Being successful anywhere is about knowing your audience. You usually can’t walk into a five-star steakhouse in sandals and your bikini top, and you usually don’t show up to a nice conference in overalls and a baseball cap. For the same reasons, you can’t expect to be successful on social media if you don’t make an effort to put out messages that fit into the environment.
Let’s do a test – go look at your Facebook feed right now. What do you see? Here’s what’s on mine:
- Music Video
- Baby pictures
- Party pictures
- Puppy pictures
- Music reference
- Cartoon
- Inspirational quote
- Health advice
So, let’s apply the lesson above about ‘fitting in’ to make sure you’re not wearing your swimsuit to a formal party, you’ll want to put messages on your network that fit into this social messaging mix. When we lecture we often talk about the Social Media 80/20. We advise that you put at least 80% non-promotional posts onto your network, and then you can use 20% of your posts to advertise your business, if you like.
What are these nonpromotional posts? Here are a few:
- Links to great articles related to your brand – Pointing out an interesting article allows you to give something to your fans that makes them more knowledgeable.
- Diets and recipes – people love food! Putting these on your network give them something tangible that they can take away from your discussion.
- Observations or conversation starters – Your fans want to be heard. Giving them an opportunity to speak up and voice their opinion creates great engagement around your brand. These questions don’t have to be related to your brand, as long as they catch your fans’ interest.
- Political commentary – No way! Stay away from these charged topics that will cause debate… unless your brand is one that embraces such discussion.
- Requests for information – Part of building a healthy community is allowing people’s voices to be heard. Give them a chance by asking for information or opinions.
- Tips/advice – Tips and advice on information that is consistent with your brand is a huge part of contributing to the community.
- Quotes and inspiration – work days get long, and your fans will love a little motivation. Why not buck up their spirits and give them something to work through the day for?
- Something cute – the title of this article contains “posting puppies”… so don’t be afraid to just put something cute (like picture of a baby, or a puppy) on your social network. Sometimes this is just what your fans want to see.
Do you have another trick that works for you? We’d love to hear about it.
…or, contact us to learn more about how we can help your campaign.
