BUSINESS WITCHERY: ENSURE PEOPLE WILL SHARE YOUR STUFF ON SOCIAL MEDIA

    As a bad witch, I adore social media. Social media allows me to deploy some classic bad-ass witchy skills (glamor, persuasion, influence, sigils, hypnotic spells) to gain power, influence, and money.

    As with most witchery, I find the key to success in social media spellcasting is understanding the underlying principles that guide its movement, and then working with those underlying principles.

    The Social Media Grand Spell

    So here’s a key principle to understand about how sharing on social media works so that you can handle it magically:

    People always and only share things that help them express their identity.

    Knowing that is the biggest key to inspiring people to share your stuff (articles, pictures, memes, videos) on social media. And of course, the more people share your stuff, the bigger your influence and audience grows, the more money you can make as a business witch.

    I’ll say it again because it’s just so basically, fundamentally, crucially true: people always – and I mean always, without exception – share whatever they feel best helps them express their identity.

    It’s a little harsh but it’s true: no one wants to share your brand’s identity or your businesses’ message…. unless that person already feels so identified with your brand or product or service that talking about how much she loves it helps others to understand who she is.

    The more you think about social sharing from your audiences’ and potential customers’ point of view, the more you understand that they might “Like” your businesses’ posts – they might even comment on those posts – but there’s no way that a member of your audience will share your post (and thus extend your reach and make your content go viral) unless he feels that sharing it helps to him to express something meaningful and worthwhile about himself.

    The examples that I’ll give here are specifically inspired by Facebook (since it’s the big behemoth and thus the lingua franca of social media marketing), but if you consider these for a moment, you’ll find that the same principles will apply equally to every other existing form of social media – Twitter, Instagram, etc.

    The real reasons why people share

    I find that it helps first to understand that every post that a person makes on social media contains both an underlying statement of her identity and an underlying request for validation of her identity from others.

    Let’s explore these so you can better know how to inspire people to share your brand’s content on social media.

    Below, the first statement, in italics, is the underlying statement of identity and the second sentence, in parentheses, is the underlying request for validation of identity from others.

    Let’s consider some things people often want to express about themselves. 

    1. I have a great sense of humor! (Check out this funny youtube clip or LOLcat picture, isn’t it hilarious?)
    2. I care about important causes! (See this political meme I’m sharing, isn’t it moving?)
    3. My life is busy / fulfilling / tiring and I’m angry / grateful / sad! (Listen to me tell you a story about my day, doesn’t it strike a chord with you too?)
    4. I have excellent taste in music and an intense inner emotional life! (Listen to this music video or song I’m sharing, don’t you enjoy it, too?)
    5.  I am thoughtful and deep! (Check out this in-depth article about a subject I care about, isn’t it interesting?)
    6. I celebrate the beauty in my life! (Check out these pictures of my beautiful friends, family, lunch, birdhouse, aren’t they worth attention and admiration?)
    7. I am helpful and in-the-know! (Let me tell you about cool upcoming events, discounts, neat stuff, aren’t you grateful I did?)

    Now consider this: in order to make certain that your brand’s content is shared, all you have to do is make sure that the content resonates with an underlying statement of identity that people want to make, and that it has a high chance of winning for them the kind of validation that they want from their friends and associates. Do this consistently, and people will share your stuff consistently.

    In future articles, I’ll explore examples and case studies of just exactly how you can make this magic work for your business’ social media marketing. In the meantime, get your witchy mind thinking about how you can create content that resonates with the identity that your potential customers want to project and can get them the kind of social validation that they desire.

    In the meantime, if you’re a business witch who could use some help getting her social media mojo going at full force, I invite you to contact me for a free coaching Exploratory Session. 

     

    image: Photographer Ryan Olde
    Model Genessa Lynn
    Via the recently launched SHE & MR. DEAN website.

    • Dr. Carolyn Elliott is the founder of WITCH magazine & is known for her uncanny and uncomfortable ability to trick really smart, high-achieving magical people into doing the things that they actually want to do. She’s the teacher of life-altering online courses, including INFLUENCE, FORCE OF NATURE, MONEY, and EARTH. Carolyn is the author of the cult-favorite creativity book, Awaken Your GeniusAwaken Your Genius: A Seven-Step Guide to Uncovering Your Creativity and Manifesting Your Dreams... ... and the upcoming Existential Kink: A handbook of life-altering magic. She runs a multi-6-figure online business specializing in helping people achieve dramatic positive change in their lives through shadow integration practices and applied occult philosophy.

    • Show Comments (6)

    • Kelly

      Excellent article for magickal people! Thank you and I’m looking forward to more.

    • Creatrix Tiara

      Hey! Found you via Gala Darling and you seem pretty interesting so far!

      So here’s the thing: having my content shared is not a problem for me. I’ve even gone internationally viral for some of my work. The problem though is that the virality doesn’t really translate to any sort of tangible benefit – people talk about how going viral has gotten them job offers or money or further opportunities or whatever, but that hasn’t happened for me. Sometime I write or say goes viral, I get a flurry of shares/reblogs/the occasional interview for about a week…and then that’s it.

      Do you have any suggestions on how to convert those shares into tangible benefits, so it’s not just me giving and giving without anything in return?

      Thank you!

      • Carolyn Elliott

        Hi there Tiara… I just may have such suggestions… may I ask what kind of business you’re in?

        • Creatrix Tiara

          It’s been largely a hybrid of performance art, media, and activism, with dashes of tech/social media stuff and pop culture thrown in.

          • admin

            Awesome… so what action would you like the people who see your stuff online to take in relation to you? Do you want them to join an email list so you can stay in touch with them?

            • Creatrix Tiara

              Email lists are still too passive – I used to have one of those but that didn’t really make much of a difference either. It was still me giving without getting much in return.

              I want active reciprocity. You say you enjoy my work? Join my Patreon and financially support me so I can create more. Sharing my articles as some kind of thought leader? Offer me a paid job to write more. Put your money where your mouth is, basically.

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