Posted by Tom Leto in Uncategorized
Traffic creates tourists…We want to spend our money building trust, so the real people who move the needle for our business will trust us and that will lead to loyalty—and loyalty trumps everything.
~ Mark Schaefer
Here at LinkedSelling, we couldn’t agree more.
Mark Schaefer is the author of multiple books on social media marketing, and his blog, Grow, occupied the #2 spot on the top 10 blogs of 2015.
He was recently interviewed on Social Media Examiner about social sharing, in How to Get More People to Share Your Content. In this episode, Mark dives right into the nuts and bolts of how to write content that people WANT to share, as well as WHY people share content. These are both so important to become familiar with, because why else would you spend time writing a blog, if not to get it seen by as many people as possible?
Why Do Readers Participate in Social Sharing?
According to Mark, the 1st step in writing shareable blogs is to understand WHY people participate in social sharing. You’ll have to listen to the podcast for his entire explanation, but here is a summary of the three main reasons he lists.
- To help others.
- To express their own identity.
- They have an emotional connection with the brand
His outline of why people share content is easy to understand, follow, and replicate, but that is only half the battle.
How to Write Blogs that Encourage Social Sharing
What really struck me in this podcast, is the nitty-gritty explanation Mark gives of how to effectively write blogs that will encourage social sharing. Whether you publish a B2C or B2B company blog, you will use very similar techniques for writing content, in order to get other folks to share it.
Your blog content is the key, especially if you are posting your blogs on a professional social site such as LinkedIn or your own website. Your content must speak to, as well as inform, those who read your content. The content must be seen as useful information to your reader.
That means, the main goal of the content is to HELP the reader, not make a sale.
[bctt tweet=”The main goal of #contentmarketing is to HELP the reader, not make a sale. #Truth.”]This may seem counter intuitive. Generally, B2B companies want their content to be shared for financial gain, but that is not one of the reasons Mark lists for why people engage in social sharing. Readers don’t come to your blog, in the hopes of giving you their money. It is only after you have built up their trust, after they have learned how great your services or products are, that they will choose to make a purchase.
To have a successful blog that results in financial gain, trust must precede the sales pitch.
[bctt tweet=”To have a successful #blog that results in financial gain, #trust must precede the sales pitch”]To learn more about social sharing and how to write good content that will be shared, Mark Shaefer will explain it all to you.