Increase Social Sharing on Your Blog
#1: Streamline the pin process
The importance of pinnable images to your audience may not occur to you if you have a business blog.
As well as getting inspiration for purchases, Pinterest allows users to keep track of articles they want to refer back to.
Making a simple process even simpler? Make it easier for your readers to pin images from your blog.
You can help people along by setting a featured image for the post and adding titles to any other images. When someone pins a post, they choose an image and then type a comment.
Pinterest fills in the pin description with the image name if you don't include an image title with your image. It might be as generic as product-shot-3 without a title.
For every image on your site, you should use an image title too - headers, sidebars, everything. Even if you hope someone pins an image, it's not guaranteed.
For easier pinning, Boogie Wipes adds titles to each of their images in blog posts.
#2: Share buttons for showcases
So people can share your great content with their followers and friends, I'm sure you already have sharing buttons. If you set up sharing buttons for your blog content with your audience in mind, you'll probably get more shares.
You can easily display social buttons on a floating sidebar, such as this one on Infusionsoft's blog because it moves down a page as the reader scrolls. If it's a smooth scroll, not jumpy (and distracting), then it's a constant reminder to pass it along to your friends.
The size of a sharing button matters. If the button is too small, it's difficult to see. If people cannot see it immediately, they may just move on.
Keep your readers' choices limited when you choose the social media sharing buttons you put on your site. You don't want them to feel overwhelmed by too many options, so stick to the ones they use most often.
You can customize the Twitter sharing button (though you can also customize other sharing buttons) once you have your buttons in place. If you are using Pinterest, follow my advice and use the Pinterest buttons.
If the content doesn't fit, they're probably going to stop and click to the next site if you don't have enough time to fit everything in. Twitter only allows 140 characters at a time, right? Your readers won't waste too much time trying to fit everything in.
Make sure your tweets include the title, link, and Twitter name of your blog post. This will allow readers to share your blog post on Twitter simply by clicking the Twitter share button.
Your blog content will be more likely to be shared and interacted with if you do these little things.
#3: Make your posts socially up-to-date
Embedding social media content into a blog post will allow readers to interact with both your blog and your social media platforms at the same time.
You've probably already embedded social media content into a post before. Did you embed a YouTube video into a post? Congratulations, you've already done it.
Your readers can begin their interaction with a particular social media platform right from your blog by integrating your social channels with your blog.
You can embed a Facebook update into your blog post, for instance, and your readers will be able to like and share the update without leaving your blog.
The embedded Google+ post allows your readers to +1 and comments without leaving your site.
Embedding a YouTube video into your next blog post will count as a view on your YouTube statistics every time someone watches it from your blog. Visual content adds value to blog posts.
The simplest way to include visual content is to embed an Instagram picture, a YouTube video, or a Pinterest board, pin, or profile. Visitors to your Instagram post will be taken directly to Instagram's website when they click like or comment.
The user can choose whether to pin an image or see their entire profile or board on Pinterest when they click the See on the Pinterest button next to an image.
The Reply, Retweet, and Favorite buttons allow the user to easily interact with the tweet. When a user clicks the Reply, Retweet, or Favorite button, a pop-up window appears and allows them to respond.
Embedded tweets also offer the added benefit of following you.
#4: Make your content fun (and useful)
In business, people want to do business with people, so you shouldn't regurgitate corporate press releases on your blog. People don't want to comment on a blog full of corporate blah-speak, so be casual.
Content that sounds like it's written by a real person is more likely to be shared and commented on, so it's okay if your blog's tone is slightly different from your product pages or annual report.
By using colorful and interesting fonts in your images, you'll give your content a double-whammy. It's an added bonus since your images will also be more pinnable.
#5: Let users comment easily
You can't expect your company blog to be awash with comments. People are busy and not likely to return to your blog more than once. Perhaps they shared your post on Facebook rather than leaving a comment.
Nonetheless, comments foster a sense of community on a blog. When one person leaves a comment, others are more likely to follow suit. If you respond to a comment, it shows you are listening, which makes the commenter (and others) want to return!
There are a few things you can consider if you feel that comments aren't coming in. The more hoops your audience has to jump through, the less likely they are to comment.
The most annoying thing about West Elm's blog is that readers don't have to read the word verification in order to leave a comment. We recommend you turn off the word verification.
It may be better to moderate comments instead of word verification if you're having problems with spam. Just be timely in publishing actual comments so that the moderation process doesn't slow down the discussion.
You will be more likely to get comments when you use a simpler commenting system.
There are lots of blogs that use a service like Disqus that requires readers to register and log in before they can comment. If your audience is fairly tech-savvy, they may not mind, but if they aren't, it may deter them.
Got questions? Visit us @ www.sirkle.com and we’re happy to help.
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