Above likes and comments, is the all mighty share. Shares generate the most reach for your Facebook posts, and are of great value to a social media marketer. But why do they cause your reach to expand so drastically, and what can you do to help boost your posts’ shares? To find this out we are going to have to look into the inner workings of Facebook, as well as delve into the psyche of our target audience.

As we discussed in my award winning blog about comments (well maybe not award winning, but my mom really liked it), Facebook uses a top secret algorithm to determine what ends up on someone’s news feed. Sharing is a way to kind of bypass that algorithm all together. If someone decides to share one of my posts from the Y, it will first be posted right onto their page. Then it will appear on their followers’ or friends’ news feeds as well. The best part about this is that by sharing it, they are putting their personal seal of approval on it and sending it out to all of their friends. Talk about a best case scenario for you as a marketer. Not only are you getting a free endorsement from someone, but they are also spreading your word. And if one of their friends decides to share it as well, your post could snowball into viral territory. Now that you understand how powerful sharing can be, we must discuss some ways to gather these precious shares. (As a side note, every time I use the word “precious” it should be read using Gollums’ voice)

Life can be complicated unless we learn to do the simple things, and there are a few simple things you can do to increase the odds your posts will be shared. These are tips directly from Facebook on how to garner some shares. Use an eye catching image, a grumpy cat for instance. The image should evoke some sort of immediate emotion out of your audience. Keep your posts short. I cannot stress enough that people do not like to read long, drawn out posts that go on and on and require way too much reading for a simple idea sort of like this sentence. Short, sweet, and to the point. This will always win out on Facebook. Keeping first person to a minimum makes your post more shareable. For example, if I post a funny picture of a gym fail on my Y’s Facebook page with the caption “Just another day at the gym,” anyone who shares it can honestly use that as their voice. Where as if I was to say “I can’t believe I saw this today at the gym,” the person sharing my post would be using my voice. Try using a call to action at the end of your posts. You could bluntly say “feel free to share.” This one seems obvious, but it can be surprisingly effective.

I want you to use these tips, and I promise you will get those precious shares. Also make sure you experiment with your posts as well. We can do our best to predict what our target audience wants, but it doesn’t hurt to try out something new every now and again. I know I just told you to keep it short and sweet, but try out a nice, long post and see if your audience appreciates it. Why do you think it is much more difficult to get shares over likes, when the only difference is that it requires two clicks over one? Are there any techniques you have discovered that you would like to share with everyone? Leave a comment below to help out our follow marketers. Don’t forget to hit the share button below because gaining knowledge is the first step to wisdom; sharing it is the first step to humanity.