It should come as no surprise that the type of content you produce has a direct connection to how much interest it will generate on social media. Content that lacks value or any compelling components generally doesn't perform as well across social platforms as content that intrigues users and fulfills their needs. For all brands, it's important that your content marketing and social media marketing align with one another, and help to accomplish their respective objectives.
Unfortunately, too often we'll see brands with excellent potential in terms of the insights they have at their disposal, but with a weak approach behind their efforts, there is a real disconnect when it comes to disseminating that information on social. Social media extends the reach of your content. As a brand you could have the best information in your industry, but if you don't present it in an effective way that engages followers, you could miss out on plenty of opportunities to capture the interest of new customers. With that being said, fortunately, there are several simple tactics that you can implement as part of your content marketing strategy that will help to improve the shareability of your content:
1. Use Imagery
Images make onsite content such as blog posts or featured articles, a bit easier for users to read. When using images, it eliminates the need for the reader to have to go through every line in order to understand the focus of the content. Simply put, the more likely a user is to read the content, the more likely they are to share it. In terms of user experience, on a basic level images break up the text itself. Think about how much easier it is to digest content that has supporting images to reinforce what the copy says. If you were to present users with paragraph after paragraph of small text, they aren't very likely to finish the entire article.
Overall, visually engaging your audience is important for social media shares, since you're far more likely to capture the attention of a user by including a vibrant and compelling image. For example, if your company has design resources, taking content and integrating it into an infographic can be incredibly valuable for users and quite simple for them to absorb what you're trying to convey. A reader is far more likely to consume information that is presented in an infographic (like in the example above) than if you had shared those findings through a text-only format. The more interesting a piece of content is, the higher its chances of visibility are, and its opportunity to be shared increases as a result.
2. Show Valuable Content
In order for content to resonate well with users, and be something that they want to share on their social platforms, there must be a clear value proposition with your social media efforts. Often times, the best way to do this is by crafting content in a way that offers an actionable takeaway. Content that is created with ease-of-use in mind generally tends to perform best across social media. As with most marketing tactics, simplicity is key. If the user can engage with a piece of content in a way that requires little effort, they'll be that much more likely to share it. Regardless of your industry, content related to your products or services should be formatted as such:
-"How-To" posts
-Video tutorials
-Checklists
-Step-by-step guidelines
-FAQs
3. Highlight Statistics
Quantitative content is un-biased. Including a few statistic points in your content marketing efforts can help support the statements your brand makes, and provide the user with a bit more validation that your organization is reliable. Data-driven marketing is always going to garner credibility in the eyes of users because it reinforces a certain level of trust behind your brand and the insights that you're sharing via content.
By going beyond just making blanket statements about certain points, your content stands out much more in comparison to your competitors, giving you an added edge. Whether it's a statistic related to your industry, your audience, or your products, showing users that there is evidence behind your expertise can go a long way in building a foundation for users to want to share your content with their own followers across social media.
4. Integrate Social Media Signals
Ultimately, as stated above, simplicity is key with offering a great user-experience, and the same can be said for encouraging social shares. When users take value from a blog post for example, ideally you want them to share it. By integrating social media signals or buttons into the design of your blog post, you're able to help facilitate that process as much as possible and make it incredibly easy for users to share. 
Believe it or not, brands sometimes make the mistake of placing general share buttons on their blog landing page, but this is a big mistake. Users don't want to share links to websites, they want to share links to a specific article that captured their interest.
Social media and content marketing go hand in hand. To improve the reach and effectiveness of the content your brand creates, social media can play a pivotal role. By taking the time to think of your users and how you can offer them an excellent user-experience when showing your value, you'll find that your efforts are much more effective.
To learn more about digital marketing tactics, visit Blue Fountain Media online.