{"id":10975,"date":"2012-11-13T10:02:37","date_gmt":"2012-11-13T15:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.shareaholic.com\/?p=10975"},"modified":"2014-05-09T12:39:01","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T16:39:01","slug":"how-to-get-people-to-share-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/how-to-get-people-to-share-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways to Get Lurkers to Share Your Content on Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When you first think of National Blog Posting Month<\/a>, you probably think it\u2019s purely a writing exercise. The whole month revolves around creating content every day<\/a>, so most participants focus only<\/em> on consistently putting content into the blogosphere.<\/p>\n

\u2026but NaBloPoMo<\/a> isn\u2019t just<\/em> about writing. Many people have goals for the month that aren\u2019t purely about writing\u2014many people use NaBloPoMo<\/a> to increase reader engagement on their blogs.<\/p>\n

NaBloPoMo<\/a> or not, one of the best ways to gauge engagement on your blog is through measuring social media shares.\u00a0Unfortunately, many bloggers complain they have few social media shares but many real-life interactions that show engagement. A reader will still send them an email, mention the post to them in person on the sideline of their kids\u2019 soccer game or even call them on the phone to discuss their latest post…but the reader won\u2019t share the post to social media.<\/p>\n

So how do you engage lurkers who visit your website day in and day out but never seem to hit the \u201cshare\u201d button?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1. Ask Your Readers to Share<\/h3>\n
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Image courtesy of\u00a0Demi-Brooke<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Like any good relationship, you can\u2019t rely on telepathy for your main form of communication. Many times, your readers won\u2019t think of sharing your content because you haven\u2019t asked them to do it<\/strong>. Don\u2019t be shy about asking for shares\u2014include very straightforward line at the end of your posts that says \u201cIf you liked this post, don’t forget to share it with others!\u201d<\/p>\n

At the very least, make sure you have prominent social sharing buttons<\/a> that clearly indicate that people should share your post. Shareaholic\u2019s own social sharing buttons<\/a>, for example, have phrases available to be placed above our sharing buttons that say things like \u201cSharing is Caring!\u201d or \u201cShare the Knowledge!\u201d Including messages like these above your social media sharing buttons gives your readers a better chance of seeing your social sharing buttons in the first place. If your readers can\u2019t even find your social sharing buttons, they\u2019ll be much<\/em> less likely to go out of their way to copy and paste your link to their favorite social network.<\/p>\n

2. Find Your Content\u2019s Sweet Spot<\/h3>\n

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Besides straight up asking<\/em> people to share your content, you could focus on creating content that rocks your readers’\u00a0socks completely off so they have no choice but to share it with their friends.<\/p>\n

To create incredible content, there\u2019s no point in trying to guess what people may like\u2014use your content analytics<\/a> to show you what your readers care about. Your content analytics<\/a> can help you discover what content gets the most pageviews, shares and referral traffic. Look at your top 10 posts\u2014what do they have in common\u2014certain formats or topics? Determine what format your most popular content has and<\/em> what types of topics are most successful, and then model your future content around it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A post that has a format and topic that your readers love to read <\/em>is your content\u2019s sweet spot\u2014find out what yours is to truly engage your readers.<\/p>\n

3. Integrate Sharing into Your Post\u2019s Layout<\/h3>\n

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Beyond including sharing buttons<\/a> at the end of your posts, you should also integrate sharing into the framework of your post. Try weaving short, punchy sentences into your posts that already sounds like a status update your readers might share. You\u2019ve created the content to share\u2014now all your readers have to do is hit \u201cpublish.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can also increase social shares by weaving sharing tools directly in your content. Click to Tweet<\/a> or Easy Tweet Embed<\/a> are great options to tweet a stat or quote from your post and \u201cPin It\u201d buttons<\/a> are great for sharing images to Pinterest.<\/p>\n

4. Expose Readers to Multiple Pieces of Content<\/h3>\n

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Okay, let\u2019s be real here\u2014even if you optimize your posts for social sharing with the previous 3 tips\u2026there\u2019s a chance you STILL<\/em> may not draw the lurkers out of their social sharing shells. Readers may need to see even more of your content to take action.<\/p>\n

Related content widgets<\/a> are one of the best ways to get more content in front of your readers. A related content widget recommends content to your readers that they might also like, based on their interest in the current post.<\/p>\n

Offering up multiple piece of content per page via related content widgets<\/a><\/span> gives your readers more opportunities to fall in love with your content<\/strong>\u2026and if you\u2019ve already optimized your posts per the previous three tips, they\u2019ll be much more likely to share the next post they discover.<\/p>\n

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Shareaholic<\/div>\n

Join Shareaholic for National Blog Posting Month<\/a> to stay motivated to grow your audience in November!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you first think of National Blog Posting Month, you probably think it\u2019s purely a writing exercise. The whole month revolves around creating content every… 
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