As a small business owner, you work hard to create relevant content that engages your customers. But how can you get them to share it with their family and friends? One thing’s for sure: You can’t afford to sit there like a school kid with a crush, writing note after note, hoping to get noticed. Follow these tips to see your content shared like those truffles you got for Valentine’s Day!

It’s in your KISS

Put away the breath mints and lipstick because we’re not talking about that kind of kiss. We mean the acronym: KISS stands for Keep It Significant and Shareable. But how does it work?

1. Keep it significant

Ask yourself, is this important to my customers now? Would they find this information useful and interesting? Is this something my customers would ask? Become an expert in your industry and tell your customers what they want and need to know, when they need to know it. They’ll appreciate your honesty. And, what they find useful or innovative, they’re more likely to share with their network.

2. Make content easy to share

Any more than two to three clicks of a button, and it’s too much work to share your content, and readers give up. Make it a snap with social share links and buttons. Adding forward-to-a-friend and tweetable links are a great way to allow your content to be shared and magnified. You can also use sharing buttons from tools such as ShareThis or AddThis.

3. Catch their eye

The right image can lead to plenty of social shares. Whether you use a striking photo to catch readers’ attention or a stunning graphic to explain something to them, you’ll want to avoid random, generic photography and graphics — and instead keep it authentic and relevant. A study by Quick Sprout revealed that hand-drawn images get over three times as many shares as posts containing generic stock photos. Similarly, infographic content generates over 500 shares on average, or about twice as many as stock images. Why not try those in your content?

4. Cross-promote your content

Include blog post summaries in your newsletters, share your emails and newsletters on your social platforms, make your blog accessible through your website, and allow customers to easily access your social pages on your website, emails and blog.

5. Take advantage of SEO

The use of keywords on your site, blogs and other content can do wonders in enhancing your message. Don’t just talk about the features and benefits of your products. Speak to your readers in a language they understand using words and phrases that they naturally use, and try to create an emotional connection to your brand. And give them a better understanding of what your content is all about through the custom title and description and image associated with it.

6. Make it digestible

A recent survey reported that the average human attention span is eight seconds. Your busy readers are accustomed to picking and choosing pieces of content that interest them. Allow content to be easily scanned and understood by breaking it up into bullet points, short paragraphs and small blocks of text. Underlining, linking and making text bold also help to convey key points and takeaways.

The lifespan of most of our content is relatively short; it can range from a few days on our blogs to less than an hour on Facebook, or even a few minutes on Twitter. So it’s more important than ever to take advantage of your audience’s networks along with their eagerness to share and listen to their interests to create new, relevant content. Keep It Significant and Shareable, and you’ll have readers spreading the love about your business in no time.

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