What Should I Post on Social Media?
If you’ve wondered what to post on social media, you’re not alone. I have a formula that will help, but first let’s consider why businesses post on social media.
Top Reasons to Post on Social Media
Connect personally with your audience
Inform customers about your business, products, services
Engage with customers, e.g., answer questions, provide customer service
Sell products/services
Improve search performance
Increase awareness with potential customers
Share customer reviews, and stories
Test messages and offers
Connect With Customers
Many in-person interactions have shifted online, so businesses need social media to connect with customers. Pew Research reported, 68% of adults use Facebook, and 73% use You Tube. Social media use continues to grow, and varies by age, but the top platforms businesses use include, Facebook (93%), Twitter (84%), and Instagram (80%), (Buffer’s 2019 State of Social Report).
Social Media Posting Formula
The reasons businesses use social media provides some insight into content themes, but let’s look at a simple formula to help with social media content development. I suggest the following (approximate) content ratio:
50% of Content: addressing the broad interests of your target audience. For example, if you are targeting moms with children, you might speak to school topics, sports, family activities, etc. If you are a business targeting ecommerce companies, high level content subjects might include technology, leadership, security, HR, etc.
30% of Content: addressing the industry you are in. For example, a dentist might talk about oral health, provide information about types of braces adults wear, etc. A real estate agent might post about the housing market in general, or how to choose an inspector.
20% of Content: addressing your specific company and the products and services you offer. For example, a sale or get started offer, staff feature, customer story, details about a product.
Don’t take this ratio literally but as a starting point that can be customized for your business and industry. For example, if you own a restaurant this ratio will look different. Your customers expect to hear more about tonight’s menu and less about general topics. So, customize this to your business but think about the 3 content areas and work those into your approach.
Adjust Your Social Posting
It takes months to build your social media audience, so be patient and keep testing a variety of content, including different content types (e.g., graphics, video, links). Expect engagement and responses to vary as well. A feature about your employee will get a lot more engagement than an informational post about one of your products, and that’s ok. Both types of posts have value and will help you build your brand and your credibility with current and future customers. Keep adjusting your social post content, form, and timing based on your goals and results.
When a potential customer visits your business page you want them to see a curated picture of your brand as they scroll through the posts. I hope this information and formula are helpful, adjust it to fit your needs, and let me know how I can help.
Check out this article on Social Media Sales Success from popular marketing influencer, Mark Schaefer.
