Which Calls-to-Action Work Best on Social Media?

Apparently, increasing your social media shares is as easy as just asking.

Dan Zarrella of HubSpot analyzed the data sets of millions of tweets, blog posts, and Facebook updates to find which words spurred the most action in social media users. What he found is that posts that simply asked more shares received them. This is especially true of Twitter, where certain calls-to-action more than doubled shares!

Who knew, right?

Zarrella summarized his findings in a nifty infographic we recently found. A few highlights:

• Blog posts containing the words "comment," "link," and "share" received more comments, views, and links than those that didn't.
• The phrases "please RT" and "please reteet" resulted in more retweets on Twitter. "Spread," "please help," and "visit" increased shares, as well.
• Facebook posts with the words "like," "comment" and "share" received more of the specific actions requested.

While we don't recommend begging for shares on each and every post or status update you make, don't feel shy about asking for shares on important posts. The data shows that your followers want to help! Click through to the next page to learn more and view the full infographic.