Variety is the Spice of Social Media Marketing
Variety is the spice of life and certainly of social media. Though it’s tempting to talk about your small business product in every post, don’t do it. Emphasize variety in posting topics.
Unlike other forms of digital marketing, social media is more like producing a magazine in that your reader will not want to see what is essentially an “advertisement” about your product in every post. You must find other relevant topics to write about in order to keep your audience interested.
Follow these three steps to make sure you’re publishing about a variety of related topics.
STEP ONE
See if your posts follow the 1/3 rule.
Look at your social platform. Count the number of posts that specifically talk about your product vs. all of your other posts. The product posts should be roughly 1/3 of your posts.
STEP TWO
Identify your other two messages.
I’m guessing you fall short of this less than 1/3 goal. That’s okay, but it’s an important enough determinant of your ultimate success that you should start working on changing that right away. At Small Biz Brands, we recommend that you post while referring to your three main messages. We know one main message is Product, where you post about anything and everything to do with understanding your product. What are the other two messages about which you could be posting about?
We usually recommend that you start by thinking about how you can provide valuable information in your posting instead of just product info and descriptions. Let’s imagine you have a farm-to-table produce company. Would the audience find value in knowing more about your industry? Or would they like to know more about organic food and why it’s better for you and the environment? There are probably numerous articles and videos already written on this message that you can easily share, as well as create your own content. This could be your second message: Education and Entertainment
The third message is usually what we call your “big picture” message. How does your product lead to a better life for your audience? What does that life look like? What are other elements of that life?
This is also the place where you may talk more about you and your team. What motivated you go into this type of business besides profit? How do you bring those goals into your work place? This would be your third message: Inspiration
STEP THREE
Create posts with your new messages.
Take your new messages and start creating posts around them. In two weeks, check and see if the posts with the two new messages aren’t getting more interaction than your previous posts about your product message.
For best results, don’t forget to add a clear, concise, compelling and credible calls to action to any of these posts, short or long form.
Payoff: Now you’re providing content of real value to your audience. This is the type of social page that people follow and recommend to others. It is the type of page that once people join, they stay and even interact with posts. When that happens, you’re beginning to form a real relationship with your audience, the first step towards sales and brand loyalty.
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