What are the two types of social sharing?

When you take customer engagement to social media, you probably have one aim in mind: to get your posts shared. It s the purpose of most social networks in the first place, and social sharing is also what makes brands thrive online. The more people share your posts, the better exposure you get from the public, whether you use social media for marketing efforts or as an aid to your Philippine call center services.

There are two types of social sharing that happen on most social networking sites, particularly Facebook. To know how the sharing activities happen, what drives them, and how they differ, let’s take a side-by-side look at the Sociable Labs’ profiles of the two types of social sharers.

The Engaged Sharers

Engaged sharing activities are done by users who are more active in propagating media they stumble upon and more vocal about the posts they share. It’s easy to spot them on Facebook: they’re the ones who have a lot to say. They accompany links, photos, and statuses with their comments and reactions to the shared post.

The Light Sharers

Unlike Engaged Sharers, Light Sharers are more discreet with their sharing activities. They may appreciate a post, but they limit the expression to a simple “Like,” or they may link on their Wall but add nothing to the post.

Sharing drivers

What drives online shoppers to link on Facebook? Engaged Sharers have more positive, enthusiastic reasons behind their clicking spree:

• 40.5% let others know about the deal they got

• 26% tell why they bought an item

• 15% express how proud they are about the purchase

•  9% want to know their friends’ opinions

Light Sharers, on the other hand, are more reserved by qualms:

• 24% feel that what they want to share might be too trivial

• 24% don’t want to spam their friends

• 10% are worried that their friends won’t like what they shared

• 5% don’t want to appear boastful

The impact of sharing

Either type of sharing has an undeniably big impact on brands. When users see a product link that their Facebook friends shared, 75% are likely to click on it while 53% will buy the advertized item.
The two types of sharers also react on shared posts differently. Data gathered by Sociable Labs reflected that:

• 47% of Engaged Sharers click to discover a product they might buy, while 43% of Light Sharers do so to find out why their friend bought

• 41% of Light Sharers become interested in a link to get discounts, while 14% of Engaged Sharers are after great deals

• 12% of Engaged Sharers want to learn about their friends’ buying activities, while 9% of Light Sharers want to know why their friends chose a certain retailer

Who’s the bigger buyer?

Despite being less visible, Light Sharers (56%) engage in more sharing activities than Engaged Sharers (38%). When they see a friend’s shopping activity on a retailer site, they are 62% more likely to stay and shop. Engaged Sharers, however, are 57% more likely to make a purchase. Moreover, 53% of social shoppers are those who are highly engaged in their sharing, but a whopping 81% are the ones who are more silent with their sharing.

These findings only prove that when promoting your brand online, you might want to consider more of the unpublished reactions than the highly publicized ones.