There are countless websites, blogs and brands doing the rounds on the web but only a select few that ever really make a big splash and fulfill their potential. Why is this?

Think about it…how many times have you seen articles on ‘How to Lose Weight’ or ‘How to Make Money Online’ that don’t have anything exciting or new to say? Meanwhile, the posts that do well on social media are the ones that are highly unique, that are very niche, or even controversial.

The posts that try to please everyone will end up not making much of an impact for anyone. While those that have something very clear to say to a very specific type of person will do well. And there’s a very good reason for that…

The Psychology of Sharing

A post will do well on social media when it gets shared. If you can create an article or a blog post that gets shared by all your followers and all their followers, then you will have a chance of going viral – which essentially means breaking one-million readers and potentially exploding as a result.

So why do we share? Here, it’s useful to remember what social media actually is on a fundamental level. Social media is a communication tool and that means that people use it either to express themselves, or to communicate something with someone else.

This is true of sharing too. People tend to share content for one of two reasons:

1. It says something about them. They like it so that other people will see it on their wall and know what’s on their mind.
2. It says something about a friend. They share it with a friend to show they’re thinking of them, or perhaps as a joke.

An Example

So let’s take an example. If you write a post on ‘How Working From Home Turns Your Brain to Mush’, then this will instantly appeal to people who work from home and who want to learn more about what impact that might be having on them.

If they agree with your post, if they find it interesting, or if they find it funny, then they may go on to share it on their wall. In doing so, they are reminding their friends that they work from home and maybe trying to help them understand a bit more about who they are.

Meanwhile though, your post might also get shared by people who have friends that work from home. These people will share your content because they’ll want to demonstrate that they understand their friends’ plights, as a way of poking fun, or just as a way to show that they’re thinking of them.

But this only works because your content appeals to a specific type of person. Don’t be afraid to narrow down and to potentially exclude others as a result. That’s how you become a brand with something useful to say.