We’ve all probably heard the phrase ‘sharing is caring’ referenced a time or two and in our industry, that often relates to social media. The whole word of mouth idea has morphed into a ‘word of share’ idea and we’re here for it.
Starting with MySpace in 2003, social sharing began with pretty humble beginnings. MySpace basically grew by having their employees find influencers, get their emails and then send them an invite to join this exclusive network. They went from a modest company with a small pool of users to having 20 million users in a short amount of time, all due to SHARING!
Fast forward… Though MySpace went bye bye, Facebook went on to revolutionize internet sharing in 2012, when the internet giant launched the “Share” button. In one click, you could connect with your whole community.
Side bar – I found it fascinating that MySpace began in 2003, which prompted me to research the start years for every company ever known – LOL, yes I went into a blackhole of research, this blog has taken me 4 hours to write – so here are some other start dates just in case you have an inquisitive mind too. Netflix – 1997 (what????), Ebay – 1995, Amazon – 1994. I am shocked that those companies started in the late 90’s? Where have I been? I certainly wasn’t old enough to participate in the resurgence of illicit drug use in the 90’s to have been this oblivious…But…Anywho, the more ya know!
And we’re back to it…Since that button’s launch, other social media networks have followed suit. If you loved something on Twitter, you could let the world know with a click of their “share” buttons and Pinterest’s “pin it” option offers more of the same. And now, LinkedIn too! Never before has it been more crucial for marketers to encourage us all to share. Share this link, share that image, share more content.
Why Share on LinkedIn:
- Sharing information keeps you at the ‘top of mind’ with clients, potential clients, and referral sources.
- Finding helpful articles takes far less time than writing articles and blog posts, but still demonstrates your knowledge!
- By constantly sharing relevant articles to your industry, you show that you are on top of the latest trends and that your experience and skill sets are on point.
- Sharing is passive. This is a big plus because you aren’t being too nudgy, you are merely sharing content that you find to be valuable.
- Sharing positions you as a thought leader.
- Sharing keeps you informed of your marketplace.
- Sharing multiplies your time and effort. Marketing can work for you while you sleep.
How to Share:
Scenario –
Now that you understand the reasons why sharing is helpful, let’s see how we do it! Let’s pretend we have a company called Company A (because I am not as creative today as I was yesterday)…
Company A posts a public post on their LinkedIn channel about a new product they’re rolling out.
Employee, A, let’s call her Charlene (I got more creative the more I wrote), is an overachiever and logs into LinkedIn every morning to see what their company is up to. Charlene also loves dog videos, has 2.5 kids and visits the coast of Florida every year for a family vacation (oh and loves some tropical cocktails, with an umbrella straw, whilst sunbathing. She doesn’t drink as much as she used to because of that office Christmas party back in 2010).
- Charlene sees the exciting post and decides to share it.
- Charlene decides she wants to use #hashtags to indicate what this post is about. She also knows that hashtags are searchable and helps get content discovered. Charlene takes the time to come up with creative and relatable hashtags to get found.
- Charlene also decides to @mention some of their co-workers in the post because she wants to invite Employees B & C to participate – heck, let’s call them Dave & Hector. Charlene knows that this helps posts get shared and seen. (She’s pleasantly surprised that Hector is the first to respond as their email response time is definitely not this quick! In fact, she just (anonymously) complained to HR about Hector ;-))
- Charlene sees how well the post did when she shared it and decided that she’ll continue to share company postings consistently. She knows that this helps build a relationship and habit around their content.
- Charlene also decides that in addition to sharing the content, that she’s going to post a question or share her own point of view alongside it (<< doesn’t surprise Hector one bit). That way she’ll have more commenters who engage in the posts and drive conversation.
The Conclusion:
Be like Charlene! And as they say, sharing is caring!
Oh and because it’s required…Like this blog? SHARE IT for me please! For some reason this blog was a lot of fun to write. Either that or COVID-life has me reaching for creative outlets in unlikely places! Until next time, happy sharing.