When a union member makes a decision to click or share content on your Facebook page, the only information they have to go on is the headline, description and photo that appear on your Facebook page.

The article you are linking to may be fantastic but unless your headline, description and photo are compelling it isn’t going viral.

Here are two pieces of content supporting teachers. One went viral, the other didn’t. In retrospect it is easy to see why based on the headline, photo and description.

2. Respond to and ‘Like’ Member Comments

Getting union members to comment on your Facebook page is critical because when a member comments on your post it gets shared to their co-workers and non-union friends.

When members know that a real person from the union is reading the comments that they post, they will be more likely to comment again in the future.

This is also a great technique to shift the discussion on your union’s Facebook page. By rewarding the activists and members who post helpful things and ignoring the detractors, you can encourage the activists to post more often and the detractors to post less.

3. Add Social Sharing Buttons to the Top AND Bottom on Posts on your Website

Here’s a secret:

People will “like” a post on a website even before they have read it.

(Have you already liked this post?)

Putting share buttons at the top and bottom of posts will at least double the amount of shares that a post gets on your union website.

The reason is that union members interact with online content very different than print content.

People skim rather than read online content.

If you don’t put share buttons at the top of a page, you will miss all the potential shares from people who don’t get all the way to the bottom.

4. Phrase Headlines in the Positive

Facebook users have a mental block about “liking” and sharing bad news.

One of our clients was putting out a press release about a recent attack on teachers.

The teachers union had put out a press release with a negative headline along the lines of:

‘Province Moves to Pay Teachers by Number of Students Taught’

Two days later, our client reposted the same article phrased with a new headline:

‘Teachers Reject “Pay per Student” Scheme’

While the articles were identical, the second went viral because it was positive story rather than a negative story.

Take a look at the Huffington Post. Notice that on good news stories they use a “like button” and on bad news stories they use a “recommend to others” button.

5. Take Out Facebook Ads to Promote Your Page

The fastest, easiest, (and perhaps even cheapest way) to build your Facebook fan base is to take out Facebook Ads promoting your page.

Once you get into the 1000-5000 fan range, the content you post on Facebook has a far greater chance of going viral because it can reach a critical mass of Facebook users while the story is hot.

6. Add a Facebook Like Box to your Union’s Website

A Facebook Like Box is a widget that you can install on your website that shows your members which of their friends have liked the union’s Facebook page.

It also gives members the ability to become a fan of your union’s Facebook Page without leaving your union’s website.

7. Keep a Swipe File

Every time you see some union news going viral on Facebook take a screen capture of your newsfeed.

Look back at your collected screen captures regularly. It will contain hints about what types of union content are likely to go viral on Facebook and how you can package your articles.

The blue bars represent people under 25.

(ps. the fastest growing segment on Facebook last year were people over 65)