Have you ever wondered which form of social media engagement is most valuable?

Many brands make the mistake of treating all social metrics the same. Shares, likes, follows, and comments can all blend together. This is not the right way to look at your social media data.

Shares should be at the front and center of your digital strategy. When your content is shared, your audience grows. This is much more valuable than other forms of engagement.

Audience Quality

Sharing strategies only work if you have a genuine social media audience. Your followers need to be real people who actually care about your brand.

It is temping to buy large amounts of followers through shady social media promotion services. These profiles are always fake. You may impress a few of your friends with those big numbers, but they won’t help your bottom line. You need real fans to get real shares.

A high quality audience will make it easier to get engagement, while simultaneously making that engagement more valuable. Plan accordingly.

Call to Action

The most basic way to get people to share your content is to ask them to do it. This is known as a call to action.

Right at the start of your content, ask your viewer to share the link on their Facebook profile. Don’t beg or be aggressive.  Ask them the way you’d ask a friend. Here is a sample pitch:

“Hey, thanks for watching my video. I could use your help. If you don’t mind, would you please share this video on your Facebook feed? It makes a big difference for me as I try to grow this channel. Thank you.”

You can read that message in about fifteen seconds. Put it at the beginning of your video, not the end, so people will definitely see it. This is a quick and easy way to boost shares.

Sharing Buttons

What if somebody interacts with your content outside of the social media ecosystem? A viewer on your website may not want to open up a new Facebook tab to share your link.

Include sharing buttons above all of your content on your website. These are the small colorful buttons that say “Share This Post” for various networks. When the button is clicked, it opens a prompt for the user to repost the link on their social media page.

It’s easy to include a few of these buttons on your website. Whenever you post new content, they should automatically show up. You can track how often people click the buttons to see how well this is working for your brand.

Quality Is Everything

You have to put out great content to get a lot of shares. The best marketing in the world can only do so much if the content is bad.

Your goal is to build a quality audience and teach them to share your content. It doesn’t have to happen overnight. Focusing on putting out great videos and blog posts is a healthy way to approach your social media efforts.

If you work hard and have patience, your share rates will start to move. At first, it will be one or two die-hard fans who start sharing your content. It will spread from there until even your newest followers are sharing your page.