With external sharing enabled for a campaign, you can share content across multiple social networks.

When using a simple template, such as an image block, the campaign will be processed as an "image" post. Similarly, if you use a standalone video block the campaign will be processed as a "video" post. However, if you combine blocks (such as image plus link or video plus text), the campaign will be processed as an "article". 

Shared campaigns sometimes appear differently from the original campaigns in the Firstup platform. This can mean a different image appears or the text is not the same. Sometimes the same shared campaign even has a different appearance in each social network.

Example - the same video shared across three networks shows different source URLs (bit.ly vs advocate.socialchorus.com) and different preview images and text:

You may also find that a single campaign shared to just one social network appears differently when you look at the shared campaign in the network's mobile app versus the network's website.

Example - this campaign appears differently in X's (formerly Twitter) mobile app and on the twitter.com website:

The pre-populated share message and appended hashtag may only appear when sharing to X.

Example - same campaign shared to X and Facebook, only X shows the pre-populated share message "Testing shareable message" above the post.
 

How Do Social Networks Process Shared Content?

Social networks process shared content differently, so the same Firstup campaign may appear differently on each network.

When a user selects a social network in Firstup, we direct them to that network and pass the campaign link and any metadata supported by the network. This may include information such as the content type, image, title or description. The social network then determines which information it accepts and how the shared content is displayed.

Firstup does not handle the user’s social network credentials as part of this process. The user completes the share directly through the selected network, using its website or mobile app. This makes sharing quicker and avoids requiring users to connect their social network accounts to Firstup. In previous Firstup testing, requiring authentication resulted in an approximately 60% drop-off during the sharing process.

Social networks may also generate a link preview using metadata from the original destination page rather than the Firstup campaign. For example, when sharing a campaign containing a link block, the network may use the image, title and description from the linked webpage and ignore an image uploaded in Creator Studio.

The resulting post may vary depending on the social network, the user’s device, and whether they are sharing through a website or mobile app. Social networks may change their sharing and preview behaviour without notice.

Pre-populated share messages

The pre-populated Share Message and appended hashtag vary depending on the selected social network and whether the campaign is shared from the web or through a mobile device’s native sharing options.

Facebook does not allow applications to pre-populate the user-authored message accompanying a share. LinkedIn supports the pre-populated Share Message when sharing from the Firstup web experience. However, Firstup’s mobile apps use the device’s native sharing functionality, which passes only the campaign URL to LinkedIn. X supports the pre-populated Share Message and appended hashtag across both web and mobile sharing.

Users can edit or remove any pre-populated text before completing a share.

Optimize Share Behavior

Focus on Click-Through

So what can you, the content owner, control? Choose the Firstup content blocks based on your desired click-through behavior.

• See the original campaign from your community - use a standalone video block, or combine multiple blocks ("article" experience).
• Go directly to an external site - use a standalone link block.
• Only see an image, nothing else - use a standalone image block.

Minimize Sources of Truth

If you need to minimize the variance in shared campaign appearance, you may want to consider the following strategies. Please keep in mind that even with these recommendations, social networks may still do surprising things with the shared campaigns. We are not able to control exactly how the social networks process or present a campaign, we can only control what campaign we pass to them.

• Do NOT use link or image blocks in isolation.
• DO use video blocks or combine multiple blocks.
• If you really want to use a standalone link block AND you have access to the source website metadata... then make sure your Open Graph tags are configured.

Advocacy Strategy Notes

Firstup can best support advocacy by getting the right information to the right audience in the right digital place to enable word of mouth and digital or social sharing. The strongest advocacy occurs when the employee decides where/how they’d like to share and does so in their own words. To promote this kind of advocacy, there are many things that you can do:

• Publish content that engages employees and helps drive their understanding of our business objectives and purpose.
• Publish shareable content every week. This can include content from feeds, external media, etc.
• Educate employees about the HOW and the WHY of advocacy.
  • For example, if you have company hashtags, standard messaging, important brand details, etc., educate your employees to include these important details in shared content.
• Use data to understand when most users are in your community and use campaigns to encourage advocacy.
• Encourage participation through contests.
• Recognize champions who demonstrate their interest in advocacy (e.g. Top Sharers per quarter).
• Share how the employee’s participation in advocacy efforts are supporting your community’s strategic goals.