As we manage social media for several of our clients, we are constantly seeking to answer the question: What makes someone engage with social content online?
A new study by big data platform Shareablee Inc. offers some insight. They tracked the 2,000 most-shared Facebook posts over one year and then surveyed more than 10,000 social media users to ask why they share those posts. The report, “What makes Brands’ Social Content Shareable on Facebook?”, identifies the most significant drivers to help brand marketers create shareable content.
Not surprisingly, the study found that the brands generating the most content-sharing are those in the media/entertainment and media publishing categories, with a whopping 1.7 billion and 1.2 billion total shares respectively from January to November 2015. Fox News leads the media/entertainment category with more than 37.8 million shares; BuzzFeed Food tops the media-publishing category with 44.5 million shares.
So what compels content sharing? Although the drivers vary by brand category as well as user demographics, the study found that the main motivators are:
- Social currency
- Emotion
- Usefulness
- Content that tells a story
Simple, right? The hard part is developing content that meets those criteria. A few brands that did it well, according to Shareablee, are Domino’s Pizza (the “Tweet to Order” Emoji campaign both simplified and integrated social media into the ordering experience) and Lane Bryant (the “I’m No Angel” campaign leveraged user-generated content and the sharing of personal stories).
Another study by AOL Insights homes in on why consumers engage with certain content. The researchers analyzed more than 7,300 moments when someone interacted with specific content and identified new ways marketers can develop better content.
According to the study, the top ways consumers engage with content and the leading topics within those segments are:
- Inspiration: Fashion and style
- To be in the know: Current events
- Finding specific information: Maps and directions
- Comfort: Dating and relationships
- Connection: Comedy
- Feel-good: Family and parenting
- Entertainment: Comedy
- To update socially: Public figures and celebrities
Of course, these studies provide general guidelines. The trick is finding what works for your specific audiences. Here are a few basic areas I recommend focusing on:
- Best practices: What we think we know about social media and what the reality is aren’t always the same. Tap into social networks’ own research as well as that of third party sources and apply sound principles to your social strategy
- Analysis: Regularly review insights across all platforms to gauge what resonates with your audiences on each channel. Use the learnings to adjust your strategy and inform future content
- Brand consistency: Stay true to the brand. Incorporating a unified voice and consistent messages across all platforms is essential to reinforce brand recognition
How do you increase the odds your audiences will engage with your social content?
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