If you want to generate traffic through social media, you need to give users something they'll want to share. ("Lightning Talk" presented at SF Growth Hacker meetup.)
Creating Sharability - How to Create Features in Your Product That Encourage Social Sharing
1. Creating Sharability
SF Growth Hacker Social & Lightning Talks
July 10, 2013
Ehren Reilly
@ehrenreilly
Growth hacker since 2005
Product manager for several B2C startups
Currently founding member of the organic growth team at IAC
2. Social Sharing
Good news:
Highly effective marketing for $0!
Bad news:
You can’t do it on your own. You need your
users to help you. Almost no one will share
your product just because it’s an awesome
product.
4. Sharing for No Reason?
• Don’t just stick a
share interface into
your product.
• Think about the value
proposition for the
user.
• Would you share this
thing?
5. Who Will Do Your Social Sharing
Work For You?
People who use and like
your product
Fans who really
want to
promote your
product via
social sharing
People who share stuff
just because it’s cool.
6. People who use and like
your product
Fans who really
want to
promote your
product via
social sharing
People who share stuff
just because it’s cool.
Just be awesome
Make your stuff
more sharable
Viral marketing
7. What Motivates People to Share?
1. Economic benefit
2. Self-expression & self-promotion
3. Social capital
4. Utility & communication
9. Self-expression & self-promotion
• People don’t want to
share your stuff.
• People want to
share their stuff.
– Playlists
– Users’ own user-
generated content
– Custom created
merchandise
10. Self-expression & Self-promotion
• User-generated quiz site Quibblo.com
• Doubled sharing rate and tripled referral
traffic from Facebook with one small
change to sharing process.
• “Share this quiz” “Share your result”
11. Social Capital
• People want to be
cool and in-the-know.
• Give sharers
something that will
entertain or delight
their peers.
12. Utility & Communication
• Give people a message they want to tell
others about.
• Present your share tool at the time they
want to communicate that message.