The social media landscape is getting bigger and more bogged down with competition every day. Is your business doing what it takes to stand out from the crowd and get noticed? If you suspect you could do better, stop and ask yourself these three W’s of social media: what are you sharing, why are you sharing it, and when are you sharing it?
First of all, we love the alphabet and Alec Baldwin, but the old adage of ABC (Always Be Closing) is terrible advice when it comes to a social media strategy. Self-promotional posts certainly have their place, but they should only be about 20 percent of your social media content. We’re going to assume that you know how to traditionally promote your own business, so what follows is about that other 80% that will make up your sharing strategy.
What are you sharing?
Call me Captain Obvious, but first and foremost, make sure the content you’re sharing is interesting. Not only is your business competing against other businesses for people’s attention, but also against those people’s friends, their family, their favorite musicians and movie stars, George Takei, dancing babies, honey badgers and pretty much everything else under the sun. A boring post is going to get passed by faster than an axe-wielding hitchhiker.
In my experience, posts that humanize businesses or give people a behind-the-scenes look at a company get the most engagement, and it’s really not even close. These people are your fans for a reason, so it stands to reason that they’re interested in the inner workings on of your business. Before and after pictures of your work, featuring a new hire or an employee with an accomplishment, or announcing a business milestone are all great fodder for posts that your fans will figuratively eat up.
But, obviously, there has to be a little more to your social media strategy. So what else should you be sharing? Great question; glad you asked! There is an almost limitless supply of content out there on the interweb that you can be sharing on your social media platforms. Consider linking to articles, posting a helpful infographic, sharing an inspirational saying or photo, or anything else you know will interest your specific audience. And this conveniently segues to the next W:
Why are you sharing?
Yes, your content needs to be interesting, but also remember it needs to be relevant to your audience. Interesting news articles are great, but if you’re a chiropractor and sharing an article about the possibility of life on Mars, while interesting, that’s not going to connect to your audience in a way that makes sense in terms of enhancing your brand. This concept applies to any post you make under the flag of your business. Vary your content and its sources, but always make sure there is some strategy that ties back to your industry and/or brand in a meaningful way.
When are you sharing?
Finally, put some thought into when you are sharing your posts. Your audience may dictate what is generally the best time of day to post. For instance, if you own a local pub, you may not want to make it a practice to consistently post early in the morning. On the other hand, if you’re audience is hard core entrepreneurs, early in the morning may get you the best engagement. Regardless, you should also experiment posting different times of the day to get an idea of what the best times are for you and to make sure you’re hitting as many of your fans as possible.
Also, keep in mind the type of post and when it may do best. If you have an awesome video, consider posting that in the evening when people are at home and more likely to take the time to watch it. On the other hand, if you have a great post about how to be more productive at work – which, of course, would make sense for your brand, right? – then you’ll probably want to post that during business hours when people would probably be more receptive to this kind of content.
As you can see, you will need to put some thought into your social media strategy, but answering these questions should put you on the right track to up your engagement and keep your fans coming back for more. Happy posting!
