What makes social posts more likely to be shared❓

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Reporting from the beach today, and I gotta say St. Simon’s is a pretty cool spot if you run out of beaches to test out. Alright, down to business. 

Today’s Main Thing comes from a soundbite via Liquid Death’s VP of Something or Other. The dude said two standout things. I’ll save one for the P.S. quote at the end of today’s newsletter. The first soundbite was this → “When we do a social post and see a 2 to 1 ratio of shares to likes, we know we hit a home run (paraphrasing).”

I’m going to dig into how to achieve that ratio as often as possible (with 3 examples), then hand off a few extra insights on what makes people share content on social media. Let’s get after it…

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3 Examples of Social Media Sharing Going Off the Charts

#1 Spotify turns data into shareable content with its Spotify Wrapped campaign. Users get a personalized breakdown of their listening habits. 

Why all the sharing? People don’t always share social media posts they love or endorse. The real driver of sharing is they want to show the world a piece of what makes them unique. And a year’s worth of music listening habits is the perfect way to highlight that uniqueness.

*Every year, Spotify Wrapped dominates social media, with over 60 million shares globally. ~Campaign Del Mar

#2 The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was naturally shareable. Most people didn’t think hitting like was good enough for this activity.  

Why was this social post so shareable? It was ACTIVE and a bit crazy! So, hitting the like button didn’t cut it. People felt compelled to take real action by sharing the challenge with friends, family, and entire groups. Millions of people took it a step further and filmed themselves dumping ice water on their heads.

*Over 17 million videos related to the Ice Bucket Challenge were shared on Facebook alone, with 2.4 million of these being tagged videos.

#3 GoPro has the slickest route to getting social media posts shared. 

One, they shoot epic videos as a brand. Two, their customers use the products to document cool stuff they’re doing. So users naturally post the content on social media. And since these videos are generally action-packed, they’re more likely to get shared.

It doesn’t matter if your brand isn’t inherently exciting. There are cool people in your community who do exciting stuff every weekend. You could film them doing it with just an iPhone, then post it to your social media accounts. To improve the odds of a higher share-to-like ratio, connect the video to a challenge of some kind (i.e., best water skiing video, fastest indoor rock climbing competition, biggest fish contest, etc.)

Extra Insights on Getting Social Shares

The thing that stands out with the three examples above is the common denominator of fun.

Social media is used to pass the time. It’s a leisurely “activity.”

Posts with at least a dab of entertainment value are more likely to get shared by your audience. 

Now for a few more insights on what can make someone want to share a brand or organization’s post:

• Sharing can show you care about a cause, event, or person

• Practical information that can help a friend or relative immediately 

• High emotional impact (positive or negative) is more likely to be shared 

Finally, a New York Times study segmented people who share content for different reasons:

1. The Helpers: They share to be useful or kind.

2. The Professionals: Post to build their career or reputation.

3. The Trendsetters: They love sharing cool or cutting-edge stuff.

4. The Seekers: Want reactions and validation.

5. The Connectors: Share to stay in touch with others.

6. The Selectives: Only share with certain people and keep it private.

Onward to Monday Marketing News and stuff…

Please share Inbox Hacking with a fellow marketing genius or business owner. Many thanks…

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

“Viral word-of-mouth marketing for GoPro is massive. Video is really the conduit.” ~Nick Woodman 

P.S. That 2nd soundbite I promised from the Liquid Death VP: “We’re not competing with other brands for attention. We’re competing with the Internet for attention.”