BuzzSumo recently published the results of a study, showing that social content gets the most shares when the tone is adjusted for each social network. Consequently, marketers need to think carefully about how and where they share social content if they want to see real engagement and results.
The research looked at the 1 million most-shared articles to see what content types and publishers receive the most shares on social media. These winning pieces of web content received 2.6 billion shares on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. All told, Facebook was the most dominant network, accounting for 81.9 percent of all social shares.
Share news-driven posts on Google+ and Twitter
In terms of sentiment and tone, Twitter and Google+ were the most neutral. Positive and negative articles received an even amount of play, with each accounting for just over 40 percent of shares.
The data indicates that Twitter and Google+ are relatively agnostic in terms of tone and sentiment, so all kinds of content can thrive there.
Stay glass-half-full on Pinterest and LinkedIn, glass-half-empty on Facebook
LinkedIn and Pinterest shares overwhelmingly went to positive content (65-75 percent), but Facebook had a different undercurrent. The social network had the highest negative score (47 percent) and the lowest positive score (about 30 percent).
Because LinkedIn and Pinterest lean heavily toward the positive, you may get the most shares with how-to blogs and tip-driven pieces that offer constructive advice. Critical content and negative blog posts probably won’t resonate with readers as well as they would on Facebook, where penetrating analysis or satire seems to catch on and generate additional shares. Perhaps this is something to do with the findings from FB’s emotional contagion research.
Facebook had the highest negative score (47 percent) and the lowest positive score (about 30 percent).
Facebook users’ penchant for negative posts may sound somber, but it’s not an isolated finding. Other studies have found headlines with dark verbs tend to outperform their softer counterparts.
Above all, know your readers
Buzzsumo’s data provides a broad snapshot of what works across social networks, but every brand needs to stay true to what its customers respond to and prefer.
We saw this in action when a client wanted to drive more Google+ referral traffic, so it found relevant Communities and started posting in these groups. From this strategy, the firm saw social referral traffic jump 235 percent. and visitors who arrived from Google+ were not only more numerous – they were more likely to convert.
By effectively judging what kinds of readers spend time on different networks and in specific communities, brands can get more out of their social media marketing efforts.
