I’m hearing some contradictory viewpoints on the importance of sharing friends and colleagues’ links via social media. Let’s walk through the options.
“Sharing isn’t as valuable as creation, and I only have time for one.”
I hear this a lot. It’s why many marketing teams aren’t more active on social media, and it’s not an unfounded concern. It comes predominantly from watching the streams of spam that spew from a multitude of useless twitter handles. It comes from watching zombie social media users vomit out garbled content, and praying, “Please, let me never be like them.”
Pros: If you never share, you guarantee never becoming one of the zombies.
Cons: Never sharing (usually) means never being shared. It removes nearly all chance of building relationships via social media.
“I’ll share anything – it’s a nice thing to do, and it doesn’t hurt me.”
This is the other end of the spectrum, and people who feel this way have lived a privileged life. These people happen to follow people like @jcolman, @content_insight, and @pamela_drouin. I know that these are three busy people, and yet when I see how much valuable content they share from their friends and colleagues, I find myself assuming they have stolen Hermione’s time turner. How else do they find the time to provide us all with both original and fabulously curated content? Lucky people who are connected with people like @jcolman, @content_insight, and @pamela_drouin fall into the trap of assuming that the world is as helpful as these three. They don’t see the zombies lurking in the corners.
Pros: Sharing useful content helps build networks. Networks build brands, and brands build customer loyalty. This is content marketing at its best.
Cons: For every @content_insight, there are 10 zombies. Sharing content without first reading it and ensuring its value will turn you into one as well.
“I’ll only share what I have time to first vet.”
This statement is most often heard on New Years. It’s up there with “I’ll start snacking on healthier foods” and “I’ll get back in touch with all the people I’ve lost touch with over the years.” Admirable, but much easier said than done. Reading, watching, and critiquing every single piece of content that comes your way is a monumental task – it’s the reason some teams have dedicated social media experts or gurus. For the rest of us, while we wait to get a dedicated social media expert (and maybe a dedicated coffee-making intern?), we find ourselves resolving each year to be “better” about it.
Pros: Staying away from the zombies! This is one way to ensure that only valuable content comes out.
Cons: It takes way too much time, and it’s a black-and-white view, ignoring the fact that there are shortcuts to identifying valuable content.
“Sharing is Caring.”
I don’t hear this often, but I wish I did. It means more than one thing, and it’s the first step in solidifying a brand across social media channels. First, sharing does show that you care. That’s why it’s such a successful networking strategy. Second, sharing requires some care; i.e. time and effort. At a glance, even a novice content strategist can determine whether something is readable, understandable, actionable, and shareable. If it isn’t? That’s still okay – as long as it covers 2 out of 4. They don’t all have to be winners.
Pros: It allows for moderation, rather than hard and fast rules.
Cons: There are no hard and fast rules. (Life’s tough.)