5 Reasons Why People Share Your Content

PIRIL MADASOGLU
3 min readOct 25, 2022

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If you’ve ever created any type of content online, jumping on the social media bandwagon, then you may have asked yourself “how do I get people to share my stuff? Or how do I get links to my content?” If so, this guide is for you.

In this short guide, I’ll specifically mention the “Share Triggers” idea to build a strong base for your content.

Sharing is caring. That’s why it bothers me when I see content that is so good, yet no one is sharing it. But people aren’t going to share your content if you don’t give them a reason to. Now there are psychological principles known as Share Triggers that can increase the likelihood of people sharing or linking to your content. So, if you include them on your content, your readers are more likely to share it. Simple.

OK. So, what are those triggers?

Share Triggers

What Makes Online Content Viral? Jonah Berger and Katherine L. Milkman

Utility

Content that provides the most utility — meaning it’s practical and relevant to the audience — is 30% more likely than average to crack the top list of articles.

According to the above research by Dr.Berger, practical value = 30% higher chance to be shared.

Content Length

I know it’s tempting to post an article that you spent one hour on a deadline writing, but lengthier articles are more likely to get shared.

In a recent study by Backlinko and SEMRush, they found that longer-form content got an average of 77% more backlinks than short blog posts and articles.

Why?

“Awe.”

But what is awe, and what does it have to do with the content length?

Awe is more commonly known as “a state of wonder and admiration mixed with fear or reverence” Awe causes our hearts to race and our blood to flow, as Dr. Berger puts it. This makes us want to share more and fuels our quest for emotional bond.

Storytelling

Stories are more memorable than facts and figures. Therefore, when you create your content based on a story, or make it more than just a bunch of information, they become more memorable, and emotional. > leads people to share the content.

📌 huge plus: storytelling works for product selling too. telling stories about your product makes people feel closer to you and more likely to buy.

Positive Emotions

According to the same study above, people tend to share positive content more often than negative. That is, uplifting stories that make you feel surprised or inspired tend to get shared more than sad or depressing ones.

Social Currency

Let’s say your Linktreator (a.k.a your backlink source) is an athlete who likes windsurfing a lot. When they encounter a content that is about windsurfing advantages to health, they would be more likely to share it with their base.

People are more likely to share articles that agree with their point of view > it increases their social currency.

That’s it!

If you want people to share your content, then you need to create posts that are likely to result in them actually doing so. Your audience is full of potential sharers of your content, and will be eager to click on (and share) anything they find truly valuable and of interest.

Note: This guide is prepared based on Brian Dean’s course on Content-Led SEO.

Send some claps if you liked this guide 👏 ❤️

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PIRIL MADASOGLU

This is Pırıl, I’m based in Turkey & I’m the content & social media manager for Ninja Squad. Follow me for content marketing, NFTs, and NFT marketing tips!