The Holidays are a Time for Sharing. Content.

By Spike Jones, Senior Vice President, Managing Director – Southwest Digital

Alas, the holidays are upon us once again. Quicker than you can say, “How did that happen?” we are bombarded with brands promising huge sales, deep discounts and unlimited supplies of the latest and greatest. Just like every year, they’re blowing up all types of media – from traditional to social – trying to spread their message and hoping, praying, that consumers will listen.

But what’s even better than someone responding to your content? Someone responding and then sharing it. It’s not an easy chestnut to crack, but if you stick to three buckets when creating content, the probability it will be shared will increase exponentially.

What are the top three reasons people share content online? In descending order:

1. It feeds their ego. Think about it. Social media is fueled by people pointing out how awesome they are. Look at the hotel where I’m staying. Look where I’m traveling. Look at this nice meal I’m eating or this glass of wine in this fancy bar. Foursquare. Instagram. Facebook. Twitter. Stop and take a look at your feed and you’ll see post after post of people trying to convince the rest of us how incredible their life is. Instead of trying to fight that fact, embrace it. Why not create pieces of content that make your customers look awesome? Something as simple as calling them out in a tweet or Facebook post (or retweeting them) makes them feel important… and they will naturally want to share the attention they received. Want to supersize it? Make a video about them and their passions with your brand being the sponsor.
2. It’s information. And not just any information. People tend to share information that is either brand spankin’ new or very freakin’ complicated (and explain it). We’re talking about new products. Upgrades. Game changers. Life hacks. Why not create content around this idea and give it to your biggest fans first? Not only will they feel special that you shared it with them first (read: feeds their egos), but they won’t be able to wait to share it in their social circles. 
3. It gets an emotional response. And yes, humor is great. But it’s hit-or-miss. In particular, people share content that enrages them (as a general rule, let’s stay away from that one) or delights them. I’m a huge fan of surprise and delights. What better time of year to activate a random act of kindness campaign for your customers on social. Or even better – enlist some of your fans to pay it forward and allow them to become the ones doing the surprising and delighting. 

To make it easy to remember, I think of ego, info and emo. Anytime our team is creating content for a client, we make sure at least one of these buckets is filled. If we can fill two or three of the buckets with one piece of content, that’s even better. Brands have to fight the instinct to talk about themselves and flip the spotlight to shine on their customers. When they do this, amazing things will happen.

More on word-of-mouth marketing and consumers’ instinct to share content can be found here.