Increase traffic with social sharing
Tap into social networks to reach new audiences
Why do readers share news?
Every minute, people send over 40 million messages on social media. Research shows that readers share on social media to:
- Inform others (94%)
- Support causes or issues they care about (84%)
- Stay connected to people they may not otherwise stay in touch with (78%)
- Meet others with shared interests (73%)
- Feel more involved in the world (69%)
- Give others a better sense of who they are and what they care about (68%)
- Potentially change opinions or encourage actions (49%)
Understand your social traffic with News Consumer Insights (NCI)
News Consumer Insights analyzes your Google Analytics data to help you get more traffic from social media.
STEP 1
Connect your Google Analytics to News Consumer Insights.
STEP 2
Navigate to Reader Engagement and scroll down to Traffic Sources.
STEP 3
Hover over the blue bubbles that say Facebook, Twitter, Other Social and Dark Traffic* to see the volume and the value of your social traffic.
If you don’t post on social media, or <1% of your traffic comes from social media, a blue bubble will not display.
STEP 4
Click View Recommendation to see if you should focus on social media.
Select relevant platforms
28% of audiences use social media to access news online, according to the Reuters Institute for Journalism.
💡Best practice:
- Select no more than five social media platforms your audience uses
- Display share buttons in order of what platforms your audience uses
- Make your share buttons instantly recognizable by using logo colors for each social media platform
See an example here
Place share buttons
Buttons allow readers to take actions, and make choices, with a single tap.
💡Best practices:
- Make share buttons easy to find in your article's text
- Group social buttons under one share icon that expands into a menu
- Measure your share buttons’ performance by tagging them in Google Analytics
See an example here
