We all aim to share engaging content to our target audiences. Content that will not only be seen by the vast majority of our contacts, but also content that they will want to engage with and share to their own audiences as well. A mistake that is too often made is believing that you should only be sharing your own content. Here’s why.
Time is of the essence
Unless you’re an avid blogger or a large global brand, with a gazillion interesting blogs posts/articles to share, how can you be expected to keep up with the quantity of posts required for say Twitter every day? And creating up-to-date news as well? Now you’re asking a lot. Obviously large companies can keep up with these demands, but smaller organisations or resellers of large brands who sell their products, not so much. They do not have the time or capacity to support the level of activity required to stand out. What if they simply shared their vendors’ content? This would be relatable and beneficial to them, without the need to create it themselves. With social media collaboration software such as socialondemand this is now achievable.
It’s a limitation
Are you limiting the topics you could be posting about as well? I’m not suggesting you should be posting about lots of topics, but perhaps 3 or 4. The latest industry news, trends, tips, best practices would be a great addition, don’t you think? Remember getting your audience intrigued into your business is the first step.
Individuality
Do you think if you share others content it makes you the same as everyone else? When done correctly this is not the case. What about putting a thought leader comment as your post title? You don’t even have to agree with the content you are sharing. It gives you the opportunity to share your opinion to others, and maybe even generate communication. This is what social media should be about. It adds a human element, something that will certainly make you stand out.
Promotion
Have you considered that by sharing and tagging the author of the post you are affectively alerting them, as well as others, of your business? That is of course if they manage their social media accounts effectively. You will also encourage an increased level of followers/ connections as others will see you as a potential channel to promote/ share their offerings in the future. In return they may even share your social media posts, allowing you to reach a far greater audience than before. If there is something in it for them, they will certainly get on board.
Finding content to share
You may think finding fresh content to share is time consuming in itself, especially if you want it to relate to your business. Wrong. Not when you have an RSS feed platform in place. This works by allowing you to view all desired posts from the websites you would normally visit in one place. You can then quickly and easily find relevant, interesting content to share. socialondemand has this built into the system already, making content creation that bit easier for users.
Has your pre-conceived idea of why you shouldn’t be sharing others content changed now that you can see the benefits? I hope so… Do you have any other benefits you would like to add? Please do share your thoughts.