Use HubSpot to create more shareable content that puts your company on the map and attracts more customers
For many marketers, creating shareable content is the Holy Grail of content marketing.
The more shareable a post is, the more potential customers will see it and the more awareness you raise for your brand.
If you’re especially lucky, your content might go viral. It’s the stuff of marketing dreams.
But luck and dreams only go so far when you’ve got KPIs to hit, deadlines to meet, and a million other marketers all trying to strike gold with the same idea. Fortunately, HubSpot can help.
There’s no sure-fire way to create the next big hit. But you can optimise your social content in HubSpot to make your content more shareable, maximising the value you get back from your content marketing efforts and giving your content the best chance of being seen.
Step 1: Visit the Social tool
In your portal, navigate to the menu bar. Click ‘Marketing’ then, in the drop-down menu, select ‘Social’.
Step 2: Select the post for optimisation
In the main table, you will see a list of all the social posts you have created in HubSpot. Filter by ‘Published’ using the traffic-light filter to the left of the page to find a post to optimise.
In the main table, scroll down until you find the post and click into it.
Step 3: Review post details
A pop-up will appear called ‘Post details’. Here you can see the post as it was published/scheduled.
Review the current post details such as the copy used or any links included.
Scroll down to the bottom and note how many comments it received, how many HubSpot-tracked links were clicked, and how many network-tracked links were clicked.
Step 4: Clone or edit the post
Click the ‘Actions’ button in the top right-hand corner of the pop up and click ‘Clone’.
You will find yourself faced with a duplicate version of the post in the ‘Create new social posts’ tool.
Step 5: Optimise the post for sharing
In the text box on the left-hand side of the page, add relevant hashtags to improve the post’s reach to its target audience.
- Add these at the end of the post, after any copy and links.
- Use hashtags related to the topic, industry, or any trending hashtags to maximise visibility.
- Use up to three hashtags to improve reach without appearing spammy.
Next, add a visual to the post. Click ‘Add media’ below the text box to add the chosen media.
For example, this could be a photo, a graphic, or a meme. Shareable posts typically make the reader laugh or they amaze the reader. Consider how the images you select elicit one of these two strong emotions. If humour doesn’t strike the right tone for your brand or industry, graphs/infographics can be particularly shareable when the research is original.
Finally, add a call to action (CTA). Click back into the text box to add the copy.
Contrary to how CTAs are typically used, these calls to action shouldn’t direct the reader away from the post (for example, to a landing page). Instead, they should ask the reader to reshare the post.
How you word this will depend on the tone you’ve struck, whether you are making the reader laugh or shocking them, or where you want to ask them to reshare it. (E.g. their whole network in the newsfeed vs. in a direct message to a colleague.)
Step 6: Schedule the post
When you are happy with the post content, click ‘Schedule’ in the top right-hand corner and proceed as if you were scheduling any other social post according to your schedule.
Step 7: Compare performance
Review how the post performed by repeating steps 1, 2, and 3 and comparing the data to that of the original post.
Step 8: Review share data
Return to the Social overview page (Marketing > Social) and click ‘Analyze’ in the sub-menu to view all your social dashboards.
Scroll down to ‘Shares’ and see how share performance has changed in the relevant timeframe.
Author: Dr. Thomas Brown
Principal Copywriter
