Whether your social media accounts are purely for personal use or you’re promoting a business or creative venture, you can reach new audiences and connect with more people if you can create posts that people want to repost.
Both the content of the post and the way you post play a role in grabbing your intended audience’s attention. Rethink how and what you post, and you’ll see results.
Post Something Worthwhile
It seems intuitive, but it bears repeating: To produce content people want to share, you’ve got to produce something worthwhile. Your post should be about something important or at least be a clever analysis of a topic. Think about the “brand” you want to promote, whether that’s an actual business brand or your personal brand. Is humor part of that brand? If so, go for a post that’s witty. Is being charitable and caring a part of that brand? Then, post about applicable charitable topics and ventures.
You can stray a little out of your brand’s focus to comment on popular news items of the day and the like, but be aware your goal is to get as many relevant followers as possible. Keep those non-related posts to a minimum. If you’re promoting a charity “brand,” you want followers interested in charity who are more likely to pay attention and repost from you in the future. Frequently commenting on new movie releases in this instance doesn’t help you get relevant followers.
Be Concise and Action-Oriented
How you say what you have to say is as important as the content of your post, when it comes to increasing reposts. The tone of what you say depends on that brand you’re representing — whether it’s humorous or analytical, for example — but all posts benefit from:
- Conciseness. Don’t just stick with short posts on Twitter, where you’re forced to be concise. Use as few words as possible to get your message across.
- Action words. Social media analyst Dan Zarella studied a sample of Tweets and found those that were reposted had a high percentage of verbs.
Use Hashtags and Keywords
Use hashtags and keywords in your posts. People interested in a topic search for posts by hashtags and keywords. If you’re posting about a specific charitable event with a name like “Run for Heart,” the hashtag “#runforheart” might exist for people interested in the event. For social media like Facebook, simply include the keyword or phrase “Run for Heart.”
On the other hand, don’t overload hashtags or keywords, as you may come across as spam. Use only one or two per post.
Don’t Post Too Much
It seems counterintuitive, but the more your posts show up on your followers’ news feeds — especially all at once — the less likely people are to repost what you have to say. Limit your posts to once every 10 to 15 minutes or even once every hour. You don’t have to bombard people with posts to get attention; you may seem like spam. At the same time, you shouldn’t post so infrequently that you’ll be forgotten. Therefore, post at least twice a day.
Post in the Afternoon or Evening
When you post is as important as how and what you post, if you hope to get your followers’ attention. Zarella’s study also found more people Tweet on the weekends and in the afternoon or evening. People are more likely to go on social media when they’re not busy with work and most people are busy in the morning. Post in the afternoon or evening of your targeted time zone and focus your bigger campaigns on the weekend.
If you put thought into each post, you increase the likelihood of those posts going viral. Every time your post is reposted, your brand or ideas are exposed to new people who might not have otherwise stumbled on your profile. The more followers you get through effective posts, the greater your chances for more reposting in the future.
