Style guide when sharing on Third Party Content

Creating content is very difficult. I'm not talking about  writing content only, but pictures, infography, guides, slides, compositions, sounds, etc.

Part of being social is sharing content from others. So it’s utterly important to follow some rules when sharing from a third party. Do it well and you will create a win-win situation.

Why these 5 rules?

1. Be sure information can be shared

This is very useful when sharing content from friends. Ask them before sharing: "Can I share your content?" Maybe it's a picture, a phrase or an opinion they only want to share with friends, not with the general public.

2. Name the author and the source

Always be clear with your audience and tell them where you got that information/post/picture... etc.

The sources matter... A good source is updated, relevant and reliable. The better sources you get, the better the information you give.

3. Use sharing buttons.

Use the share button when you copy an image (or download it to load it after), even if the image has the logo and the website. The reason is simple: SEO is based on links.

The more links an author gets to their content, the more relevant it becomes and the better position it has (SEO).

When you copy and paste into your own post, you are killing the link to the author, and stealing his positionation. So please, use share buttons. It’s what Google does care about!

You share the information; the author gets a better SEO! It's a win-win! If you don't do it, you improve the SEO of the picture but not the author. That means, people will find the picture from your website, not from the author's website.

What you have done is steal their visitors! Not good at all!

4. Link to the original publication.

If what you want to share is a part of a whole publication, or that publication does not have sharing buttons (but you have permission from the author to publish it), you can provide a link to the original publication. It's a web reference and will help the author to get a better rank.

5. Don't share if you can cause economic harm.

Sometimes, an author can have an agreement with a company to publish only on his website. If that content gets in your lap, please, don't share it; tell the author (if possible) where you found it.  Be responsible.