The importance of social sharing

Social sharing is a vital part of online community building--whether be it a simple trade forum or a complex social network. Social sharing can help build traffic for a website and further marketing performance goals. For a user, finding valuable and intrinsicly interesting content can be helpful, fun and is at the heart of what the web is about.

Why is social sharing valuable?

• Establish your brand as an industry expert by providing valuable resources, news and ideas
• Increase social visibility within a community, which will help get you on the radar of customers, users and potential partners
• Great shareable content helps start conversations
• Be participatory within an online community to build good-will towards your brand or profile
• Makes it easy to find new social followers, fans and friends
• Great for building relationships and loyalty

An important note on social sharing

It is important to remember that not all content you and your brand shares in a social community should be self-promotional in nature. Remember to be a participant in the community. People join social communities for a range of reasons, but least of these reasons is to be marketed to by brands. Ultimately, by overly "selling" your brand through social websites, you run the risk of driving potential allies, users and customers away. Instead, practice sharing great content that is truly useful.