Monday, February 24, 2014

It's not enough to be liked


Those of us in the communications business have worked hard on our craft so we can be an influence on our audience. To borrow a Facebook term we have worked on making sure the content of our spoken or written work is liked.

But as we enter 2014 the Facebook like is now not good enough.

Our goal is to get the Facebook share for our content.

And there is a big difference in content that is liked and content that is shared. Content that's liked is a simple transaction between the communicator and their immediate audience. It was a nice message, I liked his point about this. However we change our paradigm and produce content that is more than liked  but shared our sphere of influence grows exponentially. Not only was our content good but our audience wanted to tell others how it affected them and how it might be useful for their friends to know this.

Those who are students of Facebook or other social media know that organisations now produce content that is designed to be shared rather than liked. It will be the photo with an appropriate caption or some video image. These organisations are seeking to not only influence their existing audience with their message, but they are using this existing audience to share this material to a whole new audience. So the influence of the organisation grows exponentially.

So while many in Facebook strive for the like amongst their circle of influence, others are trying to reach further than this smaller audience. The same is also happening in spoken communication too. The best are seeking to produce content that reaches further than those within earshot. They are seeking the water cooler conversation topic the next day.

We need to realize there is a difference between content that is liked and content that is shared. Learn the difference and make the appropriate changes to your content to increase your influence. For example take a look at this image. If you posted just the text on Facebook or twitter you may get a like from your audience. Paste it as an image and you increase your chance from like to share or retweet. Just a little bit of effort and slight change to your content suddenly your influence reaches further. Photo: Just found this picture of the Queue for Food at a Syrian Refugee Camp.

#Pray4Syria



And never has it been easier to get the share for your content than now. The only limitation is the quality and usefulness of your content. So whether you work in the media, church, politics or even a sporting organisation we are all in the content business with our messaging and we should be seeking to be not liked but shared.


Let me know how you go.