The Social Media Marketer

5 Reasons Why Readers Are Not Sharing Your Social Media Content

Tweet

 

Nobody likes being ignored, especially when communicating through social media. We want our readers to not only love our content, but share it with others.  Isn't this the reason we're pouring our creative and monetary resources into marketing with this remarkable tool?

The fact is, when we publish relevant, useful, and well presented social media content, we will be paid attention to. If not, then not so much.

There are many possible reasons why our social media content is not being shared by readers.  One key to sharable content is getting the reader to move from a passive receptive state to an active one. This is a level of involvement where our post was so informative or entertaining that the reader feels compelled to take action.  He shares with another person in his network, whose respect is important to him.

Let's face it--your readers are deluged with information and cannot possibly pay attention to all of it. They quickly filter out what appears unimportant. 

Here are 5 likely reasons your readers don't share your social media content:

Your content is boring.
Maybe your style is hard to follow, or you don't grab the reader's attention early.  Maybe your readers do make their way through your piece, but it took so much concentration, and produced so little return on their time investment, that they have no motivation to make the effort to share it.  No one wants to bore people, especially people whose opinions they care about.

Try to bring some entertainment, intrigue, passion, humor, or even outrageous controversy to your writing, to gain attention.  Yes, you can do this without sacrificing credibility.  Need ideas?  Mari Smith at Social Media Examiner has a helpful video that will save you time with social media content sourcing and curation. 

And don't underestimate the intelligence of your readers, or their desire and willingness to learn something.  Not all posts on the Internet need to be presented with a 5^th grade vocabulary and comprehension level. People resent being treated like children and having to search too hard to find information. 

Your content is the same old rehashed information.
Your information may be valuable and well-presented, but if it has no originality or freshness, it's just old news. If you're just taking other people's ideas and recycling them without adding anything of your own, people will tune you out. When you finish researching, take your mind off the material for a time. When you start writing bring something of yourself to the article.

Try looking at things from a slightly different angle to give your reader a different perspective, and bring new understanding. Narrow the scope of your post, or look for a different application for existing ideas. Draw from your own experience.  Find and apply fresh ideas from other disciplines.

You are not yet known to the reader as a credible source of pertinent information.
Readers might not trust you or your information at first, especially if it's new, outside the box-type content. Trust is earned over time, by establishing and nourishing relationships. Once you've established a pattern and proven yourself through repeated and patient reinforcement of your image of credibility, you will gain trust. You'll come to be seen as an authority and a resource for helpful information.  This is bought by freely giving something of value.

You've found the wrong audience.
You may be talking to people who don't care about your material or your product or service. In that case you have misunderstood who your potential customers are, or where you are likely to find them.

Produce a detailed profile of your most likely customers. Get into minute details of demographics, occupations, income levels, interests, and preferences. Then figure out where you are most likely to find them, and be there.  It's all about finding and reaching your customers.

You serve no purpose for your readers and their networks.
Your readers will not be inclined to share your social media content for your company's commercial enrichment alone. The odds of your posts being shared increase when they're linked to some cause bigger than the poster or the reader. Examples of this are political, social, religious, philosophical, community, or professional identifications, orientations, and activities.

If you address these 5 issues, you're well on your way to making your social media content more popular with your readers--and theirs.