It is said that recommendations are one of the most powerful marketing tools. It’s also one of the cheapest ones since anyone can hit the “share” button nowadays. But to actually convince someone to share, now that’s the real challenge. Here’s how you can convince your readers to share the content from your website, in a few simple steps.
This magical word, “share”, can become one of your most important tools. A satisfied client who can recommend your products or services can become one of the best marketing people from your business. That’s because he usually offers an honest feedback to those around him and he’s not even paid to do so. More than that, the client’s friends will trust more what he says than whatever your commercials might say.
But recommendations should not come only from existing clients. There’s also the possibility of having people recommending our business, even though they haven’t bought anything yet. You never know who the information is bound to reach, and there are high chances that the one that made the recommendation will eventually also buy. All these are encapsulated under the function of the “share” button.
Therefore, here are a few steps through which we can encourage people to use this function more often:
1. Who do I want people to share the content from my website?
It’s very good that you want people to share, but you also have to be aware of why you want this. It might be because you are looking for new clients, maybe you want to please and spoil the already existing ones? Maybe you wish to have a stronger voice in the world of the internet and some extra supporters might come in handy? Find out why and you will see the “how”.
2. Would I share my own website content?
The biggest fan of your business has to be you. Therefore, taking a look at your site from the outside, would you share your content? Quite often, if we take a few steps in our users’ shoes, reading the site from our readers’ perspective, we can notice more easily what and where needs improvement. Because the first person that should wish to give a share has to be you.
3. Why should users share the content?
I don’t think the question requires any further details, therefore we’re getting straight to two easy methods that help us convince them to hit the share button:
- The content has to be really, really good. Just as it has to be close to the hearts and thoughts of the users, not some rigid sales text. It has to be something that delights the users, something that speaks to them. And about this we’re going to talk in more detail at the copywriting section. And if you can’t have a top notch content, at least have an honest one that communicates something to the people, that doesn’t just force feed promotions and products.
- Since we’ve already talked about promotions, it’s quite easy to challenge your community through various contests that imply a share from the user. It’s one of the fastest methods towards making yourself heard, through the usage of the famous giveaways. Beware though, to keep your word regarding what you promise in the contest, otherwise it might all turn around against you.
How can I optimize and increase the number of users that will share?
There are a couple of simple and efficient methods to do this. Here are some of them:
- Post on as many social media platforms as possible. You can be the best within your field, but if nobody heard of you, it’s all for nothing. That’s why it’s important to make your voice heard in as many places as possible, on as many social media platforms as possible. This way, the sharing rate will increase substantially.
- Post at the peak hours. Even though this might seem pretty obvious and easy, it might prove to be more complicated than at the first sight. There is no golden rule that is generally valid for any form of marketing. However, about the best hours for posting something we will talk in more detail in a different article. The main idea is that you have to find the peak hours that are convenient for your business, because each business is unique and therefore has a unique community. It may be that for a certain business the peak hours are on Monday from 8-10 (a time that is thought to be really effective for sending newsletter campaigns) whereas for other businesses the peak hours might on Friday evenings.
- Keep the content simple, easy, when it comes to the language. Academic language is impressive, but an easy one sells. What would you choose? To impress or to sell? In case you are interested in selling, then it’s essential for the language to be easily understandable by as many people as possible. The more people can comprehend, the better.
- Challenge people to take action, even if it’s just about sharing. It’s healthy to keep a constant connection with your community. The communication has to be mutual, constant and interactive.
Now that you’ve read this article, which advice are you going to begin with? We are awaiting for your reply in the comments’ section and in case you found our article useful, we invite you to share it. Sharing the article is really easy and the information you forward might be of real help for someone from your list of friends. You might never know, but that person will appreciate that he received valuable information. See you soon at the comments’ section.