Sharing is at the heart of social media. It’s how participants start a conversation about something. They share it. But first, your content has to be worth sharing. It has to provoke enough thought about it for someone to like it, Google+ it and share it on other social media formats. But, how do you make sure you create content that is share-worthy?

Share Everything Yourself

First, get in the habit of sharing things yourself. Share your blog posts, your YouTube videos and any content that you create on your social media. How often you share something depends on which social media you are using. Remember that people are sitting in wait for your shares and they don’t typically scroll back to find out if they missed anything. Therefore it’s up to you to find out the best time of day to share, and how often to share, based on which social media you’re using.

Ask People to Share

Always remember to include a call to action within your content. You want to tell people to “like” you, “share” and “g+” you. They truly may not think of doing it without your directions. It’s not that they don’t like your content it’s just that most people are oblivious to the power of sharing and so they just don’t do it. Include the asking in your call to action every single time and you’ll get more shares right away.

Keep Your Social Shares Short

Twitter forces brevity, but Facebook doesn’t. However, studies show that shorter posts on Facebook get more shares than longer ones. So, use the ability to put a link to the main source of content in your shares and make your comments short on the actual social media. Make the comment get noticed by asking a question or asking for action with a headline that will get attention from your followers.

Pay Attention to What Your Share Looks Like

What does the viewer see when they see your share? Do they see an image that gets their attention? Do they see words that make them want to read more? What exactly do they see on their end? It’s important to understand how size of images, and the automatic cropping of them on social media plays into whether someone wants to view or share your information or not.

Finally, be sure that you’ve done adequate research on your target audience so that you know what they want. If you are not sharing the type of information your target audience wants, then you may end up with a lot of shares and likes from people who are the wrong audience. Keep your audience in mind for everything you do and you’ll be more successful in getting more shares with your social media.