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Newsletter #716: The “Get People to Share Your Content” Issue

You win when people help share your work.

1> Do a group project
2> Make it wearable
3> Put your work on sharing sites
4> Check it out: Superhydrophobic-expialidocious

1> Do a group project

Group projects invoke teamwork, networking and cross-promotion. The Age of Conversation, started by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, is a project in which more than 200 bloggers each submit a 1-page entry on a central theme, which is then compiled into a printed book. All of the bloggers then link to one another and promote the book, and all the proceeds support Variety, the Children's Charity. You could do something similar with a recipe book, a scrapbook or a group art project.

Learn more: Age of Conversation

The Lesson: Start or join a group project to earn links, network and share your ideas.

2> Make it wearable

Can people take your work and wear it? CNN followers can. Headlines like "'Yes we did,' Obama crowd chants at rally" and "1 in 3 workers hung over at the office" are printed on CNN-branded shirts, accompanied by the tagline "I just saw it on CNN.com" with the exact date and time the story was posted. You've already got products, company beliefs, and big ideas — so why not put these concepts on shirts, hats, bags, or other gear that your fans can wear? Check out sites like Zazzle.com or CafePress.com to get started.

The Lesson: If a news site can offer clothing, so can you. Get creative and put your ideas on stuff your fans can show off.
 
3> Put your work on sharing sites

You would think a big company like GE would host videos on their own platform rather than using a service like YouTube, but they wisely realized that it would be harder for people to discover and share their content if they hosted the clips using a private service. Instead, they went with YouTube — a site which people specifically visit to find videos. This allows them to not only share videos with the YouTube community, but also creates the ability to easily post the clips to their websites and let their fans share them. Take the stuff you've already created and put it on sites where people go to discover and share content — places like YouTube (videos), Flickr (photos), and SlideShare (presentations).

The Lesson: Get your content off your site and put your work where people go to share and discover content.

4> Check it out: Superhydrophobic-expialidocious

Wonder what it's like to see a water droplet bounce in super-slow motion? Using high-speed photography, GE has shared a video of how their "superhydrophobic nano coatings and surfaces" can repel water. The surface causes the water to create a "bouncing" effect and could someday help gas turbines run cleaner or reduce ice buildup on airplanes.

Learn More: GE Reports

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