Knowing how often a link has been shared can provide valuable insights into the reach and engagement of your content. In this article, we’ll explore different methods for tracking link shares and discuss how this metric can inform your content strategy.
Using URL Shorteners
One of the easiest ways to track link shares is by using a URL shortening service like Bitly or Ow.ly. These tools allow you to create a shortened version of your URL that redirects to the original page. The shortener will then provide analytics on how many clicks your shortened link receives.
For example, let’s say you share the link to your latest blog post and 100 people click on it. That gives you a good indication that your link was shared about 100 times. The more clicks, the more shares it likely received.
URL shorteners are great for tracking shares on social media, email, messaging apps, and anywhere else you directly share links. However, they won’t count shares where only the page title or description is shared without the URL.
Pros
- Simple to set up and use
- Provides share counts for direct links
- Many options like Bitly, Ow.ly, Rebrandly
Cons
- Doesn’t track partial shares without URL
- Only sees last click, not referral sources
- Need to create shortened link first
Using Social Media Insights
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all provide metrics on how many times your content has been shared on their sites. For example, on Facebook you can view post insights to see the number of shares, while on Twitter you can analyze tweet activity.
These platforms count any share, like, or retweet of your content as engagement. So monitoring your company page and posts will give you an idea of how far your content is traveling on social media.
Pros
- Easy to access native analytics
- Full picture of social shares
- Breakdown by platform
Cons
- Only shows social platforms tracked
- No data on shares in messaging apps
- Limited demographic data
Here is an example table displaying the share counts from various social platforms:
| Platform | Shares |
|---|---|
| 425 | |
| 99 | |
| 203 | |
| 32 |
Using Link Tracking Software
For more comprehensive link tracking, you may want to use a link monitoring tool like Linkody, BuzzStream, or LinkAlerts. These tools crawl the web looking for any instances your links are shared.
Link tracking software can detect links shared on:
- Social media
- Forums
- Blogs/articles
- PDFs
- Presentations
Advanced options can provide details on who shared the links, source referral data, and links shared over time. However, this software requires more setup than just a simple URL shortener.
Pros
- Provides comprehensive share data
- Can provide advanced analytics
- Detects partial shares without URL
Cons
- Requires significant setup
- Cost associated with paid software
- Complex to implement for beginners
Using Google Analytics Campaigns
If you already use Google Analytics, you can leverage campaign tracking to measure link shares. This involves creating unique campaign parameters that are appended to your URLs.
For example:
www.yourdomain.com/blog-post?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter
When users click links with these campaign parameters, it provides data in Google Analytics on traffic sources and volumes. You can see how many visits are referred from social, email, or other channels.
Pros
- Leverages existing Google Analytics account
- Provides channel and source detail
- Can track partial shares without URL
Cons
- Setup requires technical knowledge
- Hard to differentiate shares from same channel
- Only tracks clicks, not total share volume
Here is an example campaign tracking report from Google Analytics showing visits referred from social media shares:
| Source | Visits |
|---|---|
| Social | 4,338 |
| 2,843 | |
| 1,231 | |
| 264 |
Using Influencer Outreach
Another way to track link shares is by specifically reaching out to influencers and asking them to mention or share your content. You can then track when and where they share your links.
For example, if you get 10 influencers to share your link on Twitter, you could count that as approximately 10 shares based on their follower counts. This provides direct insight into how many shares occurred due to your outreach efforts.
Pros
- Directly track influencer shares
- Engages potential brand advocates
- Boosts awareness among new audiences
Cons
- Very manual process
- Difficult to scale broadly
- Limited sharing beyond influencers
You can expand this approach by surveying customers who share your content and asking how many times they’ve posted your links themselves.
Using Share Count APIs
Some websites provide public APIs that can detect share counts across the web. For example, companies like AddThis, ShareThis, and SharedCount offer paid solutions to track link shares.
By inputting your URLs into their API or connecting your account, they use data mining to estimate the total number of times those links have been shared.
Pros
- Automated share counting
- Data mining provides estimated volume
- Coverage across many websites
Cons
- Cost associated with paid tools
- Accuracy of share counts varies
- Setup and tech knowledge required
Manual Tracking in Spreadsheets
For one-off links or small campaigns, you may want to track shares manually in a spreadsheet. This involves logging each instance you notice a link has been shared somewhere.
You can compile data from:
- Your own social media feeds
- Mentions by others
- Google alerts when your link is posted
- Places you’ve pitched the content
Over time this can provide an estimate of total shares based on your outreach efforts and monitoring capabilities.
Pros
- Simple manual approach
- Full control and flexibility
- No costs involved
Cons
- Very time consuming
- Easy to miss shares
- Doesn’t cover full web
Here is an example spreadsheet tracking link shares:
| Source | Date | Share Count |
|---|---|---|
| 10/5/22 | 2 | |
| 10/7/22 | 1 | |
| 10/10/22 | 3 | |
| 10/11/22 | 1 |
Analyzing Why Link Shares Matter
Simply tracking the quantity of shares doesn’t tell you the whole story. The quality and context of shares also matter when evaluating content reach.
Consider these factors when assessing the impact of your link sharing efforts:
- Who is sharing your links? If influencers or industry leaders link to your content, that gives it credibility.
- Where are they sharing it? Platforms like Reddit or HackerNews can drive viral traffic.
- What are people saying about your content? Sentiment and comments provide qualitative context.
- What actions do shares drive? More clicks, leads, sales? Or just vanity metrics?
The goal isn’t just to rack up big numbers, but to build awareness and engagement among your target audience. Evaluate both quantitative and qualitative factors to determine if link shares are actually helping you achieve your goals.
Metrics to Track
Here are some metrics to consider when analyzing your content share data:
- Social engagement rate – Shares divided by followers
- Click-through rate – Clicks from shares divided by total impressions
- Conversions from shares – Form fills, purchases from shared links
- Shares by target persona – Breakdown of shares by industry, role, etc.
- Qualitative feedback – Comments, reviews, sentiment on shares
Taking Action on Insights
Once you review your link share data, put those insights into action:
- Focus on replicating your top-shared content if it aligns with goals
- Double down on promoting content with your target audience
- Reengage with top influencers and sharers
- Improve content that gets low engagement
- Align your outreach and distribution with top sharing platforms
Consistently monitoring and learning from your link share metrics will allow you to create better content tailored for your audience and channels.
Conclusion
Tracking how often your links are shared can provide powerful data to inform your content strategy. Choose the right tactics for your resources and goals.
For quick insights, use URL shorteners and social media analytics. For more advanced tracking, leverage software and APIs.
But also dive deeper by evaluating who is sharing your links and what actions those shares drive. Ultimately it’s about reaching the right people with the right content to achieve real business results.
Carefully tracking and analyzing your link shares provides actionable data to boost engagement and improve future content.