content sharing

Your content, especially (and mostly) on social media, should include sharing and mentioning other content and authors in your niche. How can you successfully do this? How can you share others’ content – and most importantly, pick the right content to share, and stay away from what could hurt or deter your reader base? Before actually getting familiar with the written and unwritten rules related to a perfectly healthy and legitimate content sharing strategy, you should focus on finding and assimilating original web content tailored to the real needs and expectations of your targeted audience. Here’s how you could narrow down your search. A Guide to Content Sharing Done Right A mini case study in great sharing is the TAGFEE code at Moz. It stands for Transparent & Authentic, Generous, Fun, Empathetic, and Exceptional. This “code” is what they stand by for everything they cultivate and create. It’s an awesome guide to live by and a wonderful route to great content. How to Find the Right Type of Shareable Content That Works for You Ask Questions. Social media platforms give you the opportunity to humanize your brand and let your fans and followers realize that they’re interacting with a living, breathing individual, not a money-hungry corporation that just wants to sell anything to anyone. Post questions related to potential upcoming topics that could be introduced on your blog. This way, your readers would be more inclined to talk about their most pressing questions and the answers that they expect from you and your company. Read Comments. Feedback is a gift from above, allowing you to prevent or correct past mistakes and keep your content creation/sharing strategy on the right path. Read comments and assimilate the most important lessons that your readers can teach you. Explore the Connection with the Pop Culture. Amazing content creators know how to educate, inform and entertain their public at the same time. They aren’t afraid to explore pop culture references and turn them into real life lessons that actually are relevant for their sector. This may give you a new reason to keep up with the Kardashians or watch Dancing with the Stars without feeling guilty. Write about the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in Your Niche (and Skip the Unremarkable). In short, boost your appetence for the unconventional. Your readers definitely don’t want to waste time going through boring stuff. Maybe you’ve always wondered why Harper’s Bazaar starts almost every headline created for social media with this standard formula: “You won’t believe what X has done with her hair/wardrobe/makeup!” This is one of the oldest in the book, based on the idea that a little bit of suspense and the promise of a spectacular discovery will make readers bite their nails in anticipation and finally click on the link that you provide. So now that you know what type of content you would like to share, how could you actually distribute it without stealing someone’s intellectual property? If this dilemma is stopping you from getting a good night’s rest, keep reading to spot 10 foolproof ways in which you can put X’s written thoughts to good use without getting in trouble. 10 Rules for Sharing Content Without Actually Stealing Other People’s Work 1.  Conduct a Keyword Search and Pick Your Most Reliable Sources According to Business2Community, keyword search represents the first step towards identifying great shareable content on the Internet. Using the keywords that make sense to you, conduct extensive searches in search engines, social networking websites (like Twitter, for instance) and Google alerts. Afterwards, you could always turn to different RSS readers like Feedly for instance, store the most relevant content pieces in a bookmark tool such as Pocket or Readability and schedule posts revolving around the hottest web content that you can find using one of the many social media management tools, like Hootsuite or Buffer. 2.  Subscribe to Different Content Aggregators to Stay in the Loop SmartBrief aggregates great content on a daily basis and gives you the chance to check out at least 10 new articles related to topics that may interest you. According to Convince & Convert, by using content aggregators, you can save a lot of time otherwise invested in a more or less organized topic hunt. 3.  Find the Best Collaborators in Your Niche and Start Building Mutually Beneficial Relationships Talk to influencers in your industry. Refine your people skills and reach bloggers who share your interests. Mention their work in your posts and they will be inclined to return the favor. This could mark the beginning of a more than satisfactory collaboration leading to a whole bunch of premium, shareable co-authored content pieces that will allow you to expand your reader database. 4.  Cite Content in Your Very Own Blog Posts & on Social Media While Complying with Internet Etiquette As you were struggling to reinvent the wheel and come up with brand-new food for thought for your readers, someone introduced a fantastic new concept. Instead of sweating even harder to rewrap your competitor’s ideas in a different manner and trying to convince your readers that the creative concept actually belongs to you, post the relevant quote in its original form and give credit to its author by mentioning the source and hyperlinking the blog/website in question. Also, make sure you are familiar with the rules and guidelines related to content sharing, set in place by all sources that you plan to cite. For instance, HubSpot lets you quote its web content, as long as the fragments that you choose do not exceed the 75-words limit (to prevent  duplicate content issues that could impact their rankings- and yours as well!) What happens when you stumble across really cool content on social media platforms? Do you rub your hands in anticipation and grab your favorite fragments when nobody’s looking? Sorry to burst your bubble, but this dubious strategy isn’t the best course of action. In most cases, you just have to mention the name of your … Read more