The world of Social Media Marketing is truly a competitive one. With its immense demand, sometimes we feel compelled to post fast and post often. But before you rush to publish your next post, I want to make an appeal to your sense of Strategy.
The world of Social Media Marketing is truly a competitive one. With billions of users, massive ad spending, and a drive to be both creative and consistent, sometimes we feel the demand requires us to also be the first. But before you rush to publish that post, I want to make an appeal to your sense of Strategy.
Writing 1 Social Media post may seem like an insignificant task when all you need to do to get started is type a few words, snap a picture or record a video, and press the post button. But before you send that post on its way, it pays to ask a few key questions:
- Does this post fit into my wider brand strategy?
- Is this the right time of day or week to reach my own audience?
- Does this content add value?
- What is the purpose of sharing this particular post?
- If this post goes viral, how will it reflect on my company?
If your answer to any of these questions is "No," or "I don't know," it is a sign that perhaps you have not fully thought through the release of this post, and you might want to take a minute to reconsider whether or not to publish now. Of course, this is not to say that there aren't time sensitive posts that are best published in the moment, only that every post (no matter how small), plays a role in how your organisation is viewed. Remember that your posts will also live for a time, at the top of your organisation's profile page.
If your answer to the first 3 questions is Ÿes." and you have definite positive answers to #4 and #5, then you are good to go. The only thing left to see is your audience's reaction. Does your post get Likes? Shares? Comments? Reactions? Any of these in good number, would be a sign that your post resonated with them. Keeping in mind that "in good number," is relative. If you have a small followership, this may just be a few users.
But even if it doesn't get any engagement immediately, if your post adds value and has a purpose beyond engagement, your post will continue to work, delivering that value, for as long as it remains on your page. Visitors that browse your Social Media profile, will continue to derive value from it because it wasn't a thoughtless post. And it will continue to serve its purpose with all who stumble upon it.
Which is why taking the time to second-guess ourselves before posting, is a valuable activity. Because the decision to post or not to post, or even to post later, is one that can have a much more significant impact than it may have seemed when you were creating that new post for social media.
The decision to post or not to post, or even to post later, is one that can have a much more significant impact than it may have seemed when you were creating that new post for social media.
So take my advice. Don't be in a hurry to post. Make sure your Social Media posts have value and purpose, and take advantage of the perfect timing for reaching your audience, before letting that post fly. The best way to ensure this, of course, is to plan your posts ahead of time. You can use a free tool like Buffer to get started with this approach. Once you're used to being intentional and scheduling ahead, you can gradually increase your window, and start doing things like generating a content calendar, and approaching your Social Media activity more strategically. But that's a topic for another day.
For now, my goal is to get you to counter that urge to post immediately, and consider the bigger picture. My 5 questions from earlier, are a good place to start:
- Does this post fit into my wider brand strategy?
- Is this the right time of day or week to reach my own audience?
- Does this content add value?
- What is the purpose of sharing this particular post?
- If this post goes viral, how will it reflect on my company?
Consider these before every post, and you will soon see the value of planning ahead. Even for Social Media. :)