Increase traffic with social sharing
![social post (2)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/social_post_2.original.png)
Tap into social networks to reach new audiences
![social post (2)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/social_post_2.original.png)
Why do readers share news?
![Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.17_PM-removebg-preview](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.17_PM-removebg-pr.original.png)
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 that they care about (84%)
- Stay connected to people that 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%)
![Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.17_PM-removebg-preview](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.17_PM-removebg-pr.original.png)
Understand your social traffic with News Consumer Insights (NCI)
![ncisocial](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.25_PM.original.png)
News Consumer Insights analyses 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.
![ncisocial](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.25_PM.original.png)
Select relevant platforms
![Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.35_PM-removebg-preview](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.35_PM-removebg-pr.original.png)
28% of audiences use social media to access news online, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
💡Best practice:
- Select no more than five social media platforms that your audience uses
- Display share buttons in order of what platforms your audience uses
- Make your share buttons instantly recognisable by using logo colours for each social media platform
See an example here
![Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.35_PM-removebg-preview](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.35_PM-removebg-pr.original.png)
Place share buttons
![Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.30_PM-removebg-preview](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.30_PM-removebg-pr.original.png)
Buttons allow readers to take action 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
![Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.30_PM-removebg-preview](https://cdn.statically.io/img/storage.googleapis.com/media-newsinitiative/images/Screenshot_2023-02-22_at_4.10.30_PM-removebg-pr.original.png)