How to Make Something Shareable on Facebook

Crafting a Facebook post that people actually want to share can feel like guesswork, but it’s a skill you can learn. It boils down to a few core human triggers and content strategies that consistently get results. This guide breaks down the science behind the share button, giving you actionable steps to create content your audience will feel compelled to pass along.

Understanding the Psychology of a Share

Before jumping into formats and formulas, it helps to understand why people hit the share button. A share is more than just a click, it's a form of social currency and self-expression. People share content because it connects with them on a personal level and helps them communicate something about themselves to their own network. Broadly, these motivations fall into a few key categories:

• To Provide Value to Others: Sharing something useful, entertaining, or informative makes the sharer look good. They’re seen as in-the-know and helpful to their friends and followers.
• To Define Their Identity: The content we share is a signal of who we are, what we believe in, and what we find funny. Sharing a powerful political cartoon, a hilarious parenting meme, or a motivational quote helps people curate their online identity.
• To Nurture Relationships: Sharing inside jokes or relatable content is a way to strengthen social bonds. It’s the digital equivalent of saying, “I was thinking of you when I saw this.”
• To Support Causes and Brands: People share content to show their allegiance to a cause, movement, or brand they love. It's a way to feel like part of something bigger.

Every tactic that follows is designed to tap into one or more of these core human drives. Keep them in mind as you create, and you'll already be ahead of the game.

The 5 Pillars of Highly Shareable Facebook Content

Let's move from the "why" to the "how." Great shareable content typically stands on five pillars: emotion, practical value, relatability, visual storytelling, and strategic optimization. Mastering these will transform your posts from forgettable to share-worthy.

Pillar 1: Trigger Strong Emotions

The most predictable driver of a share is an emotional reaction. But not just any emotion. Sociological research shows that high-arousal emotions are far more likely to trigger action. These are feelings that get your heart rate up and demand a response. Think about awe, laughter, amusement, inspiration, or even anger and anxiety (though the latter should be used carefully).

Actionable Strategies:

• Go for Awe and Inspiration: Share breathtaking natural landscapes, incredible human achievements, or uplifting stories of kindness. Inspirational quotes laid over a beautiful image are a timeless example. People share these posts to spread positivity and motivation.
• Make Them Laugh: Humor is a universal connector. Create original memes that tap into your industry's inside jokes, share relatable comics, or produce funny short-form videos. If your post makes someone genuinely laugh out loud, they'll want to share that feeling with others.
• Create Heartwarming Moments: Stories about comeback victories, animal rescues, or simple acts of humanity strike a powerful chord. Content creator platform Upworthy built an entire empire on this principle. These stories make people feel good and reaffirm their faith in others.

Before you publish, ask yourself a simple question: "How does this post make me feel?" If the answer is "not much," it’s unlikely to get many shares.

Pillar 2: Provide Practical Value and Utility

Next to emotion, utility is the strongest driver of shares. Content that solves a problem, teaches a skill, or makes someone’s life easier is a powerful asset. By sharing it, your audience is not only benefiting themselves but also helping their own network. This immediately makes both you and the sharer look knowledgeable and helpful.

How to Create Valuable Content:

• Quick How-To Guides: Break down a process into simple, skimmable steps. A carousel post with "5 Steps to Better Food Photography" or a short video showing "How to Tie a Windsor Knot in 30 Seconds" is incredibly powerful.
• Checklists and Cheat Sheets: Condense valuable information into a single, savable graphic. For example, a financial advisor could create a graphic titled "Year-End Financial Planning Checklist," and a fitness brand could offer a "Healthy Grocery Shopping List."
• Life Hacks and Quick Tips: Share little-known shortcuts or clever solutions related to your niche. A cleaning company sharing a genius hack for removing wine stains or a tech company showing a hidden iPhone feature will earn shares from people eager to pass on the wisdom.

Practical content empowers your audience. When you give them a solution, they'll want to share it with everyone they know who might have the same problem.

Pillar 3: Lean into Relatability and Community

People love to see their own thoughts and experiences reflected in content. When a post perfectly captures a feeling or situation they’ve experienced, sharing it is their way of saying, “This is so me!” or “This is so us!” This kind of content builds a powerful sense of community around your brand.

