We all follow someone on social media who bombards us with pointless information about their day every 20 minutes. “I ate a sandwich and it was delish!!! #food” or “Just benched 300lbs! #gains #protein”. Come on, we all know the type! They post some random statement about their day followed by a lame hashtag or twenty. But, is this effective? Is throwing every little detail of your day into a social media post, no matter how minuscule, effective? Then there is the other end of the spectrum. The sporadic, every now and again poster, who writes some philosophical novella on politics in attempt to spark a debate before disappearing into the social media abyss to never be heard from for another random allotment of time.
So which of these is effective? Does your company spam all social media outlets or do you send out random posts every once in awhile that create comments? Neither! Having all quantity and no quality is never a good thing and posting useful information every once in awhile is bad too!
How do you know when you are posting enough or too much? Your followers want to stay informed, but without feeling harassed! Keep them up to date with information relevant to your industry, but don’t terrorize their Facebook wall or Twitter feed. A good rule of thumb for your company blog is to post one blog a day at least 3 times a week, but try to shoot for posting one blog a day for every work day. Social media sites are a bit different. You want to be posting to these a couple times a day, everyday. But isn’t that too much? No! Send out a morning post to all media outlets with a link to your new blog post and another post later in the day with a link to an article your company is featured in or a blog post from another site on trends in your industry. Just remember keep it RELEVANT!
I keep mentioning relevant, but what does that mean exactly? It means post with information that has to do with your industry! Keep followers up to date with the newest information. People want to be in the know, so be their source! Let’s use an example. Let’s say you are Joe Beard and you own a brewery; rather than sending out a link to puppies and kittens rolling around in the grass (no matter how tempting), send out trends in beer or post about your upcoming seasonal batch. Save the puppies and kittens for your personal account!
Keep people up to date with important industry information and combine that with a good number of posts and you will quickly be on your way to becoming an influencer in your industry! Just remember, too much quantity and you will quickly be blocked by followers and not enough quality and you will never be taken seriously! And as a little incentive to make you want to post smarter, remember social media is factored into your search engine placement. The more shares, likes, and follows, the higher you will rank!
Now that you have learned how to use social media and blogging effectively, download our free ebook on Business Blogging and learn how to optimize your blog!
