So what does it mean to inspire sharing? And why should I care about that?

Well, we all know about "word of mouth." And that’s a powerful thing. But with social media platforms, it is now "word of 1,000 mouths." Or a million mouths.

So, your ability to inspire people to share your ideas or successes can potentially drive a huge amount of exposure. And, done well, can attract a whole new crowd to you and your personal brand.

Sound good?

Here are six ways you can inspire sharing of your content. And they don’t require you to have a website or blog (although you should) to get started!

1. Have Unique Ideas

Everyone likes being exposed to ideas. We get stimulated by them or provoked in a new direction.

But we really like unique ones. Because if we think it’s different and compelling, we’ll share it with others. We won’t waste our network’s time with old ideas. We’ll just leave those on the cutting room floor.

So what’s your new take on a problem in your industry? Or what’s a new way you could explain how to create value for your organization?

2. Use Relevant Analogies

We also like it when content comes to us in a way we can understand. So work to relate your ideas back to something people already understand.

Use this structure: (problem) is like (related problem).

So, for example, I recently wrote a blog post called "Job Seeker: Your House Is Haunted. Get Out!" Since we’ve all experienced a haunted house during Halloween or seen a scary movie, the idea can quickly resonate.

I helped people understand an important point by relating it to one they already knew. Make sense?

3. Have Fun

It is easy to sense energy and fun in a blog post, Facebook update, or tweet. And if not easy, usually people will help us with emoticons or other indicators of tone or personality.

If you appear to be having fun (assuming your content is not about a sensitive or sad topic), people are more likely to share your content with others. We want our friends to also have fun along the way.

4. Find Pain Points

Who are you writing for and sharing with these days? If you know what is happening in their lives, you can imagine their struggles, desires, and dreams. And then you can create content to help them through or around it. Job seekers have a number of pain points. They include financial, psychological, and cultural issues.

If you know what your audience is going through, you can offer them the medicine for what ails them or the distraction they need to forget it for a while.

5. Tell Stories

Stories today are not what they used to be. Especially online, the stories need to be shorter, be picture friendly, or delivered via video. We are now a nation of scanners. We scan for content that helps us. And we avoid reading what doesn’t help or fit our search parameters.

So you have to tell short stories. But we still want an intro, and we want to know a little bit about the person or situation. So take the time to engage us with some human interest.

6. Ask

Yes, sometimes you just need to ask.

Believe it or not, we all just get too busy to read everything you write, comment on and send along. So if you have a strong network full of people who know you and believe in you, there’s no reason why they won’t click a like or share button so others can enjoy your photos, links, posts or other content.

So add: "Will you please share?" to your next tweet, Facebook update, or blog post, and see what happens.

Bottom Line

So use these six tips above to bring more interest and engagement to your content. And see if people start sharing more of what you share. With people who follow them.