Social shares are the bread and butter of boosting engagement, reaching new potential customers and meeting your business goals. If you are a small business, breaking into the world of social media can be intimidating. However, finding success with social shares is simpler than you think.

Get Their Attention Quickly

The most important part of your social media content is the title. If you are posting blogs to your Facebook, the title and a brief preview are all that will appear. If you fail to pique the interest of those scrolling through their feed, you can kiss the odds of a social share goodbye. Use headlines that are brief, enticing and that clearly state what the user should expect if they click on it. While clickbait headlines might briefly boost your social shares, they will hurt your reputation in the long run. 

Add Visual Content

Like we discussed in a previous blog, visual content is the X-factor to boosting your social shares. Whether you use a photo, gif or a short video to accompany your posts, visual content can provide you with 2.3 times the level of engagement without changing anything else.

Provide Content Your Audience Wants

Many small businesses that find a great deal of success with social sharing have one thing in common—they know their audiences and their interests. Even if you are posting links to other websites or events that other businesses are hosting, if your followers are interested, they will share the content and be more likely to share your content again in the future.

The Right Time Is Critical

Even if you are creating compelling content with excellent headlines and funny pictures, if you are posting it at the wrong time of day you are radically limiting your social share potential. Most social media sites have different peak engagement periods, so research the best times to post on each of your sites and schedule things to go live then.

Search for a Common Denominator

Once you have been posting on social media for a few weeks, search for a common denominator among your most successful posts. If you’re a bakery with a focus on lighter options, your users might really engage with healthy cooking content as well. Are you an IT company? Aside from posts about repairs and technology equipment, users might also highly engage with content about industry leaders like Elon Musk.