Louise Myers Visual Social Media

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How to Get Facebook Shares that Go Viral!

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To boost your Fan Page visibility, get Facebook shares to go viral! The most valuable engagement on Facebook is a share. Learn why, and how to get them!

Want to boost your Fan Page visibility?

Get Facebook shares!

Likes and comments are great, but the most valuable interaction you can get on Facebook is a share.

When your Facebook Page post is shared, it appears on the sharer’s Timeline so their friends see it. Now you’ve got a chance of going viral, as shares multiply from friend to friend!

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links to products I’ve used with great success. If you make a purchase through my affiliate link, I’ll receive a referral fee, at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting my free content!

You can get Facebook Shares that go viral!

The most-shared Facebook Page content is Photo and Video.

Not a photographer? How can you get Facebook shares with photos?

Before you decide it’s too expensive or complicated – remember that “Photos” on Facebook means any kind of image.

I’ve had terrific results using Stencil to create quote images in seconds. The simple one below was shared by almost 20% of my Fans!

Simple Zig Ziglar quote graphic that got many Facebook shares.
Simple quote graphics can get many Facebook shares.

The Pro version of Stencil allows many customizations for a monthly cost under $10US (if paid annually). Or you can use the basic version free!

And there are over 100,000 quotes right in the app 🙂 Free photos too!

For more quick ways to make picture quotes, read: EASY Ways to Make Picture Quotes.

If you want to check out and compare my six favorite tools for quotes and more, read:
Design Tools for Non-Designers.

Pick one of those tools and have all your design needs covered! Or make it easy…

• • • Click here to try Stencil for FREE • • •

What words should I make into a graphic to go viral?

Ask a question your audience would love to answer! This can help you with market research, and boost your reach at the same time.

A question made into a graphic is quite powerful for engagement with your audience. Any of my recommended tools can help you make one!

However, in most niches, a question is unlikely to get shared and actually go viral.

But popular quotes work well! As I noted, there are more than you could ever use in Stencil.

If you want an extra boost…

Find viral Facebook content!

Every day, content is going viral on Facebook – even in your niche!

How do you track it down? Post Planner makes it fast and easy to find PROVEN content.

Search Post Planner for content by niche, keyword, or your favorite social media accounts. Look for the star ratings to see which posts have been most viral. Hint: Find more 5-star content by expanding the search from week to month.

You can search Post Planner for content by niche, keyword, or your favorite social media accounts. Look for the star ratings to see which posts have been most viral.

You can easily pick the items that you like best, and schedule them right in Post Planner.

Or, use the viral posts to inspire your own unique content. Original content performs best!

You can look within the “Quotes” category on the left. Use the viral quotes on your own images.

Give it a try and see how it boosts your social media engagement! You can get started for as little as $36 for an entire year. And it’s 100% satisfaction guaranteed.

• • • Find Viral Content NOW! Satisfaction guaranteed. • • •

As of June 10, 2018, there’s a special on the GURU plan for $15 monthly when you use the code GURU15. Sign up now!

Tag someone for an extra boost on Facebook!

If you use one of my recommended tools, you can easily find free photos right in the app.

However, if you’re a Photoshop user, you may be searching for free photos online. Here’s an extra tip for you:

Many free photo sites require you to notify the artists / photographers when you use their work. When using the images on Facebook, this can actually increase your shares!

Alert the artist by tagging them in your Facebook post. On some free photo sites, you can also leave a comment with a link showing how you used their image. Do it!

The image below – a Memorial Day cover photo – got a great number of shares on a quiet holiday weekend! The artist shared with his friends and fans, and so on…

How to Get Facebook Shares that Go Viral photo

The Benefits of Facebook Shares that Go Viral

How to Get Facebook Shares that Go Viral quote graphicIf you have the skill to combine a quote and a photo – you’re golden! My favorite design tools make it easy.

I posted this quote graphic one evening to my Yoga Fan Page, and it was immediately shared to a Fan Page with a huge fan base.

Result? In 4 days: a total of 143 shares, visibility to a large audience (5x as large as my Page’s fan base), and – I gained 62 new Fans!

