Should I post or not post – Social Media Demystified Part 2

Where Should I Post?

Honestly, it is all depends on your target audience.

Social media is not a magically formula when it comes to reaching leads – do this and you will succeed no matter what. 

The closest thing they have to a guide is the 10-4-1 rule (or 30/60/10 rule – which is the new way of saying it). 30% should be your own content, 60% should be someone else, and 10% should be direct calls to action (sales/opt-ins).

If you are constantly posting “me…me…me” – people lose interest. 

If you are posting content that:

1. they can relate to
2. they find interesting
3. is shareable

Hit these three wickets and your engagement will go up BUT keep in mind that Facebook’s algorithm is constantly AGAINST businesses so no matter how engaged you are on Facebook, unless you pay, your organic reach with never be as good as your paid reach. 

I have seen way too many people complaining about the newest algorithm that only allows you to see the top post from FRIENDS (not pages) so page posts are being suppressed even more than they were before.

And according to this article, it isn’t changing any time soon.

The evolution of social media has put videos front and center and they don’t seem to be discriminating of the source (with a heavier push to sponsored content – again…no surprise there).

Why Should I Bother with Social Media?

Social media is created for building a reputation and validation – i.e. social proof. 

It allows a company/business owner to humanize themselves to their current and potential clients.

If you feel more real to them, they may trust you. 

Many businesses believe they need to be on every platform in order to capture a lead. 

This is incorrect and overwhelming. 

You don’t need to be everywhere to be seen.

You end up spreading yourself thin and each platform suffers.

So where should you focus your attention?

Check google analytics and see where the bulk of your traffic originates! 

That will also help you zero in on what is working for you with your target audience. 

If you are posting web content, sales pages, or squeeze pages and tracking them in Google Analytics with UTM parameters, you can see which sources are leading people where.  

Always remember what works for one target audience may not work for another – each demographic uses each platform differently (which is why google analytics is a huge help). 

I find a lot of clients want to emulate someone they have seen that is extremely successful. I had a client that wanted to duplicate all of the efforts of a recent individual she interviewed because she was so impressed with his massive following. 

Well, this individual was a licensed psychologist and posted to Psychology Today.

When checking his traffic, the bulk of his website visits came from there – something she could not duplicate.

Use trial and error to determine what works best for you. Sure – there isn’t a need to recreate the wheel but why duplicate it?

Which Platform is Right For Me?

Again, it all goes back to your target audience – who are you trying to reach?

• Instagram and TikTok are platforms that is perfect for live short videos and personal branding but terrible for blogs and overall sharing/engagement as people can only tag other people but they cannot share your content and you cannot post clickable links (outside of stories on Instagram or your bio link).
  
• Twitter is great for quote graphics, links, blogs, and other shareable content as it is very easy to tag, like, and share across profiles and easy to be picked up if you use a trending tag. 
  
• Facebook is also great for shareable content but organic reach and engagements is restricted to those who already like your page (or are friends on your profile). Your capacity to expand is solely based on their desire to share your content. Most people on Facebook do not use the search feature for content so hashtags are not as encouraged as they are in Instagram and Twitter.
  
• LinkedIn and Alignable are great for building business relationships and capturing audiences that are looking for B2B products.

What – didn’t you forget YouTube?

Nope! Here’s the thing about YouTube – YouTube is PHENOMENIAL for creating leads and growing your audience organically; however, it’s audience is more judgmental than those at Showtime at the Apollo!

If you are going to go the YouTube route, you need to step up your game and make sure you are bringing your “A” grade material.

Your thumbnails need to be eye catching, your video content needs to be at least 3 minutes, 6-8 minutes is pushing it, and 10 minutes BETTER be worth it (i..e. instructional videos).

If you can’t handle criticism, turn off the comments (Trolls LIVE for bad videos on YouTube). This doesn’t protect you from thumbs up or thumbs down so again, if you include YouTube in your arsenal, you need to make the time to do top quality videos.

If you can’t put in the time, save it for when you can.

Again, most people make the mistake by thinking they have to be EVERYWHERE.

The rule of social media is be where you audience is.

Some people only post to one platform because they have run the numbers and know their audience is the most engaged on that particular platform.

The numbers and analytics will help you know who your people are and how they are finding you.

Create a content schedule, test it out, check the data, reformat, and try again.

Social Media is not a build it, leave it, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ideology.

It is a living organism, constantly changing, growing, maturing, and needing attention in order to reach its full potential.

Nurture it, check your data monthly to see how you are doing – are your post times good, is your audience engaging, is your content being shared, what do they like, what don’t they like, what platforms are sending traffic – essentially – where should you focus your attention.

If you missed Part 1, click here to catch up.

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay