With a just a little thought, a good message can become a great message. What’s the difference? A recipient reads a good message. But, a recipient shares a great message with their friends and family. Turning a good message into a great message isn’t that hard. The key things that take a message up a level include:

• Benefit – Is there a great benefit for the recipient?
• Timeliness  – Does the message have a near term benefit?
• Audience – Is there a great fit between the message and the readers?
• Exclusivity – Is there a benefit to being “In the know”?
• Ego – Will the sharer be thought of more highly for sharing the message?

A good email and social media effort can pay additional rewards beyond just keeping in touch with existing customers. Email forwarding, Facebook likes, Twitter retweets and LinkedIn shares all give a message an extending audience.