How shareable is your content?

What's one of the best ways to get the word out about your brand online? The idea’s a simple one but it's one that’s also easy to get wrong. Shareable content is one of the easiest ways to get the word out about your brand online. Universities and colleges who take the time to create quality and engaging content that will be shared by their target audiences and followers is a promising approach.

You don't have to be an Austen or a Dickens to create shareable content; content can be as simple as a great tweet or as dynamic as a video. Whatever you choose, the idea is to create content that your students will think is worthwhile enough to share with their own circle of peers through channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc.

Why is shareable content important?

When a person comes across good content, they will usually interact with it by clicking, liking, sharing or commenting. There has been a change in recent years, where Google have elected to reward content that is shared across social media. Constantly creating and posting good quality content is one of the best ways for universities and colleges to strengthen their brand awareness. This in turn leads to higher rankings on Google meaning more organic search traffic and ultimately a higher level of student enrolments.

What content should I share?

There are certain types of content that lend themselves readily to being shared:

• Blog posts
• Infographics
• Powerful images
• Videos

Don’t forget about good-old fashioned well written social media status updates that make clever use of hashtags which are a great way to increase your online visibility while extending your reach. When creating shareable content ensure that you create content that provides intrinsic value to your audience.

Tips for highly shareable content

1. Know where your audience lives and where they are most likely to engage with your content. Different content gets a different reaction depending on where you share it. A funny image that your audience can relate to might be more successful on Instagram or twitter than it is on facebook, while a blog post might get more shares on LinkedIn or Twitter. Knowing your audience.
2. Keep content fresh and timely. Nobody is going to share content that’s out of-date.
3. Unique content is more likely to be shared than content that is recycled.
4. Don’t forget to reward interaction by building relationships with those who engage with your content-reply to their comments or follow them on twitter as they’re more likely to interact with it again in the future.

Creating shareable content should inform your social media strategy, helping you to grow your audience and increase how influential your brand is.