It’s disheartening when no one shares or talks about the content you create. You spent time and effort to create original, high-quality and valuable content so it’s natural that you want people to not only see it but also share it.
We get you. So here are proven ways to encourage website visitors to share your content with their followers.
Add Social Sharing Buttons
The first step is pretty obvious – make sure you have social sharing buttons on your blog posts. Top tips to remember for your social sharing buttons:
Display your buttons in a prominent position. Consider having your buttons at the top and bottom of the content. Floating buttons are great, but bad if they cover up the content.
Don’t overdo it. Avoid the temptation to display every single sharing button your plugin offers. Maximum 6 buttons.
Make sure they work on mobile devices. Don’t take them for granted, test your buttons on your smartphone and tablets.
Speed. Your articles won’t get read much less shared if they are slow to load.
One other nice-to-have feature is shareable quotes, or a click-to-tweet box like this:
Tip: Not all sharing plugins have this feature, but you can create your own shareable quotes at clicktotweet.com with their HTML embed feature.
Recommended Plugins
Social Pug. Clean and simple design makes it easy to get started. Pro version adds more features including click-to-tweet.
Sassy Social Share. Lots more share buttons and features, including a share counter. Completely free, but has some interesting add-ons you can purchase.
Social Warfare. Great looking and easy to set up. A lot of features including floating buttons and click-to-tweet even in the free version, and Pro unlocks even more features.
There are tons of other social sharing plugins available, so we’ll direct you to this excellent roundup to explore even further options:
14 Best WordPress Social Media Plugins for Sharing and Engagement
Write Exciting Headlines
The next tip is something you put into action while you’re creating the content, and that is to write a good post title or headline.
Just like how your page titles and descriptions help you make a great first impression in search, your headlines grab attention as users are scrolling through Facebook and Twitter and direct them to your website.
A good headline must be useful to the reader, provide a sense of urgency, and imply that the benefit is unique to this piece of content. Be specific in the way you phrase the three. For example:
Bad headline: 5 Places To Visit in Bali
Good headline: Only 7% of Bali’s annual tourists know this secret hideout in Ubud and it’s closing down soon
The headline above is useful to people who are interested to visit Bali, provides a sense of urgency at the end, implies uniqueness (only 7% of the famous island’s tourists?!) and is very specific.
So don’t rush this step of content creation. Take time to write your best headline, because you only have eight seconds to hook your readers’ attention. Make sure it’s worthwhile. Learn more about writing better headlines.
Make Your Share Preview Attractive
This step builds on your headlines to make your social shares irresistible.
Ever notice how some shares look great, while others look bland and boring? Good news is that you can make your social shares look great too.
We’ve already written a complete blog post about it, so check it out here:
