Technology has blessed your community with more sharing power than ever before. The ability to retweet, like, and pin with increased ease is what helped launch the slactivist movement.
But even though sharing has gotten easier, getting people to share still feels like pulling teeth.
So how do you get people to share your content? Here are five attitudes to adopt:
1. Start with your database
The people who are most likely to share your content are in your donor database and email list.
Before you waste time trying to target specific audiences on Facebook (which you can easily do) make sure you’ve worked your database first. They are better spokespeople for your cause than you are.
2. Become one of them
If you’re thinking on some level (even subconsciously) that your job is to get people to do something, stop it. You can’t make people do anything – especially if they don’t trust you.
What you can do is find the people who are already talking about your cause, and join their conversations. Quite naturally, on their own terms, they’ll accept you as one of their own.
3. Respect the blogger
Don’t hire an amateur do a mass copy-and-paste blogger outreach campaign. Instead, create a strategy that truly motivates them to share your campaign with their audience.
Keep in mind that bloggers are in it for the long haul like you are. When the campaign is over, don’t disappear. Continue to emonstrate your sincere interest in their blog with comments and retweets.
4. Think about how you share
Think about the last time you shared a video on YouTube. How did you share it? Did you email it, tweet it or post it on Facebook?
More importantly, why did you share it? Was it funny? Did it make you angry?
You can better understand the research about viral content if you look at motivates your own sharing.
5. Huddle up with your 1%
If you haven’t already, begin to identify your champions. Create a private venue using a Facebook Group so that you can deepen your connection with these folks. When it’s time to launch a tightly defined fundraising effort, they’ll be ready to go.
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Social is about cultivating relationships. Once you establish a relationship with an influential blogger, it’s important to maintain it over the long term and remember that it goes two ways. They will be more likely to help you if you help them out too.
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