Ways to Build Relatability:

• "Tag a Friend Who..." Posts: This is a classic for a reason. Asking your audience to tag someone who "always does this" or "needs to see this" actively encourages sharing and engagement within friend groups. Be specific and authentic to your audience’s lived experience.
• Niche Memes and Inside Jokes: Every group has its own language and set of shared pains or joys. If you run a page for avid knitters, a meme about having too much yarn will perform exceptionally well because it shows you *get* them.
• Ask Engaging Questions: Pose questions about shared experiences that invite audience participation. A coffee shop could ask, "What's the one thing you can't start your morning without?" The comments become a thread of shared identity, making the whole post feel like a community conversation worth sharing.

The key here is deep audience knowledge. You need to know what they struggle with, what they celebrate, and what they joke about to create content that feels like it came from one of them.

Pillar 4: Master Visual Storytelling

Let's be blunt: a block of text isn’t going to get many shares on Facebook in 2024. Your content must be visually arresting to stop the scroll. High-quality visuals are not just accompaniments, they are often the primary reason a post gets shared.

Top-Performing Visual Formats:

• Short-Form Video (Reels): Hands down, this is the most powerful format right now. The engagement potential of short-form video is unmatched. Use Reels to create quick tutorials, before-and-after reveals, behind-the-scenes looks, or bite-sized nuggets of advice. Video captures emotion and tells a story faster than any other medium.
• High-Quality Images and Infographics: A single, powerful photograph can be incredibly moving. Infographics that break down complex data into an easy-to-understand visual format are also highly shareable because they deliver value efficiently.
• Carousels for Storytelling: Don't just post a single image, use a carousel to tell a mini-story or deliver a multi-step guide. Let each slide build on the last to keep the user swiping and engaged. The more invested they are, the more likely they are to share.

Invest time in making your visuals look clean and professional. Use good lighting, clear fonts, and a consistent color palette that reinforces your brand identity.

Pillar 5: Optimize the Post for Peak Shareability

You can create the most emotional, valuable, and beautiful content in the world, but if you don't package it correctly, it won't reach its full potential. The final touches on your post can make or break its shareability.

The Optimization Checklist:

• Craft a Killer Hook: The first one or two sentences of your caption are everything. Start with a question, a surprising statistic, or a bold statement that creates curiosity and makes people want to read more.
• Add a Clear Call to Action (CTA): Sometimes, you just need to ask. End your caption with a simple prompt like, "Share this with a friend who needs to see it!" or "If you found this helpful, share it so others can too!"
• Post at the Right Time: Use your Facebook Page Insights to identify when the majority of your audience is online. Scheduling your content to go live during these peak hours gives it the best initial visibility and momentum.
• Check Your Settings: This may seem basic, but it's a common mistake. Ensure your posts are set to "Public" so that they can be shared beyond your immediate followers.
• Think Mobile-First: The vast majority of Facebook users are on mobile. A large wall of text is intimidating on a small screen. Keep paragraphs short (1-2 sentences) and use emojis to add visual breaks. For videos and images, use vertical (9:16) aspect ratios that fill the screen.

Putting It All Together: A Shareable Content Checklist

Before you hit publish, run your post through this final mental checklist. Your content doesn't need to hit every single point, but the more boxes you can tick, the higher its chances of going viral.

• Does this post trigger a high-arousal emotion like awe, humor, or inspiration?
• Does it provide genuine practical value, like a useful tip or how-to guide?
• Is it deeply relatable and likely to make someone say, "That's so me"?
• Is the visual component (video, image, or graphic) strong enough to stop someone from scrolling?
• Does the first line of the caption grab attention?
• Is there a gentle nudge or CTA encouraging people to share?
• Is the post formatted for easy reading on a mobile device?

If you can confidently answer "yes" to most of these questions, you’ve put yourself in an excellent position to earn those shares.

Final Thoughts

Creating shareable content on Facebook isn't about chasing viral fads, it's about connecting with people. By focusing on genuine emotion, practical value, and relatable stories told through compelling visuals, you give your audience content they’re proud to pass along to their own networks.

Of course, creating standout content is only half the battle, managing it effectively is just as important. Once you get into a groove, consistency becomes fundamental, and that's where planning matters. At Postbase, we designed our platform to remove the friction of social media management. We built it around a clean, visual calendar and robust support for the formats that drive engagement today, like Reels and short-form video. That way, you can easily plan, schedule, and analyze your best shareable content without wrestling with an outdated tool.