Creating amazing content on your website is the surest way to incentivize your audience to share your content. But what happens when they stop doing it or what if they never did? What do you do to turn things around?
Most of us aren't simply creating business content for fun. We have a reason for doing so. Maybe it's:
Whatever your business goal behind content creation, if your shares begin to diminish (or they never took off in the first place), you need to do something or you're just wasting your time.
The very first thing you want to do when you notice a drop off in shares is to find out what has changed. Are you posting in the same way you always have, at the same times, days, and frequency? What has changed? Have you changed the way you lead into each post? Are you sharing different types of content? Has your tone changed?
Next, review your topics. Are you sharing the same sorts of topics? If you are, maybe your audience wants something more in-depth than what you’ve been providing. Try creating a "complete guide" to your business product or service. If they want more in-depth content, you should see shares increase with that sort of post. If not, try a beginner’s guide to your service or product. How does that perform? Ideally, you will have content for every level of the buyer’s cycle.
If you’ve switched the types of topics you cover, try going back to the former range of topics and see if shares pick up again.
If you’ve been producing content for a few years now, you may remember the days of creating good content that got seen and shared freely. Then businesses like Facebook decided they wanted to monetize and the dream of a free lunch quickly came to an end. They started off slowly and quietly offering businesses paid for content if they chose to do so.
It’s no longer a choice.
Only a fraction of your audience will see your content, if you’re not paying for it. On my personal page I like about 100 businesses/pages. Unless I go to my pages feed, I rarely see them. My stream is filled with friends info and groups I belong to. I’ve even asked to see some of these pages but you know how that goes...Zuckerberg knows best.
Speaking of which...if people aren’t seeing your content posting it to a fitting Facebook group or starting your own is a better way to get seen than simply posting it to your page. If you don’t have the time or inclination to start your own Facebook group, start paying to get seen.
End of discussion.
It may be time to start sharing your content on a new site such as Medium or a new Facebook group that could help you reach your ideal market. By “new” I’m referring to new to you. If you’re old referral sites aren’t bringing you much traffic, try something that might be better aligned with where your audience is. For instance, a lot of younger people are leaving Facebook for Instagram. If your market is teens and early twenties, you’ll want to consider sites like Instagram and Snapchat.
No social site’s audience remains the same forever. Today’s rock song is tomorrow’s elevator music.
In a recent report released by BuzzSumo, they found that there is “immense saturation” as more and more businesses embrace content marketing. There’s been a decline in social shares (even in viral posts). The “median for content shares” fell 50% in 2017.
In order to stand out in an oversaturated market, you need to do something to stand out like becoming an expert in your industry or providing a resource that others don’t. For many, that includes “complete guides” and “everything you need to know” posts. These can be time-consuming. Some sites have found considerable success with posting fewer, high-quality pieces as opposed to quick, frequently posted articles.
Today’s content demands are changing and businesses need to keep up with them if they expect their content to continue to be shared. If you are noticing a difference in your content shares, it’s likely time to revisit your production and posting strategy.