I used to share when I had time to on social media.
Read a good article. Share it.
Write a good article. Share it.
Have a thought about life or business or whatever. Share it.
There’s nothing wrong with that strategy. In fact, it’s a good strategy.
The challenge, though, is it’s difficult to get into a consistent routine. It’s actually easy to fall out of that routine especially if you don’t have a lot of followers to begin with. You probably won’t get much engagement and when you don’t get engagement there is no encouragement to share more.
Then I discovered a few things to automate sharing a little bit. Every new post I write is shared on social media the moment it’s published. So that added an automatic post each day or so. And I would still do my posting here and there. So now I’m over one a day.
And I noticed that this increased engagement a bit. I got a few more followers.
Then I discovered Buffer and the idea of scheduling posts. Usually just archived posts. I’ve been blogging for about 8 years so there are a lot of old posts just sitting there. They’re still plenty good to share so why not share them…
I was sharing about 10-12 times per day with those couple methods. Now I’m experimenting with sharing something at least every hour. So far, after a couple weeks, engagement is up.
And it makes sense. Think of all the content social media. There is so much. Yet people still check their favorite channels multiple times a day. Sometimes we fear sharing too much and there is a little risk, but in general you’re not going to share too much to the point where people unfollow you.
A general rule of thumb I’ve noticed is that the more you share the more followers and engagement you’ll get.
So let’s set a goal for 10 posts per day.
Here are the steps to do it.
Step 1. Finding Content
This is the big one. If you’re going to be sharing 10x or more per week you’re going to need sources of content.
The first good source is things off the top of your head. Ideas. Quotes. Thoughts. Just anything that you would normally share. You can still share it as you have the ideas, but I also like to keep a record of the ideas. Then you can spread out the sharing a bit. Instead of sharing two things at the same time you share one today and one tomorrow. And you can then reshare the idea. More on that later.
Another good option is the content you create. Blog posts, ebooks, videos, etc.
The next one is other people’s content. You probably share really good articles that you read already. Probably as you read them. Sharing other people’s content is where you can really take things to a new level.
Back in the old days we really used RSS feeds. These are feeds from blogs and other publications. You can use the RSS feed to feed content into a content reader likely Feedly. Or you can follow sites on social media. Or you can subscribe via email.
Get yourself about 10 good sources of content. This should be enough to share at least 10x per day. And the good thing about sharing other people’s content is that you’re a source of good information. You’re curating for your followers. And the publishers of that content will really appreciate it.
Step 2. Scheduling Software (Or Setting Reminders)
Buffer has been great for me. It allows me to schedule posts to share later on social media.
Right now I share every hour, but you can set it to share about every hour during the workday for about 10 times per day.
The free version allows you to share things on one social site. And you can schedule 10 items at a time. So you’ll have to login each day.
And that’s the other option. You can do this without software. You could use simple reminders on your calendar or schedule. Schedule time each day to share things.
Set a reminder on the top of each hour during the workday to share one item. It’ll take you a minute or so to share it if you have a list of saved items to share.
You can create a spreadsheet in Google Drive with a list of great content. Then at the top of each hour just open the sheet, copy the item and paste it into your social site.
To do that you’ll need to build the queue in the sheet. I like to set aside 1-2 hours each week. Same day and time each week. I’ll use this time to build that queue in the sheet. Reading and finding and adding things. You’ll need to obviously add about a 100 or so each week.
I find that separating the finding and the posting relieves the pressure. It’s difficult to find content right away when you are scheduled to share something.
I do the same when I blog. I brainstorm ideas separately and when it’s time to write I already have an idea.
Step 3. Using Hashtags
Here’s another big key for getting more engagement and followers. I like to use about 2-4 hashtags with most posts. This increases your audience. It’s especially important if you’re starting out with just a few followers.
Step 4. Resharing: Using Different Lead-Ins
I’m pretty big on resharing.
Most of what I share on social media is something from my own archives.
Sometimes I’ll just share the old posts with the basic title, link and hashtags.
But other times I’ll pull a little snippet from within the post and share it. Think of a 600 word blog post. You can share it for the title and for each heading within the post. If it’s a list post, say 10 items, you can share the first five on social media and then do 6-10 followed by the link.
Kind of lead people into clicking and reading the post.
You can create totally new lead-ins. I see the ICYMI deal all the time. In case you missed it…
I see people sharing an old post that is relevant again because of something in the news. Like if I write about Google and Google makes the news again I might lead in with something like:
I wrote this last year, but it’s still relevant today…
I mix in the types of posts I share. I’ll share the ones that didn’t get a lot of views, but that I felt were really good. Maybe from the early days of the blog.
Or I also like to share the really popular ones. The ones that get a lot of SEO traffic. That’s usually a good indication that it will do well on social media.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to get more out of your social media efforts there really is no secret. Most times in life it’s really just about the work. The repetitive, boring work. Doing the same thing over and over each day while momentum slowly builds.
Jim Collins talked about that in his Good To Great book series. He called it a flywheel, which is like the merry go round at the playground. It takes awhile to build up momentum, but once you do that thing is spinning fast.
Look at any person that has built a following on social media (that’s not a celeb). Chances are they did it slowly over time. Sharing often, learning and continuing to share.
Hopefully the tips above will help you start with 10 posts each day. Do that and you’ll be setting up your flywheel for success.