Strike the Right Balance in your Social Media Program

Last updated 2 years ago

Achieving the Social Media Balance

From non-profits to large Fortune 500 companies, everyone seems to be hiring social media gurus. Organizations are realizing they need a person with the responsibility of directing social media efforts. Among open job listings this year, Indeed.com, a leading international job site that charts job trends, lists Social Media professionals in their top 10. In fact, Indeed.com has ranked the Social Media position as experiencing almost a 2000% trend in growth over the past five years.*

As useful as it might be to have an in-house person perform this role, smaller businesses simply may not have the resources to hire someone to oversee their social media efforts. But are daily updates to Facebook, Twitter, and your blog the only way to achieve social media marketing (SMM) success?

The Age Old Debate: Quality vs. Quantity

How do you plan the overall volume and frequency of your social media activities? The key really lies in examining your own behavior.

What companies are you a fan of?
What blogs do you read? How often?
What RSS feeds do you subscribe to?
What newsletters do you keep in your inbox and not flag as spam?

Just like you are always looking for content that is relevant, fresh, and informational, your social network is too.

When thinking about frequency of updates: it boils down to quality vs. quantity. Facebook fans will remain avid fans if you provide them with useful information, strategically invite them to events that they would be likely to attend, and periodically entice them with incentives such as coupons or discounts. Find ways to achieve this balance for all your social media efforts. No one wants to hear from a company every day, even if they spend hours browsing social media sites. Minimize the “fatigue” your readers may experience from your social “chatter”.

Social Media expert Scott Straten, author of Unmarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging, gives sage advice when it comes to the quality vs. quantity debate: “…Use Facebook to engage, and to comment on people's posts and status updates and to share links with them that they may like; not ones you have written to promote yourself but ones you have found that may help them.”

*http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=Social+Media&relative=1