We’re all familiar with the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. While this might be a professional way to go about your business, when it comes to online marketing, there’s another golden rule that you should familiarize yourself with: the Social Media Rule of Thirds.
With the constant advent of new platforms and new strategies for each, it can be hard to keep in touch with your customers in the right way, especially if you’re using the same post content and strategies for each platform. There are so many intricacies to individual success on each that you could dedicate a whole team to your social media strategy. However, first and foremost, success will only be found if you are following the following breakdown of content for your social posts:
- ⅓ of your social content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
- ⅓ of your social content should surface and share ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
- ⅓ of your social content should be based on personal interactions and build your personal brand.
If you’re a visually-minded or creative company (like a photographer or a caterer), it can be easy to overshare content that’s all about your business. This is especially easy for small businesses who thrive on social media interaction and word of mouth marketing. Bigger companies tend to have an easier job of diversifying their posts, especially if they’ve been in business for a while. Regardless of your company’s track record, we’re providing you with the understanding you need of this Social Media Golden Rule to help you get on your way to further social media success.
PROMOTE YOUR COMPANY
These posts will be easy to come up with. Everyone knows how to brag about themselves, right? The key is to limiting these sales-y posts to just a third of the time. Some great examples of ways to self-promote without overdoing it are as follows:
- Share one of your products as part of a giveaway to generate some conversation about your products but still reward your followers! When people get something out of your post, you’re more likely to get a return visit.
- Tell a story about how you got started, or why you decided to offer a specific service. The longer, more narrative posts will engage readers and help them connect with you on a personal level.
- Use social media to announce new products or services as a way to reward your followers. Maybe an exclusive sale for followers on one specific site only would help to generate some crossover between your platforms.
PROMOTE YOUR INDUSTRY
These are some benefits to sharing industry-relevant content on your platform:
- Attract more followers. Most social media platforms allow some sort of targeted advertising, and with that you can control what interest you want to target. If you sell hunting products, consider sharing some tips and references for all those interested in outdoor activities like camping, hiking, etc. You might attract the followers of another similar brand.
- People follow the social accounts that give them something in return, whether it’s discounts or actual valuable information. Sharing relevant content to your followers, even if it’s not about your products, gives them a reason to keep coming back to your page and keep following.
- Another helpful strategy is to share products and services from other businesses in your industry for some cross promotion. (A) This helps out your followers by directing them to services they may also need in addition to yours and (b) the other business owner is likely to return the favor, bringing in more followers to your own accounts.
Consider the wedding industry. There are millions of different services or products that you could offer to someone planning a wedding. If your business targets brides-to-be, like a wedding planner or wedding photographer, you could try sharing some content from the people in your industry that you’ve networked with, for example a caterer or a custom invite designer. This is extremely relevant to your own business, but also helps your social media followers out by getting them further on their way with their wedding preparations.
PROMOTE YOURSELF
As was mentioned before, people will follow the accounts that they get something out of. Sometimes there isn’t really a monetary benefit to following an account, but you appreciate the influence of the person running the account. Dale Partridge, founder of StartUpCamp.com and one of our favorite social media influencers to follow, does a fantastic job of this. He shares relevant content, in addition to his own blog posts, as well as a daily dose of his own personal opinions called #DaleyWisdom. This wisdom and inspiration that he shares does leaps and bounds for both his own reputation as well as the reputation of his business.
Set yourself apart by sharing content on social media that isn’t all about you. People will appreciate the breath of fresh air as well as the additional resources, regardless of what industry your business offers products in.
Stay tuned for more social media help and tips on the Kite Media Blog!