People are sharing content online for various reasons. Some share to publish their creative works, while others share to start conversations or ask for help from others. When sharing online, it is best to create content that is specific, sticky, and helps people or is useful, beautiful, or creates discussion in order to attract and engage an audience. The key is to consistently share quality content that will draw people to your work.
Hello, I’m Su Butcher and I’m going to share some thoughts with you about why people are sharing online. And why you should do it too.
What is Sharing? Wherever you are on the internet, there are a myriad of sites and platforms which are all in essence a means of publishing material (or ‘content’) for other people to read, comment upon and share onward. But why do people do this?
1. Firstly because they have something to say. According to Technorati the blog search engine there are over 120,000 blogs around the world, regularly updated with things we just must share. This is the excellent Brian Green offering his usual cutting remarks on construction economics on his blog, Brickonomics. A must read for the construction industry.
2. Then of course people share their problems. It is much easier to find things if you can ask questions of your network. Here is a friend of mine film maker Neil Fairbrother asking about CO2 emissions from wind turbines, and our conversation as I put him in touch with a couple of people who could help him.
3. People share to be useful, but they also have other motives. The premium sanitaryware manufacturer Grohe tackles a bottleneck in their sales funnel by targeting installers direct with their ‘active’ site to show not only that installing their products doesn’t have to be difficult, but also that learning how to do it can give you a competitive advantage.
4. Or for the other side of the William Morris quotation, people share the stuff they love. I live on the Essex Coast and James Dodds is one of my favourite artists. His paintings and prints of boats and Essex coastal towns are an inspiration. This one (which he’s given me permission to share with you here) is one of 100s on his website. The painting will be exhibited in Maine in August.
5. Why do we share this stuff? The new internet is no longer about broadcasting, its about conversations. By discussing things we care about, we can create and develop ideas, and it helps us learn if we could work together.
6. Some people like to Find people who agree with them and collectivise to take action. Here’s a campaign aiming to get construction people to lobby their MP about how every £ invested in construction produces £2.84 of GDP. Together we can make a bigger noise!
7. But some people actively collect the mavericks. Every day TED publishes a short talk by a thought leader – like John Kasonaa here who has helped turn the poachers of Namibia, including his father, into conservationists, giving them “ownership in the wildlife.” Every day, another thought leader to listen to, for free in your inbox.
8. And why are thought leaders so important? They teach us how to be remarkable – literally. When you’re doing something amazing people remark upon it. They share it with others. Seth Godin wrote a book about this called ‘Purple Cow’.
9. Before the internet, being remarkable didn’t always work – you might just have found yourself yelling in a bucket. But now we have Googlewhack. The more obscure your remarkability is, the better. It just makes it easier for people who are looking to find you via google. Here’s Dave Gorman presenting about GoogleWhack and that’s the simplest definition of what a GoogleWhack is.
Being remarkable is no longer a disadvantage. It doesn’t stop Amazon stocking your book. It doesn’t stop the local cafe competing locally with McDonalds. The Mass Market no longer lords it over the Niche Market.
10 So be Specific about what you have to share. We’ve recently rebuilt the services section of our website to speak directly to the people we can help most with their concerns about buildings and property. We are the best architects (at what we do) and you can be the best too, online 24/7.
12 If you are specific and remarkable then you’ll be memorable. Your contribution sticks not only in people’s minds but it sticks onto the internet, building up a footprint of your remarkableness.
This means that instead of having to shove your stuff in people’s faces, people will break down your door for it. Sharing helps them know you, and if they need your help, they’ll come to you. 38,000 fans on facebook for a blender company? Now that’s sticky.
But you don’t have to sell blenders to identify what makes you remarkable. To quote from the Seth Godin’s book ‘All Marketers are Liars’; "There are only two things that separate success from failure in most organisations today: 1. Invent stuff worth talking about 2. Tell Stories about what you've invented"
And lastly, just in case you were, please heed the advice of David Meerman Scott (who wrote ‘The new Rules of Marketing and PR’. Don’t worry about sharing your best information online. Your competitino already knows what you’re doing, and People like leaders, not followers. That was August 19 th 2008 by the way. He was ahead even then.
So here’s your homework.
And don’t forget. We’re listening – we may even talk about you.