When it comes to getting more traffic, attention, and higher rankings, there is a concept that is starting to have a big impact on those goals.

And that is increasing the number of shares your content gets on social media.

This means that if you write a post with 500 tweets, 100 likes, and 40 + 1s … and you do it consistently … it will probably increase your traffic and your search engine ranking.

How to Increase Website Traffic Through Social Sharing

So how do you get people to share your content on the social web? Here are 10 ways to do this:

Tip#1: Making social sharing buttons very visible

Never force people to search for your buttons to share on social networks. Instead, make them obvious.

For example, I use a social media plugin that allows my buttons to scroll up and down in the post as people scroll through it:

The other place to add buttons is at the end of the article.

Tip#2: Ask readers to share content through social channels

Most of your readers don’t read your content and think “I want to share this”. That is why you should encourage them to share.

Even though it was a study of re-tweets, Dan Zarella showed that tweets that simply asked people to “please RT” would generate 4 times more RT than tweets without the phrase.

Unfortunately, many people just drop out of the social sharing bar plugin at the end of the post and expect people to use it.

You have to tell them to use it!

Here are some other tips to encourage social sharing:

• Try the best location – I couldn’t find anyone to tell me where the best location for the CTA to share on social media should be … as it will probably be different for each blog.
• Increase social sharing numbers right away – no one wants to feel like the first to share their content. So increase the numbers by sharing the content yourself and asking people to share it.

Tip#3: Tap influencers in social content

Your social media sharing numbers can come alive when a social media leader shares your content. They can even crash your servers.

But how do you get these authority figures to tweet or post about your content on Facebook or Pinterest? You have to build a relationship with them.

Here we show you how to get the attention of these influencers:

• Post-round-ups: Write a blog post once a month that brings together all the best content of the week … including some parts of these authority figures’ blogs. Do this quite often and they will notice you.
• Post lists on a specific topic: They’re like weekly or monthly summaries, except you’re creating a resource or guide for a specific topic.
• Interviews: Take the time to contact some of these authority figures and offer to interview them. Research and find a topic you didn’t talk about in a previous interview.
• Always bond with them: Get in the habit of linking these authority figures with every content you write. The more links you send out, the better.

Go a step further and contact these people when you post your content and ask them to tweet or share from time to time.

Tip#4: Multiply your social sharing reach through Triberr

Triberr is a social site that leverages the power of numbers by bringing together like-minded bloggers in a “tribe”. This tribe will bring you many benefits, including:

• Automatic Social Sharing: When you join Triberr, you join a tribe. And the system is set up so that when you post content, members of that tribe automatically tweet your content.
• Increase the reach of your content: By partnering with different “tribes”, you expand your network among these different audiences. For example, a Triberr member who belongs to 6 tribes has a reach of more than 6 million followers on Twitter. Talk about an increase in social sharing!
• More high-quality visits to your site: Each tribe is created to focus on a specific niche … so that its extended target audience is focused on like-minded people.
• More Comments: As this automatic tweet increases its reach and drives higher quality content to your site, you will naturally experience more comments on the site.

Tip#5: Using Sponsored Tweets

If you have a budget to share on social media, you can take advantage of the power of sponsored Tweets. This is basically a platform that connects advertisers with advanced Twitter users who sell their tweets.

You can be very selective who you work with, choosing a maximum amount per tweet you want to pay and a minimum number of followers that Twitter users should have:

Among the most famous, you can advertise with celebrities like Carrot Top, Bethany Frankel, and Kendra Wilkinson.

I would not recommend that you do this in all posts as it can be expensive and should only be done with relevant Twitter users. For example, you don’t want to pay a celebrity to tweet about your SEO blog post.

Tip# 6: Using Facebook sponsored stories

A sponsored story is a post on someone’s Facebook feed that an advertiser paid to highlight in the sidebar. Therefore, there is a greater chance of being seen among your friends.

This sidebar is 240 pixels wide and will only show up in FB user friend streams … meaning it won’t post to FB. The idea behind the sponsored story is to take advantage of your friend’s recommendation about your brand.

Basically what happens is someone posts something about you, your blog, or brand … notice that mention … and then pay to have it appear on History’s sponsored site.

You can use the sponsored story for various Facebook user activities:

• Like: When someone likes your Facebook page, you can pay to highlight this “Like”. The good thing about this is that the “Like” button will appear in the sponsored story for people to like immediately … thus increasing their social participation.
• Page Post: You can sponsor actual posts posted by Facebook users. They will appear in the sidebar with a “Share” button to generate even more “Actions”.
• “Like” Page Post: If someone likes a Facebook post in the last seven days, you can also promote it to a sponsored story.
• “Like” on the blog: You can also promote “Like” from your blog or website.
• Applications: If a Facebook user shares a story using your application, you can also promote this action.

Again, as this is a paid way to promote social actions, you don’t want to promote everyone’s likes or posts. Be strategic with the content you want to increase in social actions.

Tip#7: Create a social sharing-worthy brand

I spent years and a lot of money promoting my brand so that when people see my name, my blog, or one of my companies, they think of someone influential on the Internet.

In other words, my brand shows people that I am an authority. This is how I grew my brand … and how you can too:

• Create detailed and heavy research posts on your blog – I’ll talk more about that below, but suffice it to say that your strategy is to provide your followers with the content they want and love. It should always be useful and valuable in their eyes.
• Share content and interact on the social network – provide your followers with excellent information to help them solve their problems and entertain them. Mix business with fun.
• Commenting on other blogs means reading, sharing, and taking the time to interact not only with the author of the content but also with his followers. Choose some blogs first. Ideally, they should be popular.
• Participate and speak at conferences – you can’t spend all your time online! Connect and travel to conferences to meet influential leaders. Buy drinks and dinners so you can pick your brain and swap links.

Tip#8: Produce content that’s worth sharing

I saved the best for last because boosting your social sharing numbers starts with creating great content. I wrote so much about it that some of these posts are worth sharing. I hope they help you create content assets that people will want to share without you having to nudge them.

Conclusion

Increasing the amount of shares your content travels on the social Web is a numbers game. It is a game in which the 8 above tips will help you play and win.

And when you start winning this game, several things will happen: You will receive more traffic, more attention, and better search engine rankings, which will be a good reward for all your hard work.

Preview Image Credit: macrovector – www.freepik.com