The huge thing is I had 693 “People Talking About This” – and I started with only 107 total fans! What a way to increase your Facebook reach.

I can’t guarantee you dozens of new Fans, but I do believe the visibility for your Page is worth the effort to make shareable images.

How to Increase Shares on Facebook

Now that you’ve got your shareable image, try these tips to increase the chance of going viral!

  • Share your own Fan Page posts! All shares of shares are now attributed to the original source – so start by posting on your Fan Page to get the visibility. If appropriate, then share from your Page to your personal profile to get your friends involved.
  • Encourage sharing! Facebook frowns on using a call-to-action with the words Like, Comment, or Share. BUT you could try something like, “Can you spread the encouragement?”
  • Thank sharers! Clicking on the number of shares brings up a window with all Public or friend shares. If available, click Like or comment on their post via your personal profile. If shared by a Page, you can Like and comment as your Page. By increasing their engagement, you’ll help the share get more visibility, and encourage them to share again in the future.
  • You can also upload the image to your website and include the link for people to pin to Pinterest in a comment.
  • But don’t only post graphics and photos. Keep it interesting by mixing in links, videos, questions, and text updates on your Fan Page.

How to Get Facebook Shares that Go Viral - Thank & Pin

This post was originally published on June 7, 2012, and updated on April 5 and June 10, 2018.

Conclusion: How to go viral on Facebook

How about you – what has worked well for you on Facebook? What catches your eye in the News Feed and gets you to share? Comment below.

If this has helped you learn how to get Facebook shares that go viral, take your next step!

Try Stencil to make your own viral images easily.

Try Post Planner to get inspired by or share viral content.

To boost your Fan Page visibility, get Facebook shares to go viral! The most valuable engagement on Facebook is a share. Learn why, and how to get them!

Comments

  3. Hi Louise,

    Great post. I would love it if you would to come up with a tuto­rial on how to create quote graphics with pixlr.com and picmonkey.com.

    Thanks,

    Sharon

    Reply

  5. There are so many great ideas in this article Louise! It’s amazing the power images have on Facebook. Using them to own as much real estate as possible is a great way to get seen and get those LIKES and shares! 🙂

    Reply

  7. Just discovered your site! I’m now subscribed and looking forward to learning from you!

    I have been trying to figure out how to make my own quote images/graphics so your post was very helpful.

    I purchased the ShareasImage pro version but I’m a little confused as to how to use it best. It looks like the only way to share it is to click on the buttons at the bottom of the “post” page. Is this correct? So I can only use it on FB, Twitter, G+, or Pinterest?

    Can I just cut and paste the graphic into my blog or whatever social media I’m using? And if so, do I copy the image or the URL?

    Thanks so much!

    Reply

      • Thanks!

        And I would love to see more in-depth tutorials on your site about how to create quote graphics using different site software.

        Reply

        • You’re welcome! That’s something I will get to. The tutorials take a lot of time to put together and I’m trying NOT to work at all hours this summer! 🙂

          Reply

          • Enjoy your summer!

            Another question, if you don’t mind. I’m still trying to figure out how to use ShareAsImage.

            When I download the images to my computer (they’re .png files) and then upload to another site (like FB or my blog), the pictures look blurry or of lower quality.

            Am I doing something wrong?

            Thank you for your help!

          • FB compresses images to jpegs, so images with flat colors usually end up looking blurry and splotchy. I don’t know why it would look like that on your blog tho. The ShareAsImage at the top of this page looks fine. Unless you’re enlarging them? Or using some blogging system that does the same thing to images as Facebook.

  9. Hi Louise, I see so many of these (dare I say trite) quotographics going viral I find it quite astonishing. I’m trying to get the link below to fly with a limited advertising budget – I’ve now got about 1000 shares in all and about 500,000 views but it’s growing steadily rather than rocket powered. I’d be interested to know if you have any suggestions as I’m just a beginner.

    Reply

    • Hi Andrew!
      Unfortunately I couldn’t see the graphic you were referring to.

