One of the best things your subscribers can do to your content on Facebook is to share it in their own social circles.
Sure, a “like” will still appear on their profiles but “shares” are even more attention-grabbing to other people. It means that the user appreciates the content so much that they took the time to share it and people in their circles will notice that.
Let us not forget to mention that shares are more effective at spreading your material because a shared content holds more information that a potential sharer and customer can see. These are content that can help you with your business.
Remember that recommendations from friends are even more effective than straight up advertisements people see.
However, like all endeavors on social media for businesses, it takes work for your content to be successful. You cannot throw everything at the wall and just see what sticks.
Thankfully, there are a lot of tips out there to help business owners or starting social media managers be better at getting that coveted share from their following on Facebook.
Here, we list 10 tips to help you get more shares on Facebook.
1. Be Relevant And Appropriate
Part of not throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks is by publishing materials which are relevant and appropriate to your audience. Materials are relevant when they have something to do with your profile or page on Facebook and the people who follow you. For example, you cannot start talking about a cake if your page is for a consumer electronics store. Unless of course if that cake came with a plug in cake holder that told everyone who gets a slice how much calories they are going to consume and then automatically cleans itself after the cake is gone. People followed you on Facebook or liked your page because they are interested in what you post for your niche. Posting content relevant and appropriate for your audience also shows them you take the time to know your audience.
2. Be Concise With Posts And Captions
While I was writing number 1, I was very mindful that it was getting very long. I still had a lot to say for that one but I am following this second advice, and I am sure you already got the point. Be concise means to be direct to the point. Why do so? Because Facebook itself says that posts the length of tweets on Twitter (100 – 150 characters) get 60% more likes, comments and shares. The longer the post, the more likely people will TL;DR it.
3. Learn The Best Schedule To Post
We actually have a dedicated post here on Social Barrel about when to post content on your social media accounts. Go check it out. (Best Times to Post on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest) For Facebook, the peak time to post is during Wednesdays at 3p.m. Of course, you can’t post all your content just once a week. The best time to post every day is between 1p.m. to 4p.m. The worst time to post is either in the weekends and from 8p.m. to 8a.m. Nonetheless, we are not saying that these are the definitive times to post on Facebook for every profile and page owner out there. Study your audience and gauge the best times to post for your own situation.
4. Post Visually Striking Content
Facebook is not Pinterest where photos and videos are the highlighted content. Nevertheless, Facebook is the world’s biggest photo sharing site apart from being the world’s foremost social network. Furthermore, visual content is very effective in getting attention from your audience. When you do share a photo or a graphic, make sure it is striking and captures the attention. Of course, it still has to follow tip number 1. Ask yourself, is this relevant and visually striking at the same time?
(Looking for a guide on Pinterest for Business? Read: Use Pinterest For Business To Increase Traffic – And Sales – Through Your Site)
5. Be Consistent and Genuine In Your Voice
This is the danger for social media accounts on Facebook managed by a team of people. If your business or your personality page has more than one person managing it, make sure that that team knows your business’ or your personality’s voice. People follow you because of who you are as a business or celebrity. Make sure every post is in line with your voice. Plus, make sure every post is consistent with that voice.
6. Use A Call To Action
If you ask people to like, share, comment or subscribe (like the page or follow the profile), they are more likely to do so. This is why you hear this advice time and again from marketers: include a call to action with your posts. This is also true for other social media platforms like Twitter (ask for retweets or favorites), LinkedIn (ask for shares), Pinterest (ask for likes, comments and repins) and Google+ (ask for shares). A call to action essentially reminds people that they can do something to your content on Facebook. We are hoping that something is to share your content.
7. Strive To Entertain Once In A While
Your profile or page may have a not so fun focus but that does not mean you have to be drab and humorless. Part of what makes a profile or page great is that it has a sense of humor. In fact, if you ask us personally, we will say that part of what makes life great is humor. People react to content which are funny. They will do stuff with it, particularly sharing it with their personal social network so that their friends can also have a good chuckle. Space out publishing funny content to get people to look forward to your content.
8. Post Educational Content
The same advice as number 7 goes for posting educational content. Space out posting educational content from your profile or page. Not everyone loves to learn new things but people are receptive to learning when they feel like it is not work. Give your followers teasers of articles that deal with how-to topics and tips and then link them to your own website. You are more likely to get shares for posts like these than just status updates that do nothing for the subscriber.
9. Share Interesting Lists
Make an interesting list and if you can, get a graphics artist to make an infographic out of it. Then, share it with the people who follow you on Facebook. These types of content are likely to go viral given their content and presentation is great. When your content goes viral, your popularity also goes viral as people see your profile or page name associated with this awesome viral content. People love lists. We are guessing that is part of the reason why you are reading an article titled 10 Tips To Get More Shares On Facebook.
10. Make Sure Your Material Has Value To People
Ultimately, it all boils down to one question: Does your material have value to people? If your material does not have value to people, you can rest assured that they are going to unlike your page or unfollow you. If your material has value, more and more people will follow you and share your content. People follow you for a reason whether that reason may be that you make them laugh, you entertain them, you teach them stuff or you inform them. Without that value they get from following you and sharing your content, why should they?
Getting more shares on Facebook takes work from planning to implementing, so go and work on it.
Image from Eston Bond on Flickr (CC)
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