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4 +1 Ways to Share Facebook Posts – and Why You Should Use Them
The Sprocket Report
To keep your Facebook audience engaged you’ll want to generously and consistently share content folks want to read. We have four tips (and a bonus tip!) for how to make the most of your social media Shares.
The whole point of using social media for your business or organization is to remind your readers that you offer what they want. Social media racks up those “marketing touches” to build familiarity and trust. It helps you stay “top of mind” when readers are ready to make a decision. And it ensures there’s an audience listening when you broadcast a news release.
So the strategy is to offer on a regular basis interesting stuff that readers will want to read, engage with and share. Providing a constant stream of quality posts all on your own would be near impossible if it weren’t so easy to curate content from other sources. But remember that the point of curated content is for YOU to engage with your audience – not market someone’s else company to them. Keep that in mind when you’re sharing Facebook posts.
1. Share post with link
This is the easiest way to instantly put a meme or article in front of your followers. Just click “Share” at the bottom of the post. You don’t even have to preface the shared post when Facebook asks you to “say something about this,” but it’s a good idea to give your personal spin. Just make sure to use the drop down arrow to choose the right page and and profile before you share. The downside of this technique is that you can’t schedule this kind of post – it’s immediate.
2. Share just the link
Frequently pages you follow will share a third party’s article and you may want to only share the article rather than the post. By clicking on the link in the post, you’ll go to the web page where the article resides. Copy the URL of that article and paste it into the box on your own Facebook page where it says “Write something.” Now you are just sharing the article link rather than a post about the article link. Write a sentence or two about why your readers should read this article before posting or scheduling this post. And remember, you can delete the long URL in the text box, but the link will remain in your post.
3. Share your own article about the link
Since your marketing effort should be for your business rather than anyone else’s, a better way to share curated content is to write a few paragraphs about it and post that on your own website. Then share your article’s link on your Facebook page. Write about why you agree with or disagree with the author of the original content or point out how this information applies specifically to your product or service.
You will still be sharing the link to the original content, but you will be driving readers to your website first where you have an opportunity to engage further.
4. Schedule the post with the link
Sometimes it makes marketing sense to share someone else’s Facebook post about an article, but you want to schedule when to publish it. For example, when you want to remind an influential referrer that you are following them and sharing their posts to get them to Like or Comment on your Share or follow you back. If you already posted a lot today and have nothing for tomorrow, here’s how to schedule that Share for later.
Posts have a lot of live links. Click on the name of who is posting, and you’ll go to their page, but you don’t want to share that URL. The post you want to share may be at the top of their timeline now, but if it’s bumped by later posts, you’ll be sharing the wrong article by the time your scheduled post is published.
Instead, click on the time/date link of the post. You will be redirected to a page that has only one post on it, the one you want to share. Copy that URL and paste it where it says “Write something…” on your Facebook page. Now you can schedule the share for whenever you want.
Bonus: Post automatically on Twitter, too
It is not a best practice, but when time is at a premium, it may make sense for you to publish once on Facebook and let the post automatically tweet, too. Go to www.facebook.com/twitter to link the two platforms together. Remember that Twitter restricts the number of characters you use, so keep your Facebook posts short to keep them fully readable.
None of these techniques are difficult to do – we use them every single day – but mastering the skills of social media marketing may not be the best use of your energy. If you’d rather focus on what you do best, let us take over your social media. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.
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Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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