UPDATE: Alex Counsell has removed this plugin and stopped suggesting it, due to the fact that it had started causing some conflicts with other WordPress functionality. These developments can happen sometimes. Steve’s preferred method to encourage readers to tweet your article is to tweet about your article, once published, then return and embed that tweet into your blog. It looks good and makes it easy for others to like or retweet.
One of the most powerful channels for promoting your blogs is your readers.
That’s right. You work hard and think deeply about topics that tie together your expertise with the wants and needs of the marketplace and many of your readers will be grateful to you for your effort.
However, if you don’t make it easy for them to share your work with others, you could be missing out on reaching new people and new potential customers or clients.
What makes people share content?
According to research published in Harvard Business Review about what makes stories go viral, there are some combinations of factors that work better than others.
In short, the virality of your work depends getting the valence right (the positive or negative emotional response of a reader), achieving the right arousal level (does you work stir us up or leave use “chilled” or unmotivated), and the sense of dominance you impart to your reader (does your story leave me feeling empowered or powerless).
However, as you work through the various topics within your field and of concern to your audience, it is possible you will NOT achieve the right “viral” balance to turn every article into a powerhouse of sharing actions.
That is why having some built in tools and calls to action in your articles can magnify your chances of having your material shared by readers.
From things to do to click to tweet – make it easy for your readers to spread your word
In most of my articles, you will find I like to finish by suggesting a follow up activity that might help you apply what I am sharing, into your business.
That should be your first consideration in making your material more useful and, therefore, shareable.
Secondly, we have applied icons to each page of our site that enable you to click the social media channel of your choice and share our work with your own networks.
And, thirdly, today, I have installed an actively-updated plugin called Better Click To Tweet, that will help me help you tweet a link to this article while only having to lift a finger once and apply two quicks.
[ bctt tweet=”Make it easy for your #blog readers to #tweet your work with a simple #WordPress plugin” username=”baker_marketing” ]
I made the click to tweet box, above, by clicking the Twitter bird icon in the WordPress menu, which opened a box for me to custom write a tweet for you.
This is what the screen looked like while I composed the tweet for you.
It really is a simple as that. The key is making sure you only use about 90 characters, including spaces. That way, your whole message is included in the tweet. (I’d love the developer to add a character count at some stage).
Now, homework for this article is twofold:
Consider how you would sum up your next blog article into a pithy, punch tweet and, secondly, if you are a Twitter user, why not click to tweet this article, above, just to see how it works 😉
All the best with your blogging and don’t forget to contact us if you’d like some help with your WordPress-based blogging.
