It can seem like winning the lottery when you are able to execute the perfect content plan: you write brilliant content, get it in front of the eyes of a relevant audience, and then get that audience to click and read the article. However, there is one last step to the puzzle that would make all of your hard work that much sweeter, and that is, of course, getting your content shared; thus increasing visibility and hopefully attracting more readers to your website. 

Unfortunately, writing shareable content isn’t always easy. It’s not always enough to create something quality and hope people will want to share it. You have to actually consider what makes people want to share something and then actively alter your content to make it shareable, or appealing. Once you know a few tricks, this isn’t as overwhelming as it may sound.

Tips and Tricks to Increase Sharing and Engagement for Your Content

The first thing to understand is what it means to actually have your audience “share” your content. Social media is the first place that comes to mind, and rightfully so. When you work to make your content more shareable, you’re generally talking about getting someone to share your piece on those platforms. However, sharing can also refer to word-of-mouth sharing or even sharing by linking back to the content somewhere else on the web. 

Whatever type of sharing is done, you know it’s a good thing for your website. Below are a few tips to helping make your content more shareable on the web:

1. Get creative with types of content—interviews, videos, research studies, etc.

This is probably the biggest thing that will alter the shareability of your content. Writing a traditional piece of text can be great, but people tend to share unique pieces on social media more often. A few types of shareable content include interviews, quizzes, videos, lists, reviews, infographics, SlideShare presentations, podcasts, and more. 

Keep in mind, however, that you still need to make sure that whatever type of content you’re creating is still well written, still on a relevant topic to your audience, and still factually correct. Simply creating a cool video or interview isn’t going to be enough. In other words, you have to take into consideration a few of the other points in this list as well. 

2. Focus on your headline and make it “human”

Headlines have always been incredibly important when it comes to content shareability, but the idea of making your title more “human” was recently mentioned in this article from Buffer. They tested different headlines on all different topics and analyzed all of the shares they received, and they found that those with a headline that focused on more human topics—food, home, lifestyle, etc.—had more shares.

Of course, if you don’t focus on those types of topics there are still ways you can make your headlines more human. Using terms like “you” will help content seem more relatable and help the shareability. An example Buffer included: How to Stay on Top of Emails vs. Yes, You Can Stay on Top of Emails.

3. Have a clear CTA

This point goes along nicely with the last point. A CTA, or call to action, can help someone know what you either want them to do or what exactly it is they have to learn from the content. You can put a CTA in your headline, like in the example above, or add it at the end of a piece of content. At the end of this article, I ask a question to get the conversation going, but I also hope the content will be shared because those reading may want to hear what their friends or colleagues think. In other words, a question at the end of a post gives readers their next step.

4. Analyze your successful content, look at trends in your industry, and talk to your network about what they want to read.

This is all about relevance. People are much more likely to share content that is relevant at the time because it’s exciting and there is a lot of buzz about that topic. Look at trends in your industry and ask your networks what it is they want to read. See what others are talking about and create content around that subject. 

5. Make sure your sharing buttons are obvious. 

This is one that many forget because it’s not actually a part of the content, but really just a good practice for websites in general. After all, if someone can’t find the sharing buttons on your page they probably aren’t going to go out of their way to manually share the piece. You have to make it easy for them, and sharing buttons are the clear answer. 

The Takeaway 

The big thing to remember about shareable content is that it takes work. You can’t just employ one of the tips above and expect it to get more shares. For example, you need to try and focus on a great headline while also creating a cool infographic or different type of content, or make sure you have a clear CTA on a topic that comes from a trend in your industry