Why do people share other users’ content on Facebook? The answer to that question is the Holy Grail for Facebook marketers.
That’s probably why Fractl surveyed 2,000 consumers to find out why people share third-party content. The results may be useful for social media marketers operating on the world’s most popular network. Perhaps not surprisingly, most users favor funny videos and articles; they avoid serious political content. More than half (52%) of respondents say they avoid sharing third-party content on Facebook that is controversial.
Image source: Fractl
The average Facebook user logs onto the network every day and shares content at least once a week. However, sharing frequency and reasons for sharing vary.
The main reason, cited by 48 percent, is to entertain friends. In addition, 17 percent said they share content to express the issues they care about, 13 percent to evoke an emotional response, and 11 percent to provide information. Most believe sharing helps them feel closer to their friends.
Differences Between Men and Women
Men are slightly more likely to share to persuade their friends of their viewpoint. Women are 13 percent more likely to share content to elicit an emotional response from friends. That motivation becomes stronger as they age: 60 percent of women over 50 who actively share on Facebook do so to prompt emotional reactions.
The results indicate that female Baby Boomers have supplanted Millennials on the network. Although most teen-agers still use Facebook, they have a low opinion of it and are enamored with apps like Snapchat and Instagram. Forrester Research revealed that teens rank Facebook low on its cool scale. Only Tumblr, Pinterest and Google+ ranked worse.
Primary reasons for sharing on Facebook. Image credit: Fractl
Most users log on more than once a day, but only 18 percent share more than once a day. They tend to be older and female. They also tend to be bolder and more image-conscious: 42 percent share to maintain their image, compared to 31 percent of the general population.
Users with more than 500 friends are 7% more likely to share content that maintains a certain image of themselves; they are 9% more likely to share content that makes them look good.
Fractl research also reveals that men and women are equally likely to share news content as well as funny videos and articles. However, men are 8 percent more likely to share political content and satirical news, and women are 5 percent more likely to share content of inspiring stories and pictures of food.
What Facebook Says
Although marketers will likely find the Fractl study interesting, most recognize that posting content that’s relevant to their audience is the essential factor to get their posts before their audiences. Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s vice president of product for news feed, has said that Facebook’s ranks new and relevant content higher.
As relayed by Social Media Today, Mosseri recommends that marketers:
Seek stronger connections. Users see more content from others they interact with more; more engagement with the brand increases the likelihood the brand’s posts will appear in a user’s news feed.
Avoid overly promotional content. Too much promotional content over time can cause viewers to lose interest in your brand over time.
Write descriptive headlines. Users prefer headlines that accurately summarize the content – not click-bait.
Experiment. What works for one publisher may not work for others. Trying different formats can reveal what your audience prefers, be it videos, long-form posts or images.
Use publisher tools. Tools like Facebook Insights show how your content performs and measure the audience’s response. With Audience Optimization tools you can select the post’s topics to tell the algorithm who might be interested in the content.
Bottom Line: New research analyzes why Facebook users share posts from others, a vital question for social media marketers. The answer varies between demographics.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
Sharing content in Facebook is a great idea for getting a huge amount of traffic