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- This Is Why People Aren't Sharing Your Content [2500-Person Survey]
This Is Why People Aren't Sharing Your Content [2500-Person Survey]
And How To Fix It
Welcome to The Pen Pivot!
In this email:
🔧 Creator Tool Of The Day:
A path to success for burned out freelance writers.
💡 Psychology-Backed Content Trick:
The dead-simple way to get people to share your content (survey results).
🐰 Rabbit Holes And Resources:
23 ways to make money as a creator, the man that can make anyone go viral, and more.
Let’s get to it.
🤝 In Partnership With:
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Still relying on inconsistent word-of-mouth referrals?
Ready to step off the freelancer hamster wheel?
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🎁 Get More Shares
The 6 Evidence-Based Reasons People Share Content (And How To Use Them)
We’ve all been there.
Our content gets overlooked.
While our competitors get a tonne of shares.
What’s the secret?
How do we get those shares?
I dove into some research to try and figure it out.
The “Psychology Of Sharing” - NYT Study:
In 2011, The New York Times surveyed over 2500 medium-to-heavy online content sharers [link].
The study is over a decade old now.
But its insights into psychological sharing motivations still stand.
They identified six “sharing personas”, each with unique motivations for sharing content.
The 6 Sharing Personas:
Altruists: They share content that helps or informs others.
Content Tip: Create helpful guides, how-to articles, or informative podcasts.
Careerists: Interested in professional, insightful content.
Content Tip: Share industry trends, thought leadership articles, or expert interviews.
Hipsters: They love unique, trendsetting topics.
Content Tip: Post about the latest tech, avant-garde art, or innovative social issues.
Boomerangs: Share to spark conversations and seek validation.
Content Tip: Write opinion pieces or hot takes on current events that invite debate.
Connectors: They share entertaining or practical content.
Content Tip: Create fun quizzes, engaging stories, or content with practical tips on daily life.
Selectives: Share highly relevant and exclusive information.
Content Tip: Offer deep-dives into niche topics or exclusive insights not found elsewhere.
How To Get People To Share Your Content:
Here's the takeaway:
💡 It's not just about the quality of your content. It's also about aligning with what motivates your audience to share.
So, what's the fix?
Profile Your Audience and identify which of these personas dominate your audience.
Here's how:
Analyze Your Engagement: Check which types of content get shared the most. Is it educational, industry-specific, or cutting-edge?
Consider The Platforms: Different platforms attract different personas. Eg. Careerists on LinkedIn.
Survey Your Audience: Ask your followers why they share (or don't share) your content.
⚠️ Important: You may well have more than one sharing persona dominating your audience.
The NYT study finished with their own suggestions for getting content shared.
These were the ones I found most interesting:
Trust is essential for getting shared - this is built over time.
Keep it simple and make it easy for people to share your content.
Appeal to the audience’s sense of humor.
Add a sense of urgency.
Your Next 3 Steps:
Audience Analysis: Use engagement data, platform trends, and direct surveys to profile your audience's dominant sharing personas.
Tailor And Test Content: Experiment with content specifically designed for these personas. Track how different types of content perform in terms of shares.
Build Trust: It’ll happen over time. Use humor and urgency where appropriate.
🐰 rabbit holes and resources
🍫 Today’s link candy for content creators:
📣 “Look At Hooks” (By The Pen Pivot)
Before you click publish…
Take an extra 30 seconds to write a headline that’ll actually get clicked.
Sad truth: People spend hours creating awesome content that doesn’t get read or viewed because of a terrible headline.
That’s why we created ”'Look At Hooks”:
100 Psychology-Backed Headline Templates: Based on actual pieces of content by huge creators and publications like MrBeast, Condé Nast, and Motley Fool.
ChatGPT Prompts For Content Ideas: Each headline template comes with a ChatGPT prompt to turn it into ultra-clickable content ideas for your niche.
Filter By Content Type: Headline templates for how-to content, listicles, product reviews, and more.
Filter By Emotion: Choose headlines based on emotions such as FOMO, relief, empathy, frustration, and more.
Each Template Works In Any Niche: Fill in the blanks for your specific piece of content and you’re good to go.
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And that’s all for today!
Dilshan, The Pen Pivot