Sharing any content with others, also known as the “share” metric, has become one of the most important social media KPIs. Sharing posts and news with our friends and families leads to their rapid spread. But what causes this? Why do we feel the need to immediately share certain things we see with others?
In fact, there is a simple answer to this question: because it evokes some kind of emotion in us. However, let’s analyze this in more detail.
Touching Emotions
Content that immediately evokes deep feelings in people, such as happiness, admiration, nostalgia, fear, surprise, disgust, aggression, or sadness, means it has achieved its purpose. People love to share the emotions they experience with others and want to ensure that others feel the same way. This is because we always want to be on the same page with our loved ones and approve each other.
Joy and Humor
People enjoy sharing content that makes them laugh or feel happy. This is why the most shared videos on social networks are usually funny cat videos, baby videos, or memes. We want to show others what makes us happy. We want to share happiness.
Creating Value and Informing
People don’t just want to share when they’re surprised or happy; they also want to share when they’ve learned something new. This can be an advice, knowledge, or useful information. As a result, we always enjoy being aware of new things and want our friends and families to learn about them too.
Self-Identification
After watching movies, the characters in them evoke certain feelings in us. It’s as if we’re watching someone very close to us. This feeling is self-identification. If the lifestyle, actions, reactions, or life story of a character in a movie are very similar to our own, we automatically identify with them. This makes us like and feel closer to that character.
Today’s social media “characters” are similar to this. We enjoy following and sharing people who have a similar lifestyle to us or share the same sense of humor, as well as memes that describe us. We empathize with them. When we see content that resonates with us, we immediately want to share it with our friends and say, “That’s so me!”
Creating Awareness
Unlike self-identification, awareness arises when we discover some truth or emotion about ourselves. Experiencing awareness is also one of the important factors that increases a person’s emotional intelligence.
One of the reasons psychological analysis videos have increased on social media lately is this. Such videos help us become aware of a trait we have. In fact, to increase the number of shares for this reason, influencers create short videos starting with phrases like, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but…” to touch on topics that people are already aware of. Another type of video I’ve seen is those that start with “Everyone has this type of friend…” which then makes us want to share the video with that particular friend.
We want to share the awareness we experience about ourselves with our friends or loved ones whom we think the topic also applies to.
Trying to Be a Better Person
People tend to share content that enhances their image and status. If sharing a particular piece of content makes someone look smarter, funnier, stronger, more sincere, or more fashionable, it increases the likelihood of sharing.
Call to Action
Interactivity on social media is another important factor that increases content sharing. Interactivity means giving followers a reason to share content. For example, sharing an opinion with phrases like “Share if you agree,” “Share if you’re like this,” “Share if this has happened to you,” or “Share to join” can encourage followers to share.
Competitions, trends, quizzes, and stickers on social networks can be examples of this.
Out of the Ordinary
The human brain loves schemas. It likes to complete stories with endings that fit our life experiences or are usually expected. This way, the brain does not strain itself. However, schemas can also lead to feel less interest in some things and a lack of attention. For the brain to react to something, it must be OUT OF THE ORDINARY. Unexpected, unusual nuances in content grab our attention quickly, even creating a sense of surprise. For example, a cat climbing a wall or a dog knowing the multiplication table is something different. We share this “uniqueness” with our friends immediately so they can see it too.
Trends and Being Part of Something
People share things to support beliefs that align with their values and choices. By doing so, they become part of a community, group, or those who think alike. This is how social media trends develope.
In conclusion, when brands want to create viral campaigns, they should consider “share” metric as KPI and try to create content that people find worth sharing.