---
title: Why Social and Sharing Media are not the same thing
image: https://blog.broadvisionmarketing.com/hs-fs/file-18485158-jpg/images/300px-original_starbucks.jpg
---
# Why Social and Sharing Media are not the same thing
By [**Jaco Grobbelaa**](https://blog.broadvisionmarketing.com/author/jaco-grobbelaa) on Sun, May 29, 2011 @ 08:19 PM
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Original Starbucks"][](http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Original_Starbucks.jpg)[/caption]
How many of you have tried your hand in social media by launching contests, promotions and branding campaigns on [blogs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog), [Facebook](http://facebook.com), [Twitter](http://twitter.com), and [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/)? OK, raise your hands. If it worked for you, keep your hands up. Oops.
I have a clue for you. Social is not the same as [sharing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_sharing).
Did you think that you all you needed to do was put some social media content out on the ether and it would magically build brand awareness and drive sales to you? Are you aware of the many [brands](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand) have failed to get maximum exposure for their social media campaigns because they didnt take the extra step to activate viral sharing of their content?
This is something that might not have been covered in social media marketing 101. You need to identify your key influencers and motivate them to share with their friends or you are missing the main idea. [Social content](http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Social_media) works best when people share it.
Heres a statistic for you. People who visit a campaign link after someone shares it with them are four times more likely to be converted to the product than someone who just happens on it, according to some industry research. So when you encourage sharing, you are not just increasing campaign reach, you are dramatically boosting conversion.
So how do you get that fanfare of Facebook followers, nest of Twitter tweeters and band of Your Blog hobnobbers to start sharing your content? How can you turn them from followers into sharers?
Try this tip to get your social campaigns off the ground.
**Who are and how do I find my 1% super-influencers?**
Have you heard of the [1% rule](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_%28Internet_culture%29)? It goes like this: Only 1% of your brands followers are the ones responsible for the majority of the sharing. You might say they are super influences. They usually have large [social networks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network) and they pass along links to whatever you have going on.
These influencers are more than just your fans. They are your brand ambassadors. Some companies, like [Starbucks](http://Starbucks.com), using software to keep track and quantify the impact of word-of-mouth, have found these super-influencers or unofficial brand bloggers, can drive up to 70% of all visits to their campaign pages, which beats display and search advertising as the best driver of traffic to their sites.
And think of it. You dont have to pay these influences to advertise for you while they are driving a huge share of conversion, as much as 30% or more of all conversions on your site, just by recommending your brands products, content, promotions to their friends, followers and communities.
You just have to find these folks and activate them to share more by rewarding them for their efforts. So if you can figure out who are your 1% directly, you can reach out to them and offer specials, thank them for their influence and give them something special for their loyalty. What you will see is that they are even more motivated to share a lot, driving as much as 70% for all your campaign traffic.
Finding your key influencers is easy. There are a plethora of social media measurement tools to help marketers find the people who are doing the most talking about their favorite brand. You can see what they are writing and to whom and find out what social media platform they are using, like email, Facebook, their blogs, or Twitter.
What are you waiting for?
###### Related articles
- [Its All about Relationships on Social Media](http://www.convonix.com/blog/social-media-marketing/social-media-influencers) (convonix.com)
- [Supporting Your Social Media Campaigns With Fundamental SEO: Part Two](http://www.wpromote.com/blog/internet-news/supporting-your-social-media-campaigns-with-fundamental-seo-part-two/) (wpromote.com)
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