Not all shared content gets clicked, so how do brands ensure that the content they share travels across the web and generates readership for them? To answer this question, we need to identify the content sharing pattern on popular channels like Facebook, Twitter, our good old e-mails and others.

To help us look into this matter in depth, I would quote from a research by ShareThis, Starcom MediaVest and Rubinson Partners, in an article by Actionable Marketing Expert Heidi Cohen, which says “Sharing accounts for 10% of all Internet traffic and roughly one out of three referral visits to sites result from search and social media”.

In the following post, we will look at the research findings for content sharing patterns across different social media channels and give tips to increase sharing.

Research findings on user clicks
With the help of above mentioned research, we can identify that users click at the following rate on different channels:

• 38% of Facebook                                                                                                    
• 17% of e-mail
• 11% of Twitter
• 34% of other types of links

Further, the channel on which the link is shared also determines the clicks it garners.

• Links on Twitter receive 4.8 clicks
• Facebook links receive 4.3 clicks
• E-mail 1.7 clicks.

An interesting fact which came out of this research is that roughly four out of five people share information in only one category.

Half-life of content
Based on Bit.ly research, a link’s lifespan depends on content quality and the platform it’s shared on. The half-life of a shared on different platform varies accordingly:

• Shared link on Twitter is 2.8 hours
• Shared link on Facebook is 3.2 hours
• Shared link on direct sources such as e-mail and IM clients is 3.4 hours
• Shared link onYouTube is 7.4 hours.

Overriding these specifics is the fact that many links have a half-life of less than two hours, while sticky links (with good writing skills and information or sometimes breaking news items) can have a half-life up to eleven hours. Link lifespan mostly depends on content quality.

Tips to encourage content sharing across web
Based on these two research findings, I have compiled a list of some tips which could be helpful in sharing content on social media:

• Content and information is the key: it is good to create compelling content that interests your target audience.
• Create a diverse content form: in order to entice your audience, it is always advisable to develop content in a variety of formats like videos, infographic, news, editorial content etc.
• Integrate links: it always helps to insert links to your product offering, wherever appropriate.
• Make sharing easy: it always helps to insert links, where they attract attention and also are relevant.
• Direct people: to share your content as a commentary accompanying your link.

So what do you use to make your content sharable ?

Similar Posts:

• Companies Are Data-Rich and Insight-Poor [Report]
• How Brands Used Twitter in 2012
• The Importance of Content Marketing When Building SEO Strategies [Infographic]

Tags: content half life, content quality, email, Facebook, research, Social Media, social sharing, Twitter