      As far as going viral, a lot of it is just timing and luck, and sometimes you just strike a chord with people that gets them sharing. Cute animals and little kids often work, as do snarky sayings. The virality can take off when you get shared by someone with 1000s of friends, or a page with a huge number of fans.

      I don’t have any specifics on “making” something go viral – wish I did!!

      Good luck!

      Reply

  14. I actually have devised another way that is super easy and works well. I basically open MS Powerpoint and I insert the picture into a new slide. I then open a text box on top of the picture and write the quote. This allows me a lot of flexibility as I can control font, size and color of the text. Once I like what I have, I use a awesome little screen capture utility called jing (http://www.jing.com) and I capture the image and I save it to my hard drive. Now I can upload easily to FB.

    You can go to my Fan page
    https://www.facebook.com/ManifestingProsperityMarketing

    and see some of what I’m talking about You can also like my page 🙂

    Reply

    • That’s perfect Steven, I appreciate your sharing that tip. I’m a Mac gal and I rarely use MS products!

      The web-based editors also allow font control, like Pixlr described in the post linked below.

      Jing is great too! Is that easier than just saving thru Powerpoint? I guess it avoids resolution issues!

      Thanks again for sharing your method!

      Reply

  15. I am happy to have found your post . I am going to to try this as i really needs shares for my business.
    I hope this work as i am not scared to work it hard, and i will let you know if it work.
    I will also share your post on my wall and twitter account.
    Thanks a lot

    Reply

  16. A very useful read, I found this extremely helpful. I am going to subscribe to your blog and look forward to learning more from you. Thank you for your time and effort.

    If some Facebook users are unable to share a photo I have posted on my fan page, does this mean their privacy settings need adjusting? Some of my clients can ‘Share’ and some cannot, which does not help my viral campaigns. Thank you again.

    Reply

    • Chris, I have recently heard from one person that sharing on their Fan Page isn’t working right. Mari Smith was not aware of this issue, so I’m hoping it’s a temporary glitch.

      If it persists, all I can suggest is to contact Facebook. Sorry!

      Reply

  17. Thank you. I really appreciate the information. I’ve got a fan page for my radio station & we are all looking for ways to increase awareness of our broadcasts. I will put your advice to work today.

    Peace,
    Donna

    Reply

  19. Hey Louise,
    I just stumbled upon your page through google. Im really new to this Fan page thing, im a photographer and need help to spred my work and more people looking at my work each time. And also gain more likes. Can you please give me some tips??
    Cheers

    Reply

    • Hi Kay!
      There’s loads to know and do, much more than can be put in a comment – or even a whole blog! I’ve planned a list of the top Facebook gurus to follow – seeing what others are doing successfully on Facebook is always a good place to start.

      Best of luck!

      Reply

  20. Hello Louse,
    I know that this comment is very late. But I would like to introduce my web app that will help creating Quotes for social media, wallpaper, or even prints easily but with great output. Please have a look at : quotescover.com

    Thankyou,
    Dian

    Reply

  21. Hello Louise,
    is sharing quote graphics on facebook and other social sites a good way to get traffic back to your personal website.

    I have collected quotes over the years and knew that some day they would come in handy. I have several web properties that market different products.. could sharing good quotes that relate be a good way to drive traffic to those sites? for example i have quotes on health and I also sell health related products. do you think this strategy would work?

    Reply

    • Hi Dee!
      Yes, you can get traffic back to your site via quote graphics, however I believe it’s better thought of as building awareness of your business. On Facebook especially, it’s essential to post things that people want to share, like and comment on – posting links rarely gets much engagement. Due to Facebook Edgerank, you need those highly engaged posts so Facebook will show your link posts to more of your fans. And, the engagement also lets friends of your Fans see your post, become aware of your business, and become a Fan if they wish.

      Reply

  22. Super tips for beginning and intermediate bloggers. Since Facebook started looking down on the ‘like or share’ this, I prefer to use ‘spread the word and help someone.’ I think that works since people want to add value to other people’s lives, as it is added to them.

    Reply

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