pages.
Add social sharing buttons to all of your pages, so it’s obvious and easy for readers to take action. It must be easy for readers to spread your story around the web. People won’t want to copy and paste links into Facebook or Twitter, so without one-click sharing to social media, you are losing out.
Tips to Make Your Posts More Visible
Now that you have learned how to make your posts shareable, it is important to know how to make your posts visible.
Here’re some tips to make your posts more visible.
Posting Time
Finding the best time to post to social media channels can massively help your blog stand out and reach more of your audience.
But knowing the best times to post, can be a challenge.
Plenty of studies have attempted to uncover a ‘best time to post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and almost every other social media marketing channel, with each study finding a wide range of results.
- According to a Buffer study, the best time to post to Facebook is between 1 pm – 3pm on during the week and Saturdays.
- According to Hubspot: Thursdays and Fridays from 1 pm to 3 pm are the best times to post on Facebook.
- TrackMaven finds Thursday at 8 pm the best time possible to share a post.
- 1–4 pm late into the week and on weekends, according to CoSchedule.
- Off-peak, according to Buzzsumo.
Post new updates yourself
As the matter of fact, scheduling posts to Facebook yourself instead of using a service like Buffer or Hootsuite is probably the most important factor in getting your content seen organically. Facebook’s algorithm favors posts uploaded by the user.
Scheduling a post natively on Facebook is pretty simple. When you’ve finished typing your post, don’t hit “Publish” straight away, but click on the little downwards arrow and select “Schedule” from the drop-down menu.
Keep it Simple
Avoid using complicated sentences. Keep the sentences short and understandable. It is a social media platform, after all. No one would be interested in reading a text similar to an academic article.
Summing up
To wrap it up, I’d like to say that apart from following the key tactics of making a post shareable, you’d need to use some creativity and experimentation. In this way, you’ll come up with your own ways that help you get the most reach possible from every piece.
Building a successful blog takes time and effort, but the results are well worth it. If you have content to share, why not create one for us? Just let us know what you’re working on in the comments below.