How to Get Shares for Your Content

Getting your articles read is one thing and if you have an affiliate link embedded in there somewhere, then each new reader might translate to a new sale and more profits. But if you can get your articles to get shared then the returns will be cumulative and exponential. Aim to get your content to spread across the internet and to get promoted by your readers and you can drastically increase your results.

So how do you do that? The key is to understand the psychology behind sharing and the motivation that people have for doing it.

And understanding this goes back to looking at the fundamental role of social media: social media is a communication tool first and foremost and thus your aim should be to facilitate communication via your content.

So what is someone really trying to say when they share content?

Often, it comes down to a form of self-expression wherein the user is trying to demonstrate that they agree with what you’re saying or that it resonates with them. Someone might share content about working from home because they work from home. They might share an article about nostalgic technology if there is something that brings back a memory for them. This is a little like putting posters up on your wall about your favorite band.

Another reason we share is because we think that other people will enjoy the content. We might share content with our entire network if we think it has general appeal but more often we will share an article with a specific individual we think will appreciate it. Know someone who absolutely loves Bruce Lee and won’t stop talking about them?  Then that article on ‘Why Bruce Lee is STILL the Greatest Martial Artist’ is for them. Know someone who has a bad habit of eating out of date food? Then you might share with them an article on ‘Just Because You Can’t See It, Mold Can Still be Harmful’.

Controversial articles also do well for similar reasons as they allow a discussion, as do articles that can act as resources or guides. ‘A Complete Guide to Every Bodyweight Exercise EVER’ will get lots of shares if it is sufficiently long and well-researched  because people can link to it whenever they’re talking about bodyweight exercises or when someone says something like ‘there aren’t many ways to train your shoulders with bodyweight’ on Reddit.

So how do you hit gold with these sorts of articles that people will share every time?

The secret is to have a target in mind as you write them. Think of your articles like products and research your markets before you make them. Don’t just write a generic article and then hope that someone will read it and share it: write articles knowing precisely the kind of person who will like it (your persona) and the type of use it might have.

This also gives you a route to market for your articles – it gives you a specific place you can post links where you know people will appreciate it. Every time you write your article, imagine you are speaking to a specific type of person as you make your points, or imagine that you are arguing your case in a forum discussion. This way, other people will use your articles to talk to those same people and to argue those same cases.

Personas and Target Demographics

The best way to make sure your content is aimed at a specific type of person is to have in mind a ‘persona’. Your persona is a fictional character who is the perfect target for your blog post or article, or who is the perfect market for your product.

You should treat your personas as you would treat fictional characters in a film. That means thinking about who they are and actually considering everything you can about them. Where do they work? What other things do they enjoy? Where do they spend their time?

You might think this sounds like excessive research for a single article but it can shed light on some new and exciting marketing and promotional opportunities. For instance, you might notice an overlap between the persona you’re selling your affiliate product to and the persona you’re currently writing articles for. If you have a fitness website, then martial artists will likely be interested in some of your content and some of your products. If you are in the dating niche, then an article on clothing might have some relevance.

This then means you can cross over your niches and find new places to recruit customers, fans, subscribers and followers. In turn, that means you don’t have to compete with everyone else in your niche. Posting your article on running shoes and how they can be useful for martial artists in a running forum means you may get some buyers but you won’t be fighting every other running shoe manufacturer and affiliate.

Something to keep in mind as well when creating your content with the hopes of it getting shared, is that a lot of people will share and like posts before they have actually read them! Many of us never get round to reading the things we see posted on Facebook but we will click ‘Like’ as a knee-jerk reaction when we see that the content is about something we like or when we think that it expresses something that has been on our minds.

This then should tell you just how important it is to get the image that will show along it right, as well as the title. These are the only things that many people will go on when they choose to promote your content for you.

If you don’t have the means to create great quality images yourself, then it’s very much worth finding some good stock images you can use and including those instead. Note that pictures of people actually compel us to look on a very fundamental level.