5 Ways to Boost Social Media Sharing

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We live in a social world where much of our news comes from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

To grow your readership and make sure your blog posts get the attention they deserve, you need to encourage your current readers to share what you’ve written on their favorite social media sites. What those sites are will largely depend on the niche your in. Find out where your audience likes to hang out and then focus on getting them to share on those social media outlets to attract more like-minded readers.

Why are social shares important? Social Proof!

Think of it as a product review. I personally don’t like to buy something that only has 1-2 stars or a handful of reviews. I’m gonna go for the product that has 4-5 stars and a ton of reviews! With social sharing, your posts get more street cred.

1. Start With Quality Content

Of course, it all starts with quality content that your readers want to read and share. No one is going to spread a crappy post on social media. Start by writing the best blog posts you can and do some research into what your audience wants and needs.

In other words, serve your market well and they will in turn share what you’re writing with their friends and acquaintances.

2. Make It Pretty

Next, it’s time to pretty up your post. Break up your content into small bite-sized chunks so it’s easy to read. Add some subheadings and formatting to make it easy to scan through the content. And don’t forget to add a pretty image that captures the essence of your post.

Step away from your desk and then come back and look at it with fresh eyes. Is the blog post visually appealing? Does it grab your attention? If not, go back to the drawing board and see what you can do to improve it.

3. Make It Easy To Share

When your goal is to get people to share your blog post on social media, you want to make it as easy as possible to share. We talked about what social media sites your audience favors earlier. Make sure you have one-click buttons to share the blog post available for all those sites. If you are running your blog using WordPress you should be able to find a plugin to help you do this.

The one I use on this blog and highly recommend is Social Pug. It has the option to have share buttons at the top of your post, as well as floating on the side of the page. It will also show your share counts, which helps with the social proof I mentioned earlier.

You can also use a tool to schedule your own social media posts ahead of time, to get things going. I love using Tailwind, which can schedule Pinterest and Instagram posts. They even have an awesome Hashtag Finder Tool to help you find the best hashtags for your content.

4. Add “Click to Tweet” Quotes

An easy way to boost your social media sharing is to insert “Click to Tweet” quote blocks, right in your post. If you are using Social Pug Pro, you already have this feature built-in. You can even set a quote to been seen in the block but have a longer message that will pop up in the tweet box. It’s a great option!

If you don’t have the Pro version of Social Pug, you can use another plugin that will do the same thing, such as, Better Click To Tweet.

5. Ask For The Social Media Share

Buttons are great, but sometimes it takes a little extra push to get your readers to take action. Don’t be afraid to ask for the social media share. Close your articles and blog posts with a little sentence or two that asks them to share on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, etc. if they enjoyed the post. And don’t forget to let them know how much you appreciate it when they share the love.

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Sarah

I've been blogging as a hobby since I was 14 years old. Now I am sharing all the information I've learned over the years.