The classic mail-a-friend usage has been declining for a while and now with the new options to share to/on social networks it is all but gone. Yet the new kid on the block (comparatively), which is social media, has left quite some marketers baffled: if it’s so great, why is their content not shared?
They are taking all the measuring and tracking steps possible to make sure no part of the communication chain is missed, but to say the sharing is in the top range of all clickthroughs, no sir. Why is it then that it’s not that loved by subscribers?
When having content sharing options available to subscribers don’t forget something has to be shareworthy: it doesn’t mean that someone has to get some reward for sharing it, but that the content itself is of such level of quality and freshness that people think it might be interesting and/or useful to others. If you don’t have the writing skills or time to get great content done, don’t hesitate to hire a copy writer:they are the ones with the ideas and word ninja skills to make content breathe and live.
The first step: engaging and inspiring content
Making sure the content engages, inspires and entertains people is phase one: that will make it worthwhile to not only read but also let people think whether or not to share it.
If and how people are willing to share it will also depend on their own ‘audience’: if you sell clothes and shoes and their audience is mostly bar people and movie fans, the connection is negligible and share to social clicks will be minimal. However if their audience (partially at least) consists of clothes and shoe fanatics you’re all set for a nice spread.
Last but not least is one thing that is forgotten too often in many factors of marketing: put yourself in the subscriber’s position. How would you feel if you received your own message with articles?
Would you like to share (part of) it to your Twitter followers, on your Facebook wall, on the LinkedIn pages?
If you’re looking at it neutrally and you answer those questions with a yes, you’re getting somewhere: but don’t forget to put your close colleagues in that position too. They have different views, opinions and experience email differently too. A little bit of shaving and redirecting could mean a lot for making content shareworthy and reaching the biggest audience possible.
Remy Bergsma
Remy Bergsma is a professionally trained multimedia producer turned email marketing specialist, having 4 years of experience in the Dutch email marketing business working at an ESP (Blinker).
His areas of interest include email design, end user experience and campaign management. Remy further is very community and people minded. Personally sports, photography, music and movies keep him busy. You can connect with Remy via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.